Bulletin
BC Hydro & Powertech – IMPORTANT INFORMATION Re: Article 15.09 RWWL and Medical/Dental Appointments
November 8, 2023
To: All MoveUP members at BCH & Powertech
Your union is reaching out to our members at BC Hydro and Powertech to remind you of your entitlement for medical and dental appointments under Article 15.09.
We are doing so at this time because, unfortunately, your employer has made three directives which are in blatant violation of our mediated award in 2020, as well as violates your collective agreement.
Your union has advised the employer that we are aware of this manipulation of the agreement and will be directing our legal counsel to approach Arbitrator Allison Matacheskie as she remains seized of any disagreement with the award.
Please stay vigilant on this very important issue and report any concerns/communications regarding RWWL days and medical/or dental appointments to bchmail@moveuptogether.ca. You can review the information below to understand what your rights are under Article 15.09.
What is Article 15.09?
Article 15.09 of your collective agreement requires you to make every effort to schedule medical and/or dental appointments outside scheduled work hours or on RWWL days. The past practice and interpretation of this language has been that reasonable appointments that could not be scheduled outside work hours or on RWWL days were granted, and employees were asked to code their time as sick leave for periods over two (2) hours.
Policy grievance filed by our union
In 2020, when your union was made aware that the employer had started to change their practice on Article 15.09, we filed a policy grievance which proceeded to arbitration, and Arbitrator Allison Matacheskie issued an award on April 13, 2023 (see award here). After further discussions between the parties, and clarification with the arbitrator, a joint communication to our members was sent out via email by BC Hydro on September 18, 2023 (see a copy here) which provided clarity on Article 15.09, the RWWL days, and medical/dental appointments.
Current violations committed by your employer
The time has come once again to schedule your vacation and RWWL days for next year. Unfortunately, the employer is now reneging on our agreement and violating the collective agreement by directing our members to do the following:
- Only schedule 15 of your 17 days allotment for the year, so that you have to use the two remaining, unscheduled RWWL days for upcoming medical/dental appointments (VIOLATION of the collective agreement);
- Requesting members change their set schedules to allow for time off to attend medical/dental appointments and to make up the lost time (VIOLATION of the collective agreement); and
- Advising members to reschedule already scheduled RWWL days, to accommodate upcoming medical/dental appointments (VIOLATION of the collective agreement).
All three of these requests or directives from your employer are blatant violations of the mediated award as well as constitute violations of your collective agreement. They are an attempt to make your benefit under Article 15.09 redundant and we must not allow this to occur.
If you come across any other potential violations of your rights under Article 15.09, or in any other part of your collective agreement, please bring those to our attention by emailing bchmail@moveuptogether.ca.
In solidarity,
Cheryl Popeniuk, Senior Union Representative
Mike Novak, Union Representative
Richard Van Grol, Union Representative
Ronnie Ho, Union Representative
Paul Voykin, Union Representative
Alina Teymory, Union Representative