May 29, 2008
News release
PSAC encourages Treasury Board to respect its workers with a better wage offer
OTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) doesn't buy Treasury Board's recent statement that they are committed to the bargaining process and achieving a fair settlement. Treasury Board has called on the union to respect bargaining dates that had been tentatively scheduled for June.
After a year at the bargaining table, PSAC is essentially in the same place as it was going into bargaining in 2007, according to PSAC's National President John Gordon.
“In one year of bargaining, we've spent most of our time signing off articles in the collective agreement that are being renewed without change, or resisting Treasury Board's attempts to reduce existing benefits,” says Gordon. “Many of the employer's demands for take-aways are finally being withdrawn, but this only brings us back to the status quo.”
Gordon says the last straw was the unacceptable wage offer Treasury Board presented to our bargaining teams. At negotiation sessions that have been taking place over the last two weeks, PSAC members were offered increases of 1.5%. 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% over a four-year agreement; increases that will see the value of their salaries decrease as a result of inflation.
“Treasury Board has had ample opportunity in the last year to be more productive at the bargaining table and to negotiate towards a settlement,” says Gordon. “Given that their standard response so far has been to say no to most of our economic and non-monetary demands, another few days of meetings in June for each team wouldn't make a difference.”
PSAC bargaining team members are now out across the country talking to members about the Treasury Board wage offer at workplace meetings, conferences and conventions, before the union returns to the bargaining table.
“I've been hearing from members who are pretty fed up with the lack of respect they receive from their employer and with the wage offer that has made them feel even worse,” says Gordon. “Treasury Board says they're disappointed we won't be meeting in June. That's nothing compared to our members' dissatisfaction with Treasury Board's wage offer and their unwillingness to deal with workplace problems at the table.”
PSAC members will also be out this summer at a variety of events talking to Canadians, including Members of Parliament, about the quality public services they provide.
PSAC represents over 100,000 workers in five Treasury Board bargaining units. The latest news releases on bargaining are posted on the union website at www.psac-afpc.com.
For information:
Louise Laporte, PSAC Communications 613-558-4975
26-290508
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Date Modified : 2008/07/30
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