News release

September 29, 2004

PSAC charges Treasury Board President with making threats and bargaining in bad faith

OTTAWA - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is asking for an order that would compel Treasury Board to return to the bargaining table and make every reasonable effort to conclude collective agreements with the union.  

PSAC has filed a complaint with the Public Service Staff Relations Board charging that Treasury Board and its President Reg Alcock have failed to bargain in good faith and reach settlements. The complaint also charges that Alcock has used threats and intimidation to try to stop PSAC members from exercising their legal rights to strike and picket.   The Public Service Staff Relations Act prohibits actions such as these by employers and their representatives.

“Minister Alcock has been making it clear to our members that they are going to lose out because they have exercised their democratic right and chosen the conciliation/strike route,” says PSAC National President Nycole Turmel.   “He has told PSAC members at Parks Canada they should have opted for an arbitrated collective agreement, characterizing other workers who had done so as “doing well”.   He also confirmed with other members that Treasury Board had prepared back to work legislation, before the Conciliation Board process had even begun for two PSAC bargaining units with a total of 90,000 members.”

While a 2003 joint PSAC/Treasury Board study revealed a 20% average wage gap for Operational Services group members, Alcock told PSAC members in Nova Scotia that he was in receipt of an unidentified study, apparently showing our members were paid too much and could face wage roll-backs as a result.   He followed that up by indicating that if members exercised their right to strike for longer than “five or six” days, they “will have lost money and it won't be worth it.”  

“Alcock was sending a clear message to our members that any legislated terms and conditions of employment would ensure that they suffered a general loss over the long term, should they exercise their right to strike for longer than five days,” indicates Turmel.  

“I have repeatedly asked to meet with Alcock to discuss the collective bargaining situation,” says Turmel. “He has refused to do so saying that negotiations should be left to the professional negotiators.   However, that hasn't stopped him from speaking directly to our members with a very different line.   His actions to date clearly demonstrate that Treasury Board has no intention of bargaining with the union in order to reach agreements.   On the contrary, the government is biding its time so that it can impose whatever terms and conditions it wishes through legislation.”

The union's complaint also names Treasury Board as the “true employer” for various bargaining units such as the Parks Canada Agency, the Canada Revenue Agency and the Office of the Auditor General.   While these employers enjoy some measure of autonomy, Treasury Board Ministers, including Alcock, have exercised ultimate authority over their collective bargaining activities. According to Turmel, a collective agreement negotiated in good faith with the Office of the Auditor General was rejected by Treasury Board on the grounds that it was financially unacceptable.  

When Alcock was asked by a PSAC member at Canadian Forces Base Greenwood to explain the source of his mandate, he replied:   “I talk to the man in the mirror; me and the man in the mirror make the decisions.”

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For information:  Louise Laporte, PSAC Communications

                             (613) 560-4287 or (613) 558-4975 (cell)

86-290904