Union Update

August 30 - September 10, 2004

Acrobat format 

In this issue:

• 30000 on strike and counting

• Parks Canada

• Canada Revenue Agency

• Treasury Board

  • Table 1
    
  • Table 2
    
  • Table 3
    
  • Table 5
    
    
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency
  
• Canada Post Corporation

30000 on strike and counting

The federal government has forced the PSAC into a difficult labour conflict. A total of 130 000 PSAC members will be in a legal strike position within the next few weeks. Already 30 000 members from Parks Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency have launched a series of rotating strikes across the country. By the time this is published, the members from Treasury Board Table 2 will be in legal strike position. They will soon be followed by Table 1, Table 3 and CFIA.

Why is the federal government stubbornly refusing to reach negotiated settlements when the PSAC's demands are obviously fair and reasonable? Treasury Board President Reg Alcock continues to control the negotiations at federal agencies like Parks Canada and Canada Revenue Agency while claiming that he is not involved. The responsibility for this labour conflict sits squarely in   his and the Prime Minister's laps.  

To date, management has done nothing to reach negotiated collective agreements with its workforce. Here is an overview of the negotiations at the bargaining tables for Treasury Board and the federal Agencies.  

Parks Canada

Five weeks into the strike at Parks Canada and management has yet to give us a sign that they are aware of the seriousness of the situation.

Since the beginning of these negotiations, management has been intent on slowing down the process as much as possible. The union's opening position was in front of the employer for several months, and we had to wait until the final afternoon of the conciliation board process to receive a response. And it turned out to be a slap in the face.     It was a final “take-it-or-leave-it” offer of pay increases of 2.25%, 2.0%, and 1.5% that were below anything recently agreed to in the rest of the federal public sector.

In response to the 2003 joint PSAC-Treasury Board study which revealed a wage gap of 20%, they offered a 3% restructuring adjustment for operational workers.     They are also seeking to continue a regional rate structure for these workers who make up 45% of the total Parks workforce. In contrast, administrative, technical and professional workers as well as executives, and Members of Parliament all receive a single rate of pay regardless of the region they live in.

At the 11th hour, immediately prior to the strike deadline, the employer increased its economic offer to 2.5%, 2% and 2% and its restructuring adjustment from 3% to 4%.

The PSAC Parks membership is asking for economic increases that match or exceed those of other bargaining units in the federal public service. We also expect to have the findings of the joint TB-PSAC pay study addressed – and offering 4% when there's a clear 20% gap, just doesn't cut it!

Furthermore, over three-quarters of recent settlements in the broader federal public service are providing for some form of restructuring, in addition to economic increases. Not one of those settlements had a pay study as the basis for the restructuring. Surely, when a joint study identifies such a glaring disparity, it signals a problem that merits special consideration.

Canada Revenue Agency

At the CRA, the government precipitated strike action by rejecting the report from the conciliation board. The PSAC believed the report offered a basis for settlement and returned to the table on September 7th, assuming CRA would be ready to talk based on the recommendations.

Instead, the Agency tabled an offer of 2.25%, 1.75% and 1.75% over three years which was a far cry from the Conciliation Board's recommendation of increases of 3.0%, 2.75% and 2.5% over a three year agreement.

CRA has also refused to move on other outstanding issues, such as the elimination of regional pay zones for CRA operational workers, as recommended in the Conciliation Board's report.

Another major issue in contention is the treatment of term workers at the Agency. The union wants term workers with three years of continuous service to be converted to indeterminate status, as they are at Treasury Board.    

For PSAC National President Nycole Turmel, CRA's refusal to discuss any of the outstanding issues   seemed to be another case of an Agency taking its marching orders from Treasury Board, rather than working to reach a settlement that is appropriate for their workplace.

Turmel also indicated that the union remains prepared to negotiate a settlement. In the meantime, the flow of revenue into government coffers is interrupted as PSAC members mount picket lines at CRA locations across the country.

Treasury Board  

Table 1

This bargaining unit is the largest within the PSAC with over 80 000 members involved in the planning, development, implementation or management of policies, programs, services or activities in the federal government that are intended for the public or to support the public service.   The Conciliation Board started its hearings for the Table 1 on September 12. Negotiations began in September 2003 with the employer   refusing to respond to many of the union's demands. When a Conciliation Officer was brought into the bargaining process, Treasury Board finally tabled a wage offer consisting of 1.75% in the first year and 1.25% in the second and third years, ignoring demands for pay adjustments and restructuring.   While the union had hoped for meaningful discussion, the employer continued to say no to the union's demands, without providing any rationale.

That's when the PSAC requested a Conciliation Board.

At the time of writing, the Conciliation Board had been attempting to mediate some of the issues in dispute between the parties. The hearings are scheduled to conclude on September 19. The Board has 14 days after September 12th, the first day of the hearings, to file its report. However, The Board may request a time extension. Table 1 members will be in a legal position to strike seven days after the union officially receives the report.

