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Welcome to the PSAC e-mail news for the period of August 4 to 22, 2003.
Turmel challenges MinisterPSAC President Nycole Turmel takes issue with a number of statements
made by Lucienne Robillard, the Minister responsible for Treasury
Board, in a bulletin about Bill C-25, the Public In a letter to the Minister, Turmel begins by saying that, contrary to what the Minister has said, it is not true that Bill C-25 has been well received. For Turmel, such a statement cannot possibly take into account the reaction of those who are likely to be most affected by the Bill that is, the workers. The more PSAC members learn about the Bill, the more concerned they become. According to Turmel, PSAC members are concerned that the legislation tips the balance of power in favour of the employer much more than is the case now. For example, the broadening of the definition of the essential services and the union's inability to challenge the level of service to be provided during a strike effectively remove the right of PSAC members to strike. Similarly, the extension of personal liability to individual union officers under the Offences and Punishment provisions is an unnecessarily extreme and punitive measure which will discourage union members from aking an active role in their union. Turmel also challenges the Minister's view that the proposed changes with respect to staffing will not "water down merit in the staffing system or open the door to bureaucratic patronage." As a case in point, Turmel refers to a recent audit of the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) which found that "there were a significant number of cases where managers improperly circumvented the safeguards in place in order to hire someone they had in mind before making the request." The PSAC President wonders what will happen once the new Public Service Employment Act is in place. Turmel also questions the reasoning behind a statement made by the Minister concerning "the protection of employees who disclose wrongdoing in the workplace." According to the Minister, Bill C-25 is meant to strengthen this protection. However, the Bill only provides that Treasury Board may develop guidelines or policies in this area. Turmel concludes her letter to the Minister by saying that it would have been better to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Public Service Alliance of Canada before initiating an in-depth reform of the public service. To read Nycole Turmel's letter in its entirety, please visit the Web site at ww.psac-afpc.com. Picnic lunch at NordionSome fifty PSAC members working at Nordion International in Ottawa held a picnic lunch to prepare picket signs for a possible strike. A large majority of these workers, about 82%, have already voted for the use of strike action to force their employer to negotiate a fair labour contract. The Local Executive provided brushes and paint, and members allowed their creativity to run freely. For these 230 workers, the key bargaining issues include salaries, shift work, staffing and health and safety. Until now, the bargaining process has been very slow and there has been no significant progress yet. Following the strike vote, the company launched a misinformation campaign aimed at its employees. They questioned the legitimacy of the union and encouraged employees to cross picket lines should a strike occur. PSAC filed an unfair labour practice complaint before the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) against Nordion. The union argues that Nordion International is providing employees with false information and violating the right of the union to represent its members. The company's attitude poisoned the labour relations climate at Nordion. Recently, some fifty PSAC members lost their access card to the company's facilities in Kanata. Nordion had to deliver new cards to these employees. The company now threatens to file a grievance on this issue or to
file a complaint before the CIRB. From left to right: Andrew Melcher, Waheed Khan, Carolle Chevrier, Tim Hayes, Allison Melcher. Pensions surplus:Unions' suspicions confirmed PSAC case works its way through Discovery phase The PSAC is one of three groups that have filed lawsuits in the Ontario Superior Court challenging the federal government's arbitrary removal of the surplus in the Public Service Superannuation Plan, the RCMP Superannuation Plan and the Armed Forces Superannuation Plan. Before the lawsuits go to trial, there is a procedure called Examination for Discovery which must take place. The objective of Discovery is to ensure that all the parties have the opportunity to find out about the existence and content of all documents relevant to the case that any of the parties are submitting. The first step was the filing of relevant documents by all the parties. To date, the federal government alone has produced several thousand documents. Some of the documents contain financial data related to the plans while others provide information on the government's strategy for dealing with the surplus. Legislated wage freezes were one of the reasons federal superannuation plans developed surpluses during the 1990s. By 1995, the government was already factoring in $14 billion in surplus as part of their plan to reduce the deficit. The government had discovered that accounting rules allowed it to use the surplus to reduce the size of the stated budget deficit without reducing the balances reported in the Superannuation Accounts. While workers were paying their full share of contributions, the government was effectively giving itself a contribution holiday. Needless to say, the government didn't share any of