Union Update
March 2007
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In this issue:
Budget consultation:
PSAC is requesting an increase in federal expenditures in 2007
At a pre-budget session with the Minister of Finance, PSAC President John Gordon appealed to the government to modernize the physical and social infrastructure of Canada and give priority to quality public services delivered by the public sector.
According to Gordon, the government is now able to increase its expenditures in the public sector due to budget surpluses which, in his opinion, should be used to increase the quality of public services, not reduce taxes.
The PSAC President asked the government to re-examine the 2006 cuts which undermine equality and instead to use the budget to ‘get equality back on track’, the slogan of the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality. In other words, he believes that the operating budget of Status of Women Canada should be reestablished and that the funding of the Court Challenges Program and the Law Reform Commission be restored.
In addition, priority must be given once again to literacy and more – not fewer – resources must be provided for Aboriginal Peoples to put them on equal footing.
Gordon told the Minister that PSAC members and Canadians from coast to coast to coast want more and better services, and a greater presence by their government.
He added that he understood the numerous problems the government inherited such as a public sector and public infrastructure in crisis, obsolete equipment in departments and agencies, a social infrastructure unable to stamp out poverty and numerous other problems.
However, as Gordon sees it, increasing expenditures is part of the solution, not the problem. The same holds for public sector reform, the purpose of which is to eliminate recourse to temporary and precarious labour, a common practice in numerous federal agencies, which creates unstable employment and delivers services that more often than not are inconsistent.
In conclusion, Gordon declared that Canadians want and deserve the modernization of the physical and social infrastructure of Canada, equality put back on track, and quality public services delivered by the public sector.
Saying Good-Bye Isn’t Good Enough!
The PSAC gave its full support to the women from equality-seeking organizations who occupied the St. John’s Status of Women Canada (SWC) offices on February 22nd. These women were not satisfied with saying good-bye to their SWC office.
The SWC office in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador is one of 12 regional offices that the Harper government is closing, effective April 1st. Women in St. John’s recognize the direct contribution that SWC has made to their communities and to the women of Newfoundland and Labrador over the years.
“And they aren’t alone”, says John Gordon, PSAC National President. “Women in British Columbia occupied the SWC office in Vancouver earlier this year. Women and men from coast to coast to coast have rallied against the cuts to Status of Women Canada since they were announced in late November 2006. And unless Harper’s government wakes up, admits that equality for women has yet to be achieved, and takes responsibility for making it happen, there will be a lot more to come.”
“It’s high time for the Harper government to get equality back on track,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC Officer responsible for women’s issues and Regional Executive Vice-President for the Prairies. “Women’s equality hasn’t yet been achieved, and Status of Women Canada is part of the solution, not the problem. We’ve called for the ‘new government of Canada’ to reverse the decision to cut $5 million from SWC’s budget and close 12 out of 16 SWC regional offices.”
While Status of Women Minister Bev Oda has declared that “women are equal”, the PSAC is calling on Oda to get on the road. According to Gordon, Oda says she is listening to the women of Canada. “If that’s the case, then hold public meetings. Listen to women in communities across the country where SWC offices are closing. Hold townhall meetings with women in St. John’s, in Vancouver and in communities in between. Listen up! Because, for women in St. John’s and across Canada, saying goodbye just isn’t good enough.”
A new bargaining unit is born at the Canada Border Services Agency
Frontière-Border Services (FB)
PSAC members at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) received their own bargaining certificate from the federal Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB). They are now part of the unit called Frontière-Border Services (FB).
The new bargaining unit includes approximately 7,000 members and represents all PSAC members employed by the CBSA inland and at points of entry. The new unit also includes PSAC members providing immigration and food inspection services at CBSA.
For these PSAC members, the new certification represents an important step toward solving many issues that are specific to their place of work and duties.
“Our members at the CBSA provide very specialized services to Canadians in all regions of the country,” said PSAC National President, John Gordon. “Because of the ever increasing complexity of their functions, the members needed to be united at the bargaining table to better address their unique work issues”.
Upon receiving the receipt of the Board Order recognizing the new unit, the PSAC served notice to bargain to Treasury Board. The notification was sent on February 21, 2007.
The bargaining unit is part of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise (CEUDA). For the President of CEUDA, Ron Moran, the new bargaining certificate is huge step in the right direction though the new group has also brought on a series of classification concerns.
CEUDA is one of the seventeen (17) PSAC Components. In total, it represents approximately 9,200 members dispersed throughout Canada.
$30-billion pension surplus grab trial resumed in Ottawa
On February 26, eighteen unions, employee associations and retiree groups began presenting evidence and opening arguments in a court house in Ottawa to demonstrate that the federal government illegally grabbed the $30-billion surplus from the pension plans of federal public sector workers, including public service, RCMP and Canadian Forces employees.
