The deal runs from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2028 and includes wage increases of three per cent in each of 2026 and 2027, plus lump-sum payments, expanded sick leave, updated benefits, and a broad range of scheduling and leave improvements.
At a glance
- Union: Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Local Y048
- Employer: Connective Support Society
- Province: Yukon
- Term: April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2028
- Top wage: $45.24/hour (Kitchen Coordinator, Step 4, effective April 1, 2027)
- Vacation: 15 workdays after one year, rising to 35 workdays at 20 years of continuous service
- Benefits: Employer-paid dental, extended health, group life, AD&D, and long-term disability through the Healthcare Benefit Trust (HBT); Municipal Pension Plan for eligible employees
Wages
April 1, 2025 — Base rates
| Classification | Step 1 (0–2,000 hrs) | Step 2 (2,001–4,000 hrs) | Step 3 (4,001–6,000 hrs) | Step 4 (6,001+ hrs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dietary Aide | $28.11 | $29.07 | $30.61 | $32.19 |
| Domestic Aide | $28.55 | $29.51 | $31.08 | $32.74 |
| Kitchen Worker/Cook | $30.29 | $31.34 | $33.03 | $34.77 |
| Residence Support Worker / Housing Support Worker / Outreach Worker / Resource Centre Worker | $33.09 | $34.20 | $36.00 | $37.84 |
| Program Coordinator / Senior Residence Worker | $35.49 | $36.62 | $38.21 | $39.81 |
| Kitchen Coordinator | $37.15 | $38.39 | $40.52 | $42.65 |
April 1, 2026 — 3% increase
| Classification | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dietary Aide | $28.95 | $29.95 | $31.53 | $33.15 |
| Domestic Aide | $29.40 | $30.40 | $32.01 | $33.72 |
| Kitchen Worker/Cook | $31.20 | $32.28 | $34.02 | $35.81 |
| Residence Support Worker / Housing Support Worker / Outreach Worker / Resource Centre Worker | $34.08 | $35.23 | $37.08 | $38.98 |
| Program Coordinator / Senior Residence Worker | $36.55 | $37.72 | $39.36 | $41.00 |
| Kitchen Coordinator | $38.26 | $39.54 | $41.74 | $43.93 |
April 1, 2027 — 3% increase
| Classification | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dietary Aide | $29.82 | $30.84 | $32.48 | $34.15 |
| Domestic Aide | $30.28 | $31.31 | $32.97 | $34.73 |
| Kitchen Worker/Cook | $32.14 | $33.25 | $35.04 | $36.89 |
| Residence Support Worker / Housing Support Worker / Outreach Worker / Resource Centre Worker | $35.11 | $36.28 | $38.19 | $40.14 |
| Program Coordinator / Senior Residence Worker | $37.65 | $38.85 | $40.54 | $42.23 |
| Kitchen Coordinator | $39.41 | $40.73 | $42.99 | $45.24 |
Lump-sum payments
Full-time employees active on the date of ratification receive a $500 lump sum on July 1, 2025, and a further $500 on July 1, 2026. Part-time employees active on the ratification date receive $250 on each of those dates. The provision does not apply to casual employees or employees who change status after the ratification date.
Location premium
Employees whose worksite is 405 Alexander (Emergency Shelter) receive an additional $1.00 per hour worked as hazard pay.
Benefits
- Dental: Employer pays 100% of monthly premiums for the employee, spouse, and dependent children. Coverage includes 100% of basic Plan A costs (cleaning every nine months for adults, every six months for dependent children under 19), 60% of extended Plan B costs, and 60% of orthodontic Plan C costs. Orthodontic coverage begins after 12 months of plan participation and carries a $2,750 lifetime maximum per patient.
- Extended health: Employer pays 100% of monthly premiums. Plan covers 80% of eligible expenses after a $45 per-person or per-family deductible. Includes eye exams to a maximum of $100 per person per 24 months and prescribed eyeglasses or equivalent corrective laser surgery to 80% of $350 per person per 24 months. Hearing aids are covered. Plan includes access to a Yukon-based Employee and Family Assistance Plan (EFAP) with counselling and referral services.
- Group life insurance: Employer pays 100% of premiums. Basic coverage of $50,000 to age 65, reducing to $25,000 from age 65 to 70, at which point coverage ceases. Employees may purchase additional coverage if available through the carrier.
- Accidental death and dismemberment: Standard 24-hour AD&D coverage to age 65, fully employer-paid.
- Long-term disability: Employer-provided LTD plan; full terms appended to the agreement.
- Municipal Pension Plan: Connective will provide the MPP to all eligible employees. Regular full-time employees hired after January 26, 2023, must enroll upon completing their probationary period or three months of service, whichever comes first. Regular part-time and casual employees hired after January 26, 2023, may elect to enroll. Enrollment becomes mandatory for part-time or casual employees who transition to full-time status.