these interesting accounting tactics with its unions or workers. Government documents indicate that the government needed to use the surplus to meet its deficit reduction targets a surplus which had grown to about $30 billion by 2000. Court date still well in the future The next step in the Discovery Process, the oral examination of witnesses, started in February this year with the examination of the witnesses to Treasury Board's documents. That part of the process will continue into the fall. Then Treasury Board will have take its turn and examine the unions on their documents. At this time, it is difficult to predict how many witnesses will be called or how much time will be required to complete the process. The actual Trial can't be held until the Examination for Discovery phase has been completed. Once that happens, the Court will schedule a Settlement Conference and assign a trial date. The earliest date the Trial will likely take place is late 2004 or early 2005. PSAC will issue further updates as the case continues. Bargaining UpdateGander: the longest strike in Canadian airport history is over On April 7, 2003, 50 PSAC members working at Gander Airport began what would become the longest strike in Canadian airport history. The employer had rejected an offer to go to binding arbitration. The workers went back to work on July 31, 2003, after the employer finally agreed to binding arbitration to resolve the only issue left: rates of pay. The parties signed off on the Terms of Reference for binding arbitration and chose an arbitrator. All areas of agreement between the parties took effect on July 31 when the employees went back to work. Treasury Board: the process has begun The parties exchanged proposals on August 1, 2003 and dates are set for negotiations. The first meetings for Table 1 and Table 3 will be held on September 16-20 and for Table 2 and Table 5, on September 23-27. 90 000 PSAC members are covered by the Treasury Board collective bargaining. Big increases at London International Airport PSAC members of the London International Airport have ratified a new collective agreement. The five-year contract has wage increases from 12.5% to 29% over the life of the contract. Improvements include: two additional flexible leave days for fire fighters and 10 additional days of personal leave in cases of disability; and expansion of parental leave without pay to 37 weeks. New contract at the Canada Council for the Arts PSAC members at the Canada Council for the Arts ratified a three-year agreement that took effect July 1, 2003. The 75 PSAC members at the CCA held a ratification vote on July 2, just a few days after the end of the previous contract. They will have a 2.3% pay increase the first year and 2.5% for the next two years. They also gained improvements on several issues like child care, meal rates and personal leave. End of lock-out at the Old Port PSAC members working for the Old Port of Montreal Corporation ratified a tentative agreement which provides for wage increases up to 14%, additional protection for part-time employees, better work schedules for permanent employees, an anti-harassment clause and several gains in the area of staffing. The union and the employer met July 8 to sign a back-to-work agreement, which includes a commitment from the employer not to impose any disciplinary measure against PSAC members involved in the past conflict. Our members, who have been locked out since May 26, went back to work on July 14, 2003. Bargaining begins at CCRA PSAC served notice to bargain to the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency on August 1. The union and CCRA exchanged demands electronically on August 19. During the week of August 25th, the PSAC and CCRA teams will meet and begin negotiations with a review of each other's demands over a two-day period. Bargaining will reconvene from September 29 to October 5, inclusively, and from November 10 to 14, inclusively. The union is working on increasing the number of days and frequency that the parties will meet this fall. The agreement with CCRA expires on October 31, 2003. Keep up to date by reading the CCRA bargaining information bulletins which will be posted on the Web and distributed through the Locals and Branches. Parks members gear up for bargaining About 35 members from Parks Canada will be attending the National Bargaining Conference in Ottawa on Sept. 16 to 20. The delegates will be reviewing the negotiations process, the demands and electing the bargaining team members. The bargaining team will then finalize and prioritize the demands and select the representative to the Co-ordinated Strategy Committee. The union sent notice to bargain to the employer around the end of July and expects to be exchanging demands with the employer around mid-October. Demands are exchangedThe PSAC and the Treasury Board formally exchanged demands on Friday, August 1, 2003. You can read the demands on the PSAC web site. They are in PDF format at the following addresses: http://www.psac.com/bargaining/ treasuryboard/Table_1/t1_final-e.pdf http://www.psac.com/bargaining/ treasuryboard/Table_2/t2_final-e.pdf http://www.psac.com/bargaining/ treasuryboard/Table_3/t3_final-e.pdf http://www.psac.com/bargaining/ treasuryboard/Table_5/t5_final-e.pdf Accomodation allowance in YellowknifeThe Privy Council Secretariat announced somes changes to the Special Accommodation Allowance for PSAC members in Yellowknife, NWT. For some PSAC members, the allowance will increase and for others, it will be reduced. To find out the new allowance that applies for each case, you can consult the Web site: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/ipgh-dpill/inysaa-inyisfl_e.asp |
