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The deal runs from July 15, 2022 to December 31, 2025 and includes wage increases of 1.75% effective July 1, 2024 and 3.0% effective April 1, 2025, plus enhanced benefits, expanded leave entitlements, and equity-centred workplace provisions.
At a Glance
- Union: Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) / Yukon Employees Union, Local #Y019
- Employer: Queer Yukon Society (QYS)
- Province/Territory: Yukon
- Term: July 15, 2022 – December 31, 2025
- Top wage: $45.47/hour (Manager, 4+ years seniority, with communities premium, effective April 1, 2025)
- Vacation: 6% of earnings (0–3 years); 7% (3–5 years); 8% (5+ years); plus long-service bonus days at 10-year and subsequent five-year anniversaries
- Benefits: Group insurance plan (Chamber of Conference Insurance Plan #61344) with employer contribution of at least $166.67/month per employee; 2.5% pay in lieu for ineligible employees; RRSP/HSA matching up to 2.5% after one year of service
Wages
Effective July 1, 2024 (1.75% economic increase)
| Classification | < 1 Year | 1+ Years | 2+ Years | 3+ Years | 4+ Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant | $38.36 | $39.13 | $39.91 | $40.71 | $41.52 |
| Coordinator | $39.12 | $39.91 | $40.70 | $41.52 | $42.35 |
| Manager | $39.89 | $40.68 | $41.50 | $42.33 | $43.17 |
With Communities Premium (+$1.00/hour for employees primarily working outside Whitehorse)
| Classification | < 1 Year | 1+ Years | 2+ Years | 3+ Years | 4+ Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant | $39.36 | $40.13 | $40.91 | $41.71 | $42.52 |
| Coordinator | $40.12 | $40.91 | $41.70 | $42.52 | $43.35 |
| Manager | $40.89 | $41.68 | $42.50 | $43.33 | $44.17 |
Effective April 1, 2025 (3.0% economic increase)
| Classification | < 1 Year | 1+ Years | 2+ Years | 3+ Years | 4+ Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant | $39.51 | $40.30 | $41.11 | $41.93 | $42.77 |
| Coordinator | $40.30 | $41.10 | $41.92 | $42.76 | $43.62 |
| Manager | $41.08 | $41.90 | $42.74 | $43.60 | $44.47 |
With Communities Premium (+$1.00/hour)
| Classification | < 1 Year | 1+ Years | 2+ Years | 3+ Years | 4+ Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant | $40.51 | $41.30 | $42.11 | $42.93 | $43.77 |
| Coordinator | $41.30 | $42.10 | $42.92 | $43.76 | $44.62 |
| Manager | $42.08 | $42.90 | $43.74 | $44.60 | $45.47 |
Notes:
- Employees primarily working out of a Yukon community outside Whitehorse receive an additional $1.00/hour communities premium.
- The employer may apply a market supplement above base pay for specific required skills, applied equally across all qualifying positions, after consultation with the union.
Benefits
- Group insurance: Employees in regular or term positions working 40 or more hours per pay period are eligible for the Chamber of Conference Insurance Plan (#61344), effective June 15, 2024.
- Employer contribution: Minimum $166.67/month ($2,000/year) per enrolled employee, beginning July 1, 2024.
- Ineligible employees: Part-time and casual employees receive 2.5% pay in lieu of benefits.
- RRSP / Healthcare Spending Account: Employer contributes 2.5% to an RRSP or HSA for regular employees with one or more years of service; employees may elect to match up to 2.5%.
- Benefits review: The Union-Management Committee is required to meet within 30 days of ratification to review options for expanding mental health, dental, vision, and Gender Affirming Care (GAC) coverage while keeping employee premiums reasonable.
- Carrier change protection: If the employer changes insurers before the agreement expires, benefits cannot be reduced below the level in place at signing.
- Short-term disability: Tiered indemnity structure — employees with less than two years of service receive 66⅔% of salary (maximum $1,200/week) for up to 15 weeks; those with two to five years receive a top-up to two weeks of full salary followed by 70%; those with five or more years receive a top-up to four weeks of full salary followed by 70%.
- PSAC Social Justice Fund: Employer contributes one cent ($0.01) per hour worked by each bargaining unit employee, remitted quarterly.
Hours, Overtime and Scheduling
- Standard hours: 70 hours per pay period (bi-weekly); standard business hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday unless operationally varied.
- Scheduling: Monthly scheduling is established collaboratively between the employee and the Executive Director based on anticipated project and activity requirements. Rural and event-based programming may require evening or weekend work.
- Flexible scheduling (“flexing”): Employees may vary their hours within the same pay period without additional cost to the employer, provided it does not interfere with work completion or deadlines; flex hours do not replace leave.
- Hours adjustment: An employee’s hours may be increased or decreased by up to 10% by mutual consent.
- Rest periods: Shifts over four hours include one unpaid meal break (30 to 60 minutes at midpoint) and two paid 15-minute rest breaks.
