Negotiating Essential Services with Treasury Board and Parks Canada

Treasury Board: Employer wants 35,000 positions to be deemed essential

Treasury Board departments have submitted proposals for about 35,000 positions that they believe should be deemed essential in the event of a strike. Your union is in the process of reviewing all of these proposals to ensure that your RIGHT to strike, as well as the safety and security of the public, is protected.

The approximate numbers of ESA proposals from the employer per bargaining unit are as follows:

PA: 22,000
SV: 3,900
FB: 8,869

While recognizing the need to ensure the safety and security of Canadians, your union is committed to defending your right to strike and will fight to maintain the strength of one of your most important bargaining leverages. The Essential Services Agreements (ESA) in this round of negotiations are of particular importance. Under the new rules of the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA), we have one chance to negotiate ESAs that will stay in place for future rounds of negotiations, so we need to get it right in this round.

During the election period, the union will continue its negotiation of ESAs, including bringing disputes to the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) if needed. There is no legal restriction on either the employer, the union or the PSLRB that prevents this important work from continuing during a federal election.

Parks Canada: Hearings before the Board

The Parks ESA hearings took place in mid-August at the PSLRB in front of a three-person panel.

Your union argued before the Board that this is not merely a factual case about specific essential service positions but required a legal interpretation of the new legislation and relevant case law to determine whether the recreational services offered by Parks fit the definition of an essential service under the PSLRA. The Board recognized that this was an important precedent-setting legal case.

Your union takes the position that recreational services, such as maintaining and operating camp grounds or interpreting natural and historic sites to visitors, are not essential services and may be suspended during a strike without jeopardizing the safety and security of the public.

We are awaiting the Board’s ruling on this issue before we can finalize the Essential Services Agreement.

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Date Modified : 2008/09/11

Public Service Alliance of Canada | 233, Gilmour Street, Ottawa, ONTARIO CANADA, K2P 0P1, Tel.: 1 888 604-7722 (PSAC) Local: 613-560-4200