Highlights
Your AMAPCEO Bargaining Team and the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance Employer have reached a tentative agreement on a first contract to run until March 31, 2028.
Your bargaining team are unanimously recommending ratification.
The following is a summary of highlights only.
Term
A three-year contract from ratification until March 31, 2028.
Salary increases & merit pay
Across-the-board salary increases of:
3% effective April 1, 2024 (previously paid),
3% effective April 1, 2025 (previously paid),
3% effective April 1, 2026, and
2.5% effective April 1, 2027.
New merit pay system
Your bargaining team won a new merit pay system in the tentative agreement.
If you choose to ratify the deal, all employees will be eligible to receive merit pay increases to your salary based on their work performance for the pCPA fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), effective April 1, 2026.
Merit pay salary increases can be up to 5% of your salary, with 3% for satisfactory performance.
Employees hired mid-year will have their merit pay pro-rated.
4% retroactive merit pay for employees hired before March 31, 2025
If you were hired before March 31, 2025, you have not received salary increases (apart from across-the-board salary increases) since your date of hire.
Your bargaining team has negotiated an annual retroactive 4% salary adjustment to cover this period, which will result in a substantial retroactive payment and a higher salary going forward.
How your retro merit pay will be calculated
All current employees in the bargaining unit hired between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2025 will receive a retroactive salary adjustment comprised of a 4% annual increase prorated for partial years of service between the employee’s date of hire and March 31, 2025, calculated in accordance with the example enclosed as Schedule B.
The adjusted salary will be the employee’s new salary for the period of April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 (the “new salary”). The new salary will be effective the date of ratification.
The retroactive payment back to the date of hire will be paid to each employee within sixty (60) days of ratification.
See Schedule B following Page 52 for examples of the retroactive merit pay.
New salary bands
pCPA employees will be placed in new salary bands which provide for minimum and maximum pay based on their position. Employees will move up their salary band through a combination of the annual across-the-board salary increases and the new annual merit pay system.
The position placement can be viewed on page 54-55 of the Memorandum of Settlement posted below.
Almost all employees will have potential for large salary growth through the new salary bands in their current position.
Clarity and security in the workplace
You currently work under non-union personal employment contracts, which can be terminated at any time without cause in return for minimal severance pay and with little legal recourse.
If you ratify this collective agreement, you will have superior union protections with the introduction of Just Cause protections and Progressive Discipline. You will also have access to the Right to AMAPCEO Representation which ensures union support in difficult meetings, including disciplinary ones, with management to ensure their decisions and behavior are in line with the Collective Agreement.
The dispute resolution process also allows members the right to file complaints if the employer violates the Collective Agreement. If the matter escalates to court, legal costs will be covered by AMAPCEO.
Benefits
The agreement will codify pension benefits, health benefits, and employee handbook benefits. These benefits will continue as is for the length of the agreement and must be negotiated if the employer wishes to remove or change them in the future. It will also allow us to negotiate further improvements to benefits in future rounds of bargaining.
Examples of employee handbook benefits include: vacation, holidays, payment of professional dues, home office subsidies, fitness allowance, sick days, EI top-up for employees on parental leave, and more.
Fixed-term employees have the right to join the pension plan if employed for more than 12 months.
Work/life balance
The tentative agreement will codify:
Remote work: remote work will be guaranteed for the length of the agreement. The employer has no plans for in office work.
Overtime – New: Employees will have the right to be compensated for all overtime, which will be banked as lieu time to be taken off at a later date. Unused lieu time from one calendar year will be paid out after March 31st of the following calendar year.
Job Security: The employer has no plans to reduce the workforce but in the event of any potential future layoffs, this agreement secures an enhanced notice period to employees, the opportunity for the union to propose alternatives to layoffs, enhanced severance, and a process for reassignment to vacancies and bumping based on seniority.