- Shift exchanges: Employees may exchange up to four shifts per month within the same calendar month with a substantially qualified colleague, at no additional cost to the employer.
- Overtime threshold: Overtime is triggered at more than eight hours in a 24-hour period or more than 40 hours in a standard work week. Hours in excess of 80 in a pay period also constitute overtime.
- Overtime compensation: Time-and-a-half (1.5×) for overtime hours; double time for hours worked on a statutory holiday. Overtime worked in less than a full hour is compensated in completed 15-minute increments.
- Compensatory leave option: Regular, part-time, and term employees may elect compensatory leave in lieu of overtime pay, accumulating to a maximum of 80 hours; casual employees are paid out each period. Unused compensatory leave may be carried over or liquidated at fiscal year-end.
- Shift premiums:
- $1.00/hour for hours worked between 6:00 p.m. and midnight, or between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.
- $1.25/hour for hours worked between midnight and 8:00 a.m.
- $1.00/hour for hours worked on weekends (from 6:00 p.m. Friday to 8:00 a.m. Monday), in addition to any applicable evening or night premiums.
- Premiums do not apply to self-scheduled “flexed” hours.
- Standby and call-in: Employees called in for an unscheduled shift receive a minimum of two hours of applicable pay.
- Job sharing: Two regular employees may share a full-time or part-time position subject to operational requirements and a signed letter of agreement; job-share employees are treated as regular part-time for the purposes of the agreement.
Leaves and Time Off
Vacation Entitlement
| Years of Service / Hours Worked | Accrual Rate | Equivalent % of Earnings |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 3 years / up to 5,500 hours | 1 hour per 16.66 hours paid | 6% |
| 3 to 5 years / 5,500 to 9,000 hours | 1 hour per 14.28 hours paid | 7% |
| 5+ years / 9,000+ hours | 1 hour per 12.5 hours paid | 8% |
- Vacation credits are tracked in hours; balances carry over to a maximum of one year’s entitlement.
- Excess credits at fiscal year-end are paid out; employees may also elect to cash out remaining credits rather than carry them over.
- Employees who complete 10 years of service receive an additional five days of paid long-service vacation, repeated at every subsequent five-year anniversary.
- Additional long-service vacation of five days is granted at the completion of each five-year qualifying period from five years through 35 years of service.
Paid Holidays
| Holiday |
|---|
| New Year’s Day (January 1) |
| Friday before the last Sunday in February |
| Good Friday (Friday before Easter) |
| Easter Monday |
| Last Monday preceding May 25 (Victoria Day) |
| Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) |
| Canada Day (July 1) |
| Third Monday of August (Yukon Discovery Day) |
| Labour Day (first Monday of September) |
| National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30) |
| Thanksgiving (second Monday of October) |
| Remembrance Day (November 11) |
| Christmas Day (December 25) |
| Boxing Day (December 26) |
| Weekdays between December 25 and January 1 not otherwise designated as holidays |
| Any additional day proclaimed by the Government of Canada as a National Holiday |
| Any additional paid holiday received by Yukon Government employees |
Employees may substitute up to two paid holidays for religious or cultural observances, with two months’ written notice.
Other Leaves
- Sick leave: Up to 15 days paid per occurrence; bank resets to 15 days after each occurrence. Includes illness, injury, gender affirming care, psychological health, temporary or episodic disability, and quarantine. Preemptive sick leave is permitted. Short-term disability bridging is available where sick leave is exhausted.
- Personal / wellness leave: 10 days per fiscal year for regular and term employees; unused credits do not carry over but reset within the fiscal year if exhausted. Casual employees receive 4% of hours worked in lieu.
- Cultural leave: Up to 10 days per fiscal year, paid, for observance of religious or cultural holidays, ceremonies, gatherings, or traditional cultural practice including language learning; may be taken in one-hour increments.
- Bereavement leave: Up to 10 working days, paid, per bereavement; applicable to immediate family, chosen family, clan or First Nation members, or any meaningful relationship. Leave may be split across multiple occasions related to one bereavement (funeral, memorial, headstone potlatch).
- Other special leave: Up to 10 days at employer discretion for exceptional circumstances not otherwise covered.
- Pregnancy leave: Up to 17 weeks, unpaid, with a supplementary top-up allowance for employees who agree to return to work for at least six months. Employees with two to five years of service receive a top-up to two weeks of full salary followed by 60% of salary (maximum $1,000/week); those with five or more years receive a top-up to four weeks of full salary followed by 60%.
- Parental and adoption leave: Up to 63 weeks, unpaid, commencing no earlier than the date of birth or acceptance of custody; same top-up structure as pregnancy leave applies.
- Combined parental leave cap: Employee couples may not take a combined total of more than 86 weeks of pregnancy, parental, and adoption leave.
- Compassionate care leave: Up to 28 weeks, unpaid, to care for a family member at significant risk of death.
- Family violence leave: Up to 15 weeks; first 10 days are paid at the regular rate for employees who have completed their probationary period. Employees may use accumulated paid leave for the remainder.
