'Slap in the face': Commissionaires at CFB Borden to work Remembrance Day at regular pay

During Remembrance Day on Monday, almost four dozen commissionaires working at Canadian Forces Base Borden will take a moment to pause, reflect and remember.

Most will likely remember what it was like to be paid a premium for working on that most solemn of days.

For years, the federal government’s contract with Commissionaires Great Lakes allowed the company to bill a holiday premium for commissionaires who worked at CFB Borden, located about 20 minutes west of Barrie, on Remembrance Day.

That came to an end this year, when the company’s contract with the federal government was renegotiated and the pay for employees working on Remembrance Day was changed to align with Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (OESA).

Remembrance Day is a statutory holiday in most provinces and territories in Canada, but not in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

The decision has not gone over well with some Commissionaire workers.

One of them, who asked to remain anonymous due to concerns of retribution from the company, said he found the decision “absolutely revolting and disgusting.”

The employee said the company offered no explanation to staff as to why the change was made.

“For an organization that prides itself as pro veteran, I am deeply insulted by their actions,” the employee said. “It really took me for a loop — some of these guys went to Afghanistan. You’re going to rip that away from them?”

The employee, who’s been with the Commissionaires for a couple of years and enjoys their job, said the issue has nothing to do with money. It’s all about respect and compassion, they argued.

“This is an organization that prides itself on helping veterans and then they turn around and do this,” the employee said. “It’s a slap in the face.”

According to Mark Blevis, chief corporate affairs officer for Commissionaires Great Lakes, the company had no part in the decision. He said the decision was made by the federal government, which is under pressure to cut costs.

“Up to 2023, the federal government’s contract with Commissionaires Great Lakes allowed us to bill a holiday premium for commissionaires who worked at CFB Borden on Remembrance Day in recognition of our not-for-profit status as a veteran-supporting organization,” Blevis said in an email to BarrieToday. “This extra premium was passed on to the commissionaires who worked that day. 

“In the most recent renegotiation of our framework contract with the federal government, the pay and billing treatment of Remembrance Day was changed to align with the OESA,” he added.

Blevis said the 43 commissionaires who are scheduled to work at CFB Borden on Remembrance Day will be paid regular wages.

“While we recognize this is a disappointment for those who received the extra premium in the past, it is important to note that it is consistent with how all other commissionaires — indeed, all other Ontarians — working at non-federal sites were already being paid in the province,” he said.

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) manages the National Master Standing Offer (NMSO) for services from the Corps of Commissionaires. 

According to Nicole Allen, media relations for PSPC, the NMSO was updated in April of this year with a number of changes, including moving to a standard minimum requirement that contractors must comply with legislated statutory holidays in their province of work.

“Compensating employees for holidays beyond that would be at the discretion of the Corps of Commissionaires, as the employer,” Allen said in an email to BarrieToday. “Canada does not have an employer-employee relationship with the Corps of Commissionaires employees.”

Commissionaires Great Lakes has 1,300 employees and is one of 15 not-for-profit member companies that make up the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, Canada’s largest private employer of veterans.