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Union Update
July 11 to 268, 2005
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In this issue:
PSAC members protest pay cut at CSC
From coast to coast, PSAC members protested the Treasury Board’s decision to stop issuing danger pay to several thousand of their sisters and brothers working for Correctional Service Canada.
“Treasury Board has arbitrarily decided that 2,000 of our members will no longer be compensated for the stress and danger they face daily working in the federal correctional system,” says John Edmunds, President of the PSAC’s Union of Solicitor General Employees Component.
Under the collective agreement between PSAC and Treasury Board, workers are entitled to receive danger pay, known as the Penological Factor Allowance, recognizing that they work in hazardous circumstances. The government is relying on a narrow interpretation of a provision that refers to employees with “custody” of inmates or offenders to limit payments to fewer workers.
According to Edmunds, most of PSAC’s members working in the correctional system are in close contact either with inmates in the federal penitentiaries or with offenders in half-way houses or on parole. Many of them have committed violent, sometimes horrendous crimes.
“Anyone who thinks that our members don’t face danger should remember Louise Pargeter, the parole officer who was brutally murdered on the job just last year. The government intends to remove the allowance from some of our members who were her colleagues and who perform similar work.”
PSAC/USGE members conducted information pickets to send the message to CSC and to Treasury Board that the removal and recovery of danger pay is not acceptable.
“We believe Treasury Board’s action was taken in bad faith and is contrary to the collective agreement,” Edmunds said.
PSAC National President Nycole Turmel has written to Treasury Board officials asking for a meeting before the government’s August 10 implementation date and further actions are being planned.
PSAC/USGE represents over 5,600 workers at CSC. They work as parole officers, social programs officers, drivers, teachers, plumbers, pharmacy technicians, and in food services and administrative support in the federal penitentiaries.
PSAC members also held demonstrations in the following locations:
British Columbia: Matsqui, Abbotsford, Mission, Agassiz; Alberta: Edmonton, Bowden, Drumheller, Calgary; Saskatchewan: Saskatoon and Prince Albert; Manitoba: Stoney Mountain, Rockwood and Winnipeg; Ontario: Kitchener, Kingston, Ottawa; and New Brunswick: Moncton, Dorchester and Renous;
USGE’s newly elected President, John Edmunds, with PSAC members during a demonstration in Ottawa.
UTE convention honours memory of activist Diana Gee, supports new activities
The Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) triennial convention was dedicated to the memory of Diana Gee, Regional Vice-President (RVP) for Greater Toronto since 2002, whose death occurred just before the convention. Sister Gee had been actively involved in her union, particularly with equity issues, for over 20 years.
Delegates voted to hold a national health and safety conference and three regional conferences before the next convention with funding for one member per workplace health and safety committee to attend. The convention also agreed to sponsor a national employee assistance program (EAP) conference in the same period, with funding for one delegate from each Local and to expand their equal opportunities conference by one additional member per Local.
In addition to adopting a new three-year budget, delegates agreed to a dues increase of 25 cents per member in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and rejected a move to percentage dues. They passed resolutions creating a new Political Action Committee and making the First National Vice-President a full-time, paid officer of the union.
National President Nycole Turmel commended delegates on their fightback campaign against the Canada Revenue Agency’s plans to reduce service to Canadians. New Brunswick NDP leader Elizabeth Weir encouraged delegates to continue their fight for social justice and social programs.
Betty Bannon, re-elected for her third term as UTE National President, was made a Life Member, the union’s highest honour. Long-time activist Joy Harrison was presented with the Godfroy Coté award recognizing her 35 years of union service.
In addition to President Bannon, the UTE executive for the next three years will include First National Vice-President Bob Campbell, Second National Vice-President Denis Lalancette, and Regional Vice-Presidents Linda Cassidy (Atlantic), Marcel Bertrand (Quebec), Sabri Khayat (Montreal), Chris Aylward (National Capital Region), Kent MacDonald (Northern and Eastern Ontario), Jerry Dee (Greater Toronto), Nick Stein (Southwestern Ontario), Shawn Bergeron (Prairie), Terry Dupuis (Rocky Mountains) and Pamela Abbot (Pacific).
The convention was held in Saint John, New Brunswick, from July 13 to 16. Delegates raised $1,031 for the Saint John soup kitchen in a draw organized by the Jonquière Local.
PSAC to fight for quality services
The federal government will cause a grave disservice to Canadians, particularly those living in Northern Canada, the Atlantic and Saskatchewan by closing nine Public Service Commission (PSC) offices.
