October 16, 2008
PSAC Bargaining Units with Treasury Board (PA, SV, TC, EB, FB)
Bargaining team takes strong stand for members on classification, stands firm on major issues
Our PA negotiating team kicked off the resumption of bargaining talks with a two-hour presentation on classification and pay equity that left the employer's team speechless.
In our presentation, team members underlined the fact that the employer has failed to follow up on any promises to implement a new, gender-neutral classification standard for their employees. Every worker at Treasury Board -- not just the PAs -- suffers as a result. The team, once again, highlighted the crisis that this broken classification system has created among compensation advisors and reiterated our demands for various allowances and wage parity with other federal-sector employers. Finally, the team reminded the employer that allowances are just temporary band-aid solutions and that a new classification system is what we need -- and needed yesterday! The employer's team members were clearly paying attention, and we can only hope that the message gets back to the promise-breakers.
Unfortunately, the rest of the three-day session that began on Oct. 6 was like walking through quicksand for our team. We continued to hammer our important issues but the session was side-tracked for two days because the employer had failed to provide the union with appropriate information concerning hours of work for certain members of the WP group. Our team held the line through very difficult discussions and ensured that the employer will not be able to turn WPs who are day workers into shift workers. In this, the team was backed with the full support of the USGE Component and the PSAC Board of Directors.
On top of causing the frustrating delay, the employer did not respond to the vital parts of our wage proposals, including allowances, increments, vacations and shift premiums.
Our team will go back to the table and face off again with the employer in three weeks. Three days have been scheduled -- November 4, 5 and 6 – and our team will continue to press for responses from the employer on our outstanding demands.
Your show of support, especially during the September 30 mobilizations, continues to bolster our team's spirit and firm commitment to our issues at the table! Part of that support came in the form of solidarity ribbons donated by Local 30048 to the team. We ask that you keep it up and visit the PSAC web site regularly for updates: www.psac-afpc.com.
We're united and we're strong!
Your PA team: Megan Adam, Ken Boone, Michele Coe, Sharon DeSousa, Debbie Graham, Louiselle Laforest, Doug Marshall, Sylvie Pinard, Geoff Ryan.
Date Modified : 2010/01/29