- Casual premium: Casual employees receive 10.2% of straight-time pay in lieu of all health and welfare benefits, vacation pay, and statutory holiday pay. Part-time employees receive 4.6% of straight-time pay in lieu of statutory holiday pay.
- Benefits during leave: The employer pays its share of benefit premiums during pregnancy and parental leave. Employees on union business leave without pay remain on the employer’s payroll for benefit purposes, with the union reimbursing the employer.
Hours, overtime & scheduling
Hours of work: Regular full-time employment is 35 or more hours per week. Regular part-time is fewer than 35 hours per week. Casual employment involves irregularly assigned shifts on a call-in basis.
Overtime: For employees not subject to an averaging agreement, overtime is any authorized work beyond eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Overtime is compensated at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. All hours worked on a statutory holiday are paid at double time (2x), in addition to statutory holiday pay. Overtime worked in less than a full hour is compensated for each completed 15-minute period.
Lieu time banking: Full-time, part-time, and term employees may bank lieu time at the applicable overtime rate instead of receiving overtime pay, provided they notify the employer before the end of the current pay period. Lieu time accumulates to a maximum of 10 working days and may be carried over at year-end at the employee’s option. Casuals are paid out all overtime each pay period; casuals filling a term position may bank lieu time during that term and are paid out upon its completion.
On-call standby: Employees required to be on standby during off-duty hours are compensated at $2.00 per hour. If called back to work on a day of rest or a designated holiday, the employee receives the greater of two hours’ pay at the applicable overtime rate or the overtime rate for actual time worked, where the period is not contiguous with normal working hours.
Scheduling: Shift schedules are posted at least 15 calendar days in advance and remain in effect for periods of not less than 56 calendar days where practical. The employer makes every reasonable effort not to schedule shifts with fewer than eight hours between them, to avoid excessive fluctuation in hours, not to schedule more than six consecutive days of work, and to schedule at least two consecutive days of rest. Shifts within a posted schedule are assigned by seniority based on employee shift preference. Split shifts will not be scheduled during the life of the agreement. An employee whose scheduled hours are changed unilaterally without five days’ prior notice is compensated at double time for the first full shift worked on the new schedule.
Right to disconnect: Employees are under no obligation to answer calls or emails outside normal working hours unless they have indicated availability in the scheduling system. The employer may contact employees for scheduling, emergencies, or administrative matters, but no punitive action may be taken for exercising this right.
Leaves & time off
Vacation entitlement
| Years of continuous service | Workdays | % of gross earnings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 15 | 6.0% |
| 2 years | 15 | 6.0% |
| 3 years | 16 | 6.4% |
| 4 years | 17 | 6.8% |
| 5 years | 18 | 7.2% |
| 6 years | 19 | 7.6% |
| 7 years | 22 | 8.8% |
| 8 years | 23 | 9.2% |
| 9 years | 24 | 9.6% |
| 10 years | 25 | 10.0% |
| 11 years | 26 | 10.4% |
| 12 years | 27 | 10.8% |
| 13 years | 28 | 11.2% |
| 14 years | 29 | 11.6% |
| 15 years | 30 | 12.0% |
| 16 years | 31 | 12.4% |
| 17 years | 32 | 12.8% |
| 18 years | 33 | 13.2% |
| 19 years | 34 | 13.6% |
| 20 years | 35 | 14.0% |
Vacation carryover is capped at 10 days. Employees may bank a full year’s vacation every five years, to be taken in conjunction with the following year’s vacation. Pay in lieu of vacation, if agreed by the employer, is available only after a minimum of 15 days of vacation have already been taken in the year.
Paid statutory holidays
| Holiday |
|---|
| New Year’s Day |
| Good Friday |
| Easter Monday |
| Victoria Day |
| Indigenous People’s Day |
| Canada Day |
| Discovery Day |
| Labour Day |
| National Truth and Reconciliation Day |
| Thanksgiving Day |
| Remembrance Day |
| Christmas Day |
| Boxing Day |
| Any additional day proclaimed by Parliament of Canada or the Yukon Government |
Other leaves
- Special leave: Regular employees accrue six days of special leave per year of service, to a maximum bank of 12 days. Leave may be used for bereavement and potlatch attendance (within 24 months of death), care of sick dependants or a spouse, marriage, medical and dental appointments, travel outside Yukon for medical care, birth or adoption of a child, emergency volunteer service, and other circumstances beyond the employee’s control, including preventative health and wellness. Certain categories of special leave cannot be denied.
- Sick leave: Effective April 1, 2025, full-time employees earn one day of sick leave per month at 100% of their hourly wage. Part-time employees earn sick leave credits on a prorated basis. Credits carry over to a maximum of 12 days; no payout on termination, resignation, or retirement. Casual employees are entitled to five paid sick days per calendar year after 30 days of continuous employment.
- Parental and adoption leave: Up to 63 weeks of unpaid leave, beginning no sooner than the date of birth or acceptance of custody and ending no later than 78 weeks after that date. Combined unpaid pregnancy, parental, and adoption leave for an employee couple may not exceed 86 weeks total. Such leave counts toward continuous service for vacation and severance calculations.
