January 23, 2009
News release
PSAC members ratify new agreements with Treasury Board
Ottawa – Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working for Treasury Board have accepted new collective agreements that contain no concessions for four bargaining units representing more than 100,000 workers.
With these agreements, PSAC achieved some significant breakthroughs:
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The establishment of national rates of pay for members of the Operational Services (SV) group. This concludes a 41-year battle to remove regional rates of pay for trades people in the federal public service.
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Occupational group and classification review that we anticipate will result in the development of new classification standards to better reflect the kinds of work our members perform for the Program and Administration Services (PA), Operational Services (SV), Technical Services (TC), Border Services (FB), and Education and Library Science (EB) bargaining units. . The review work will begin with the PA group within six months following the signing of the new collective agreement.
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Members in the Border Services (FB) group have also won an agreement that reflects the nature of the professional services they provide and compensates them accordingly.
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The agreements also contain language that requires the government to review the use of contractors and consultants in order to avoid layoffs through strengthened workforce adjustment appendix provisions.
The four-year collective agreements, which expire in 2011, provide for across-the-board annual wage increases of 2.3 per cent for the first year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three years.
“Our union is proud of achieving these agreements which contain some significant gains and no concessions,” says PSAC national president John Gordon. “We were able to make these breakthroughs because of the 18 months of hard work put in by our bargaining teams and the collective actions of our members, especially under a challenging bargaining environment.”
The Technical Services (TC) group was unable to conclude a tentative agreement and is proceeding to arbitration, with full support of the PSAC.
“A clear majority of our members have voted to accept the tentative agreements,” says Gordon. “We see this as a vote of confidence for the bargaining teams and the union. We will now be focusing our attention on ensuring that the occupational group and classification review reflects the workplace and needs of our members.”
To arrange media interviews:
Alain Cossette, PSAC Communications, 613-293-9210
04-230109
Date Modified : 2010/01/29