“The federal government is supposed to provide services to Canadians across the country,” said Madeleine David, National Director of the Agriculture Union, a PSAC Component. “By closing the PSC District Offices, the federal government will deprive millions of Canadians with access to the quality services they have access to in larger centres.”
The district office closures will result in the loss of 94 full-time jobs and an unspecified number of term workers. David indicated that the intent of the Public Service Modernization Act is to delegate staffing functions to lower levels of management. This, in turn, requires a larger monitoring and enforcement function on the part of the PSC, which will now have a reduced capacity to fulfill it’s important mandate.
The federal government announced that it is reducing its 16 current points of service to seven locations: Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. The closures will occur in Victoria, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Iqualuit, Regina, Québec, Moncton, Charlottetown and St. John’s.
“Under the pretense of modernization and efficiency, the federal government continues to reduce the quality of services to Canadians in the most vulnerable regions of the country,” said Bob Kingston, the National Vice-President of the Agriculture Union. “Moreover, people away from the major centres have access to fewer resources; it is an injustice to reduce those resources even more.”
The PSAC and the Agriculture Union indicated that they will lobby the government and mobilize people in the communities affected in order to ensure continued quality of services to the public and the protection of jobs of its members.
Bargaining Update
PSAC workers at NAV Canada have ratified - by a 90% vote - a new multi-year agreement that will run until June 30, 2009.
The new agreement contains an economic increase of 1.5% retroactive to January 1, 2005. A further 2.25% is retroactive to July 1, 2005. Additional annual increases of 2.25%, 2.5% and 2.5% will take effect on July 1 in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively.
The union has negotiated an adjustment of $750 to all CR wage levels effective July 1, 2005, and a further adjustment of $750 effective July 1, 2007. Each adjustment is worth approximately 1.9%.
In addition to these increases, an additional 3% will be added either as an increment to the top of the wage scales or to the hourly rates effective January 1, 2007.
There are approximately 300 NAV Canada workers covered by this agreement.
PSAC served notice to bargain to Evergreen Forestry Management Limited in Hay River, NT.
PSAC members reached a tentative agreement with the Saskatoon Airport Authority. If ratified, the collective agreement will expire on June 30, 2010, and will provide 3% salary increases on July 1, every year from 2005 to 2009.
The PSAC requested the appointment of a conciliation officer for its negotiations with the I.M.P. Group - Aerospace Division in Enfield, Nova Scotia.
PSAC members ratified tentative agreements with the Hudson Bay Port in Winnipeg, with the National Battlefields Commission and with the Laurentian Pilotage Authority in Quebec City, and with the Iqaluit Housing Authority.
Local weather, please!
The transfer of weather forecasting from Gander, Newfoundland, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, could have serious consequences for the population of Newfoundland, warns the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) representing the workers at the Weather Centre in Gander.
“Newfoundland has the most volatile weather conditions in the country and also the most difficult to predict,” said Jeannie Baldwin, the PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President for the Atlantic. “It just does not make any sense to move weather forecasters away from Gander.”
For Baldwin, Canadians need access to reliable weather information, particularly at a time when weather patterns are changing and conditions becoming more unstable due to the effects of global warming and other climatic changes.
"The government has a legislative requirement to provide weather warnings," Baldwin said. " Whether Canadians are working in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, in road and building construction or just going to and from work every day or planning a holiday, they need to have information that is as accurate as possible.”
Thousands of people have already signed a petition demanding the return of weather forecasting in Gander, including local Mayor Claude Elliot, St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells, MP Scott Simms, MHA Kevin O’Brien and many more.
Baldwin believes that even with all the technological advances, large centralized weather centres can’t provide precise and specialized information about micro climates and micro weather conditions which exist outside of the major cities. In fact, she concluded, the government needs to increase the number of centres that provide weather forecasting in order to provide a reliable and timely service to Canadians.
This billboard with the PSAC National and Regional leaders is part of the campaign to keep the weather forecasting services in Gander, NF.
Nishnawbe-Aski administrative office employees join PSAC
On July 20, 2005, administrative office employees of the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service Board in Thunder Bay voted, by an overwhelming margin of 13-4, in favour of joining the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
A majority of the 21 administrative office employees signed their union cards within a week to trigger a representation vote between the PSAC and their former association. Worker organizer Diane Genier said, “Through personal research and my own personal experience, I have discovered that PSAC has a proven track record of exuding professionalism, openness, honesty and sincerity.”
The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service provides community-based policing and culturally sensitive policing to all the people of the Nishnawbe-Aski area, including First Nations’ communities across Northern Ontario. PSAC Regional Executive-Vice President Gerry Halabecki said, “PSAC is building a reputation in Northern Ontario and the success of this campaign will build upon our linkages to Aboriginal communities.
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