- Compassionate care leave: Up to 28 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a seriously ill family member facing a significant risk of death within 28 weeks, as defined under the Canada Employment Insurance Act.
- Domestic or sexualized violence leave: Consistent with the Yukon Employment Standards Act. After three months of continuous employment, employees are entitled to up to five days of paid leave and up to 15 weeks of unpaid leave per calendar year, in addition to up to five days of unpaid leave available to all employees. Employees may use banked overtime or unused sick leave to convert unpaid days to paid days.
- Indigenous Cultural Leave: Employees who are Indian, Inuit, or Métis and have been continuously employed for at least three consecutive months are entitled to up to five days of unpaid leave per calendar year to engage in traditional practices such as hunting, fishing, and harvesting. Employees may elect to use lieu time or special leave credits for this purpose.
- Court leave: Employees do not lose pay for required attendance at legal proceedings related to employment, including arbitration hearings where they are called as a witness by the employer.
- Critical incident leave: Employees who experience a work-related traumatic event may be relieved of duties for the remainder of their shift without loss of pay, at their own or their manager’s discretion. Critical incident stress defusing is provided, and stress debriefing and counselling support must be made available as soon as possible after an incident.
- Leave without pay: The employer may grant up to two weeks of unpaid personal leave, not more than once every two years, without loss of seniority. Leaves beyond two weeks require mutual consent of the employer and the union.
- Education leave: Regular full-time or part-time employees with at least three years of continuous service may apply for up to one year of unpaid education leave to attend a recognized institution or complete a practicum. No benefits accrue during this leave; the employee returns to the same position on return.
Other highlights
Job security, layoff & recall
No contracting out of any bargaining unit positions — full-time, part-time, or casual — during the term of the agreement. Supervisors may perform bargaining unit work for bona fide reasons only, but may not reduce hours of any bargaining unit member by doing so.
Before any layoff occurs, the parties must meet to review alternatives to workforce reduction. Employees facing layoff must be offered any vacant bargaining unit position for which they are qualified, with a familiarization period provided. If no suitable vacancy is available, employees are laid off in reverse seniority order within their classification, with a minimum of 30 calendar days’ written notice. Laid-off employees retain recall rights for one year, covering both their former classification and any newly created positions for which they are qualified. Employees displaced through bumping may exercise the same rights. Severance is provided in accordance with the Canada Labour Code.
Grievance & arbitration
Grievances must be filed in writing within 25 calendar days of the event or the date the grievor became aware of it. The procedure moves through three levels: Level 1 (excluded supervisor, 10-day decision window), Level 2 (CEO or designate, 15-day decision window), and Level 3 (arbitration). Mediation is available voluntarily between Levels 2 and 3, with costs split equally. Arbitration requests must be made within 30 calendar days of a failed mediation. The arbitrator’s decision is final and binding. Time limits at any level may be extended by mutual consent. A level may be bypassed where the decision-maker is the subject of the grievance, or where the grievance concerns a wrongful suspension, demotion, or dismissal, in which case it proceeds directly to Level 2. The union may grieve on behalf of an employee or on its own behalf.
Health & safety
A Joint Health and Safety Committee must be established in compliance with the Yukon Workers’ Safety and Compensation Act. Committee members may conduct monthly workplace inspections, observe or assist with testing, and accompany a Workers’ Safety and Compensation Board Safety Officer during fatal or critical injury investigations. Time spent on committee duties and related training counts as time worked. Employees have the right to refuse work they believe creates an undue hazard, with the refusal escalated to a Safety Officer if unresolved. The employer must investigate all reported unsafe conditions without delay. Non-violent crisis intervention training must be provided to each employee within three months of hire, along with ongoing training to prepare employees for inappropriate client conduct. All mandatory training — including naloxone, first aid, and occupational safety and health drills — is provided at no cost to the employee during regular working hours where possible.
DEI, non-discrimination & workplace harassment
The agreement opens with a land acknowledgement recognizing First Nations peoples and affirming the parties’ commitment to addressing the consequences of settler colonialism and to partnering with Indigenous communities. Article 11 prohibits discrimination on grounds including age, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, political belief, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and criminal record unrelated to employment. The employer is responsible for promoting a discrimination-free workplace and taking reasonable steps to eliminate discrimination as soon as it becomes aware of it. Workplace harassment — covering personal harassment (including bullying), sexual harassment, and abuse of authority — is prohibited, with a single incident sufficient to constitute harassment. The agreement includes specific provisions on workplace violence and client behaviour, obligating the employer to inform employees of risks, provide training, ensure timely post-incident support, investigate incidents, and maintain confidentiality of reports. There shall be no reprisal against anyone who pursues rights under the harassment or discrimination provisions.
Source document
Tags
- NAICS Code: 624 — Social Assistance
- Union: Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
- Employer: Connective Support Society
- Province: Yukon
