The City's ad that Toadicus obviously saw in The Sun last weekend stated that City employees have 51 'paid days off'. This misrepresents the real situation in a disappointingly underhanded way.
Yes, City employees are paid for statutory holidays and vacation time - thank you.
But the other '19.7 days' are in fact 'Earned Days Off' - that is what they are called in the Contract, because staff get days off through the year in return for working longer hours each day. Are these 'paid days off'? No - we are paid for exactly the hours we work, in a manner similar to shift work. If the City wants to call them paid days off, then I assume I am working that extra time each day for free - you can't have it both ways.
And incidentally why would the City decide not to call them 'Earned Days Off' in their (publicly funded) ad, when that is what they are called in the collective agreement? Remember that City managers are, by all accounts, a professional group. Do they not know the language of their own contracts? Is it because the word 'earned' would not suit their purpose in portraying 'the union' in a negative light?
Monday, August 27, 2007
Earned not Paid Day's Off
Jumper 49 posted this concise rebuttal, August 21, to the City's ad in the weekend Sun and Province, that civic employees have 51 "paid days off."
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I asked this very same question and was told that because the City worker work week was less than the standard 40 hour work week that most people work the earned time was only a result of working extra hours that would be considered normal for most everyone else. Hence why the City managers consider it an added benefit.
As it was explained to me “If you only have to work 36 hours a week, unlike everyone else who works 40 hours a week, if you are a City worker and chose to work 40 hours instead; you are earning an extra 4 hours weekly that you can use to take days off. Basically it was explained as a type of perk.
Does this sound accurate? I am surprised more people have not asked for greater explanation like I did, even though I am still confused.
I'm sure - if given a choice - most workers would choose to take cash for the "extra 4 hours" so that they, too, could work 40 hours/wk just like everyone else.
Actually, to clarify; City workers work a 35 hour week or 7 hour day. Not a 40 hour week, or a 36 hour week.
They can work an extra 1/2 hour per day equally 7 hours and they qualify for 1 of their 18 Earned Days Off.
So in other words, by choosing to work the same amount of hours as most people do in the real world, they get 18 paid days off a year, something that people in the real world do not get.
No, anonymous, they are paid for a 35 hour work week, not 40. And no, Walter Schultz, it's not a 7 hour day, it's an 8.5 hour day. It's that extra time that earns them their EDO's.
I misunderstood Walter's comment. Different locals have different arrangements, but the gist is correct.
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