Mr. Speaker, I’ve got some questions today for the Minister of Human Resources. It gets back to my Member’s statement from earlier today where I talked of it taking months to fill vacant positions within the G.N.W.T. public service. Also, some grievances that I’m aware of are two and a half years in duration.
I’d like to ask the Minister what standards are in place in the department in terms of time frames to make sure the positions are filled in a timely and efficient manner and that grievances are addressed.
Mr. Speaker, with regard to staffing, we have some guidelines that we adhere to. With regard to grievances or arbitration, it depends on at what level the union submits their grievances.
Mr. Speaker, I’m wondering. The Minister had mentioned the standards that they adhere to. Is that from time to time, I wonder? I’m aware of it sometimes taking months to fill positions. I’m wondering if the Minister could look at putting in an accountability factor and looking at a Web-based competition status so that people who are applying for jobs know exactly where that competition is at.
Mr. Speaker, I know the Member has the best interests of the government at heart. Competitions generally take about eight weeks. The competitions are controlled by the managers of the various departments. The things that can delay competitions could be a number of factors. They can include managers not being available, candidates not being available, having a person in an interview being unsuccessful so you have to re-book the file. There could also be appeals. But generally the rule of thumb is that competitions would be about eight weeks.
Mr. Speaker, I do have the interests of my constituents and the residents here in the Northwest Territories at heart when I do question the Minister.
I want to again get back to the accountability side of things. I think the department should look into a system like they have in Alberta, where it can tell the applicant whether the competition is in the screening, interview, offer or appeal stage. That, to me, is a fairly straightforward accountability measure that the department should be employing.
I’d like to ask the Minister: will he take a look at the system they have in Alberta and try to get it implemented here?
Mr. Speaker, we are always interested in looking at ways to improve our level of services. Certainly we will look at the Alberta model and look at implementing it, if it will improve our level of service as indicated by the Member.
Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, I’m wondering if the Minister can also commit to looking at grievances and the length of time it takes for employees to have grievances heard. As I mentioned, I’m aware of some that are two or two and a half years in duration. That’s unacceptable, and I want to hear from the Minister what he has in terms of adding some accountability to that process.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct that we do have a big issue with grievances and arbitrations. As of last week there are 233 outstanding arbitrations. As the Member knows, it takes two to tango. For over a year we’ve had difficulty in scheduling arbitrations with the Union of Northern Workers. The grievances have been filed at the highest level, so they go directly to arbitration. Arbitrations take some time to resolve.
We have had discussion with the union, and we’ve set up a very aggressive timetable or schedule to begin to address these outstanding arbitrations.
