News release

August 10, 2004

Public supports PSAC closing wage gap

OTTAWA – A poll finds almost three-quarters of people surveyed think that a 20-per-cent wage gap between blue collar workers in the federal government and their counterparts in the private and public sectors should be eliminated.

Seventy three per cent of respondents to a poll commissioned by the by the Public Service Alliance of Canada conducted by Environics said the wage gap should be eliminated, with 19 per cent saying it should be done immediately, 24 per cent saying over the next one to two years and 30 per cent over the next two to four years. Only 20 per cent said that the gap should not be eliminated.

“This clearly shows that we have strong public support for our bargaining demand to close a wage gap that was proven in a joint pay study commissioned by the Treasury Board and our union,” says Nycole Turmel, National President of the PSAC.   “Let's hope the government is listening and heeds the call at the negotiating table.”

The joint pay study was conducted by the research firm Morneau-Sobeco and compared the wages of Treasury Board's operational services workers at Table 2 with their counterparts in the private and public sectors.   The gap has been a sticking point in negotiations with the government in two large bargaining units, including Treasury Board and the Parks Canada Agency.

With a strike deadline looming for Parks workers, the PSAC will be returning to the negotiating table tomorrow and Thursday to push for closing the wage gap and to try and hammer out a deal.   About 45 per cent of PSAC members working for Parks Canada are in the same classifications as Table 2 members in Treasury Board and are therefore also experiencing the 20-per-cent wage gap.

“We recognize that addressing the wage gap will be a significant cost, but we're willing to be flexible and look at options to phase it in over several years,” says Jeannie Baldwin, the PSAC regional executive vice-president for the Atlantic Region, the union officer overseeing Parks negotiations. “The employer's last offer to address the wage gap was a mere three per cent.”

Furthermore, management has been misleading the public by making inaccurate statements about the total cost of the union's wage demands. The figures presented by the employer at the conciliation board showed $14 million in the first year, $23 million in the second and about $23 million in the third, the total of which is significantly less than their claim of $100 million.

On top of the wage gap, Baldwin points out, Parks management won't close an internal wage disparity brought about by regional rates of pay.   “Basically, you have a situation where a mechanic in Banff is being paid 10 per cent more than a mechanic in Quebec City.”

The Environics survey of 2,020 Canadians 18 years of age and over was carried out between July 9 and 28, 2004. The question asked in the survey was: “The federal government is in collective bargaining with one of its unions.   According to a wage study conducted by the government and the union, federal government employees who work in trades such as fire fighters, ship's crews, electricians and carpenters are paid 20% less on average than people doing comparable jobs for other employers.   Should this wage gap be eliminated?” Results of the survey are considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 per cent, nineteen times out of twenty.

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For information:   Joselito Calugay, Communications,
                             (613) 560-4235 or (613) 293-9324

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