The first phase of the trial began on November 15, 2005, and lasted four days as lawyers for the government tried to block 128 government documents from being presented as evidence. On December 2006, the Court ruled that the 128 documents were admissible as evidence, marking a victory in the first phase for the plaintiffs.
For the plaintiffs, the government’s expropriation of the $30-billion surplus is akin to an employer taking money from the paycheques of workers and using it to pay off the company’s debts.
On September 14, 1999, Parliament passed the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act (Bill C-78), which introduced amendments to the laws covering the three pension plans, allowing the federal government to grab the $30.2-billion surplus. In November the same year, unions representing workers affected by Bill C-78, employee associations and retiree groups filed a lawsuit against the federal government.
The presentation of evidence and expert testimony is expected to continue untill April 13 and the final arguments will be presented from April 30 to May 18, 2007.
Anti-Scab legislation in the slow wheels of Parliament
The Anti-Scab legislation (Bill C-257) is still at the Parliamentary Committee stage. The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit employers under the Canada Labour Code from hiring replacement workers to perform the duties of employees who are on strike or locked out.
The Committee that has been dealing with the Bill is the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities of the House of Commons (known as HUMA).
The week of February 8, 2007, was the last day for witnesses to present before the Committee and once again, the number of employer and business representatives far exceeded the number of presentations by unions representing working people. Technical briefings took place February 13, 2007, and the Committee moved to clause-by-clause debate on February 14 -15, 2007. The Bill is now with the Clerk’s office where the Report will be drafted and then the Bill will make its way back to the House of Commons.
The Report needs to be back in the House of Commons for two (2) hours of debate before the vote can take place (one hour of debate, break, and then a second hour of debate). The CLC is working with the Bloc and NDP to move Bill 257 up the schedule of private members’ bills. It is not expected that the Bill will be back in the House before mid-end of March at best.
In the meantime, PSAC members are encouraged to continue meeting, calling, and writing their MPs to ensure there is support for the Bill once it comes back to the House of Commons for the final vote.
Chocolate to sweeten the deal at IMP Group Limited
On Valentine’s Day, PSAC members working at IMP Group Limited poured their chocolate coated hearts out in an attempt to soften management’s stone cold heart.
In front of the company’s headquarters in Halifax, the workers distributed heart shaped chocolates to managers and other employees as they entered the building. The workers hoped their gesture will be seen as an expression of their heartfelt desire to reach a negotiated settlement with IMP Group Limited.
“We are hoping the company will realize the benefits of open and positive negotiations with the employees’ union,” said Greg Isberg, president of PSAC Union Local 21018 in Comox, British Columbia. Isberg is also a member of the PSAC negotiating team at IMP Group Limited. “We want to maintain peaceful and harmonious relationships with the company, but management seems intended on creating a confrontation,” he added.
After 5 months of negotiations, the company has agreed to settle only minor topics while the important issues of the collective agreement remain unresolved.
The PSAC had to ask the federal government to appoint a conciliation officer because of the lack of progress in the bargaining process. The conciliation process started in Halifax on February 12, 2007
IMP Group Limited has a contract with the National Defense to maintain and repair Canadian search and rescue Cormorant helicopters. On February 6 and 7, the PSAC members set up information picket lines in front of three plants of the IMP Group Limited in Comox, B.C., Trenton, ON and Gander in NFLD expressing their frustration over management’s attitude towards collective bargaining.
The workers feel that they provide Canadians with an important service: the maintenance and repair of search and rescue Cormorant helicopters. They are highly skilled and dedicated workers and they are currently the only ones with the skills to maintain and repair Cormorant helicopters in Canada. They want to ensure the safety of Canadian citizens who find themselves in need of search and rescue services, and the brave men and women of the Armed Forces who risk their lives on a daily basis - “So Others May Live”, the motto of the Search and Rescue Technicians of the Air Force.
Bargaining Update
PSAC served Notice to Bargain with the James Bay General Hospital (Moosonee, ON), Serco Aviation Services (Windsor ON), the Salvation Army Booth Centre (Ottawa), Wolfcreek Services (Fort McPherson, NT) and the Treasury Board of Canada for the Program and Administrative Services (PA), Technical Services (TC), Education and Library Science (EB), and the Frontière Border Services (FB) groups.
PSAC members reached an agreement with the non-public funds organization in Saint-Jean and Montréal. The agreement has been sent to the members for ratification. There was also a tentative agreement achieved with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in Ottawa.
PSAC members ratified collective agreements with the following employers: Cambridge Bay Housing Association (Nunavut), Library of Parliament (Ottawa) and Metcalfe Reality Company (Ottawa).
PSAC members signed collective agreements with the following employers: Arviat Housing Association, University of Western Ontario, and Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety, Kamloops Airport, The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires (Great Lakes Division) Lester B. Pearson Airport, Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and Town of Fort Smith in NWT.
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