Table 2

At the end of August, the PSAC Table 2 bargaining team spent five days with the Conciliation Board. It became clear then that the Employer had come to the Board with no intention whatsoever to reach a deal.

The Board sought to mediate the dispute and assist the parties in reaching an agreement but the Employer refused to move on any issue. Worse, on the major issue we placed before the Board – the need to address the wage gap in the Table 2 pay study – the Employer would not even go as far as the Parks Canada Agency had gone in its wage proposal for former Table 2 members.

PSAC made an extensive presentation to the Board, outlining how the parties carried the joint studies out, what the results of the study showed, and why the government should act to close the wage gap. The Employer made no formal presentation to the Board, saying only that they were prepared to “discuss” the pay study.

When the Conciliation Board report arrived, it became obvious that only a strike by these 11,000 government employees will force their employer to listen seriously to their demands.

According to Nycole Turmel, PSAC National President, “The Conciliation Board failed miserably to point the way towards a fair settlement for our members. In fact the report is so silent on the main issues in dispute, namely the wage gap and the regional rates of pay, that we consider it almost useless.”

The Board report made no specific recommendations on a 20% wage gap between these workers and those in the public and private sectors for similar jobs.

On the important issue of the regional rates of pay, the board report was also completely mute.   Currently paid under a system of three regional zones, our operational workers are asking that the same wages apply to them across the country. These workers are among the last government employees who are paid according to the region in which they work. That inequitable situation was addressed lately in these terms at the Canada Revenue Agency, where operational workers also have regional rates of pay. The CRA Conciliation Board wrote: “The principle of equal pay for equal work militates towards abolition of wage differentials for employees of the same classification group engaged by the same employer.”

Not only did the Conciliation Board fail to make recommendations on the 20% wage gap and the regional pay system for these members, but the Board even suggested sub-inflation economic increases for PSAC's operational workers. According to Turmel, “This is unacceptable.”

Operational workers will join Parks and CRA members on picket lines during the week of September 18, 2004.

Table 3

Conciliation Board proceedings for Table 3 will take place in Ottawa on September 19, 20, 23 and 24.   The Board has to submit its report 14 days after the beginning of the hearings, unless an extension is granted. PSAC members will be in legal strike position seven days after the union officially receives the report from the Public Service Staff Relations Board.  

From the start of bargaining in September 2003, the employer's negativity in responding to the PSAC's initial package of demands and their continued lack of enthusiasm for the majority of our counter offers has led the negotiating team to believe the employer significantly undervalues the work our members perform.

The Conciliation Board hearings became necessary when the Conciliation officer recommended the suspension of discussions with the employer as little progress was being made toward a settlement. The employer had responded negatively to our counter proposals, including our pay proposal. The employer was not interested in providing us with any response to our offer other than repeating their original offer of 1.75%, 1.25% and 1.25%.  

Table 5

Negotiations for Table 5 have started in the fall of 2003 and so far, there is very little progress to report. The main issues are national rate of pay and salary. Dates have been set to return to the bargaining table with a conciliation officer in October. If it becomes obvious that a settlement cannot be reached, the PSAC will then ask for arbitration in order to reach a collective agreement.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

This employer still refuses to present a decent salary offer to its workers represented by the PSAC. Since the beginning of negotiations, CFIA management has maintained its offer of a 1% increase per year for 3 years. The employer rejected most of the demands presented by the PSAC relating to working conditions, leaves and the balance between work and family life. The employer also refuses to address the disparities that currently exist between the collective agreement at CFIA and agreements found at Treasury Board and in the broader public sector in spite of promises made at the creation of the agency in 1997 that the CFIA salaries would not fall behind those in the rest of the federal public sector.

Faced with such an inflexible position, PSAC members at CFIA voted heavily, in April 2004, in favour of action. Negotiations with a conciliation officer went nowhere and, after the designation process was completed, the PSAC had no choice but to ask for a Conciliation Board. The board is expected to hold its hearings in October.

Canada Post Corporation

The 2,700 PSAC members at Canada Post have been getting ready for bargaining since early in 2004. A package of proposals was prepared and ratified by the members who also elected the members of their bargaining team.

In July, negotiations were delayed because management was not ready. Later on, Canada Post proposed a series of roll backs that were unacceptable to the team members. Negotiations continued in August with very little progress. The negotiating team was expecting answers from the Corporation on several of the proposals and had hoped for positive results. However, the answers from the employer fell well short of the mark.

On September 2, 2004 , due to the lack of progress after 18 days of negotiations with Canada Post, the PSAC wrote to the Minister of Labour to have a Conciliation Officer appointed to assist in the negotiation process.