- Court leave: No loss of pay for jury duty, subpoenas as a third-party witness, or attendance at work-related court proceedings; overtime provisions apply.
- Injury on duty leave: Granted for Workers’ Safety and Compensation Board-approved claims; critical incident stress support is provided without loss of pay following work-related traumatic events.
- Medical travel leave: Up to four days of paid leave, not charged to sick leave credits, for employees or dependants requiring travel to access emergency medical or specialist treatment unavailable in their community.
- Leave without pay: Available for personal needs after one year of service, for up to one year.
- Education leave: Regular full-time or part-time employees with three or more years of continuous service may apply for up to one year of unpaid education leave.
Other Highlights
Job Security, Layoff and Recall
- No contracting out of bargaining unit work; excluded supervisory staff may not perform bargaining unit duties except in emergencies or with union consent.
- Before any workforce reduction, the parties must meet to review alternatives. Employees facing layoff must first be offered any vacant position for which they are qualified.
- Layoff proceeds in reverse order of seniority within classification; equity-designated positions are retained regardless of seniority.
- Written notice of layoff must be provided at least 30 calendar days in advance, with graded notice of up to 12 weeks depending on length of service, plus one additional week per year of service.
- Employees subject to indefinite layoff may accept recall rights for up to one year, or accept termination with severance pay and waive recall.
- All grant-funded positions are considered term positions; employees must be informed in writing of the end date and funding sources before assignment. Contracts are extended if continued funding is secured before expiry, without a new hiring process.
- Technological change requires 180 calendar days of advance notice to the union.
Grievance and Arbitration
- Grievances must be filed within 25 business days of the cause arising or becoming known.
- Three-level grievance procedure: Level 1 (excluded manager), Level 2 (board of directors), Level 3 (arbitration). Discrimination and harassment grievances may be elevated directly; wrongful suspension, demotion, or dismissal commence at Level 2.
- Mediation is available as a voluntary step; Indigenous-led alternative dispute resolution (including restorative justice circles) may also be invoked by mutual agreement at any stage, with timelines held in abeyance.
- Mediator costs are split equally; preference is given to BIPOC mediators from an agreed list.
- Arbitrators are mutually selected (or appointed by the Collective Agreement Arbitration Bureau if parties cannot agree) and have full powers under the Canada Labour Code; expedited arbitration is also available by mutual consent.
- Indigenous Elders and community representatives may be invited to participate in a supportive capacity in grievance proceedings, performance reviews, or other formal processes; QYS is responsible for providing an honorarium.
- No reprisals for filing or participating in grievance proceedings.
Health and Safety
- A Joint Health and Safety Committee, composed of employee and union representatives, is established in compliance with the Yukon Workers Safety and Compensation Act.
- The committee has authority to conduct monthly workplace inspections and observe or assist in safety testing.
- Employees may refuse unsafe work without penalty; situations involving unresolved refusals are escalated to a Safety Officer.
- Critical incident stress defusing and debriefing are provided without loss of pay following work-related traumatic events; employees may be relieved of duties for the remainder of their shift at management’s or their own discretion.
- First aid and safety training is provided with pay; the employer covers all course fees.
- The employer provides annual virtual and in-class training on protecting against online harassment, including identity protection, doxing prevention, and VPN setup, developed in conjunction with the Health and Safety Committee.
Equity, Non-Discrimination, and DEI
- Comprehensive non-discrimination protections align with the Yukon Human Rights Act and cover ancestry, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, pregnancy, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, criminal record, political belief, marital or family status, and source of income.
- Workplace harassment protections extend beyond the workplace and working hours and cover cyber harassment through email, social media, and other digital platforms; a single incident may constitute harassment.
- Gender Affirming Care (GAC) is defined in the agreement and is explicitly included as a ground for sick leave; benefits plan review must include explicit GAC coverage.
- Two mandatory paid equity trainings per year are required on topics including anti-oppression, anti-racism, Indigenous self-determination, 2Spirit and trans-specific content, gender and sexuality, de-escalation, and transformative justice.
- Hiring designation provisions require an equity preference matrix developed with the union; preferences are given to citizens and beneficiaries of Yukon First Nations and transboundary communities, followed by BIPOC and peoples of the Global Majority.
- The employer may create individualized onboarding and professional development plans for equity candidates lacking formal professional experience.
- Each regular employee receives a minimum annual training and development budget of $250 (excluding travel).
- A working group on inclusion policies (Letter of Understanding #1) is required to commence within 90 days of ratification, with policies completed before the agreement expires.
- The preamble explicitly acknowledges the lands of the Kwanlin Dün, Ta’an Kwäch’an, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, and Kaska Dena peoples and commits the parties to decolonizing workplace practices and supporting Yukon First Nations sovereignty and culture.
Source Document
Tags (WordPress)
- NAICS Code: 813410 (Civic and Social Organizations)
- Union: Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC); Yukon Employees Union Local #Y019
- Employer: Queer Yukon Society
- Province/Territory: Yukon
