News release

March 24, 2004

PSAC calls government review of contracting-out long overdue

OTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has mixed reactions to the federal government’s latest plans for in-depth reviews of its spending.

“We welcome the government’s review of procurement and contracting-out, including contracting for professional services,” explains PSAC National President Nycole Turmel. “We also welcome the review of the $47-billion Capital Asset Management budget. Both reviews are long overdue.”

“The PSAC has been critical of the government’s contracting-out practices since 1985. Today, Treasury Board President Alcock himself acknowledged that the Professional Services budget has grown by 53% in the last five years. This $6.5-billion expenditure represents a hidden public expenditure that is not accountable. Now even the government has admitted that “…these services can be relatively expensive in comparison to comparable services provided by public servants”, something our members have known for years.”

Turmel recommends that not only should this work be reviewed, it should be contracted-in in order to ensure the accountability the government is seeking. “However, bringing this work back in the public sector means more people employed to do it. This can’t be done with the current cap on size of the public sector.”

While there are some positive aspects to the government’s announcements, the union has serious concerns about others.

The government has proposed a comprehensive review of public service compensation and comparability, including comparisons with the private sector and other public sectors. At the same time, government negotiators are ignoring the results of a study conducted last year by Morneau-Sobeco, a joint PSAC/Treasury Board project. The study examined comparable compensation for PSAC members in the operational category in the federal public sector.

“The study showed that our members were being paid, on average, 20% less than their counterparts in the private and public sector,” says Turmel. “We have been in negotiations for six months and the government is doing nothing to address this gap. We don’t need more studies, we need action at the bargaining table.”

According to Turmel, the government’s message is also inconsistent. “They have cancelled classification reform because it would have resulted in a bigger compensation bill. We don’t need a review of overall compensation, we need a review of the current classification standards and a Universal Classification System in order to establish what is fair.”

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For information: Louise Laporte, PSAC Communications, (613) 560-4287