Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

OTTAWA — The Public Service Alliance of Canada is planning its first organizing drive of the thousands of students it claims the federal government hires every year as ”cheap labour.”

John Gordon, PSAC’s newly elected president, said the campaign is aimed at ensuring students get top-notch job opportunities and income without being ”exploited as cheap labour” and undermining the jobs and security of regular public servants.

”The youth today aren’t much different than the youth of yesterday,” said Gordon. ”When you join the workforce as a student, you learn pretty quickly that you are doing the same job as the colleague next to you but you’re not getting the same pay and benefits.”

Student employment has been a simmering issue within the union for years, especially in departments that rely heavily on cheap students such as the hundreds of customs officers hired every year to help guard Canada’s border crossings.

At last week’s convention, delegates decided the abuses of student employment should be a key priority and passed a policy to get the plan rolling. The policy was overwhelmingly approved along with a $350,000 budget to launch it.

The plan calls for PSAC to bargain the terms and conditions of all student employment, including wages. It also intends to work with the Canadian Federation of Students to develop ”best practices” in the hiring and recruitment of students.

For PSAC, it would mean more union dues and better job security for its existing members. For students, PSAC says it would mean higher wages, benefits and better career-oriented jobs, especially for those hired for ”menial” tasks.

The government has a slew of student hiring programs which attract thousands of applicants. The biggest and most popular is the summer program, The Federal Student Work Experience Program, which is typically swamped with more than 90,000 applicants for some 7,000 jobs scattered in more than 55 departments and agencies.

The students fill out their applications listing their skills and backgrounds, to be sorted by the commission’s computerized matching system that refers them to managers with jobs that demand those skills. A short list is then referred to the managers who review the resumes and follow up with interviews and reference checks.

Student programs began as a way to provide students jobs so they could earn money to return to school and continue their education. According to the government’s own policy, student jobs are supposed to enrich students’ academic program; help fund their education; develop their skills and future employment opportunities and expose them to career options in the public service.

But PSAC argues the problem is the government exploits many students as a cheap labour supply even though its policy clearly says ‘’students are not to be regarded as lower-cost alternatives to regular employees.”

Union officials say students are often thrown into jobs with little training, putting themselves, the workers around them and Canadians they serve at risk. They are also given regular jobs at lower rates of pay, undermining the job security of public servants.

Gordon said PSAC has long fought the hiring of students as customs guards who are asked to do the job of regular customs officers at reduced wages.

”You can’t say they are in entry jobs when they are put on the front line of border crossings where they have to make the judgment of whether someone should be allowed in or not,” said Gordon.

The Conservatives, however, have decided to arm customs guards, which many argue will mean the government will likely hire more customs officers because it will no longer be able to rely on unarmed students.

PSAC argues students became such a critical part of the Canada’s border operations the Canada Border Services Agency factored their employment into their budgets. A recent study showed getting rid of students would require an additional 1,300 person years.

The proposal will test the spirit of the new Public Service Modernization Act, which is supposed to replace the old confrontational style of federal labour relations with a new collaborative and problem-solving approach.

Gordon said the union will initiate discussions with Treasury Board about its proposals before taking the issue to the bargaining table.

The strategy is also aimed at educating students about the role of unions in the workplace and society. Some argue younger workers, especially those 18 to 35 years old, consider unions outdated and irrelevant and believe workers should be paid according to performance.

The union also complains that many students are saddled with menial jobs and its plan is aimed at improving the type of jobs and opportunities offered them. Many companies, for example, hire students for highly skilled and technical jobs with an eye to screen and recruit their future workforce and the government should do the same.

One of the key wage issues is that students are paid different wages depending on whether they are high school, college, university or graduate students and what region they work in. The government now has 10 different regional pay scales for students.

PSAC has fought against regional rates of pay for its blue-collar workers for years, arguing they should receive the same wage regardless of where they work. Over the years, the union has managed to get regional rates reduced to two Eastern and Western Canada.

One of PSAC’s senior executives will be responsible for implementing the campaign. A key part of the plan is meeting with the 17 quasi-independent unions under the PSAC banner to develop a handbook on student hiring practices and create a central office to report any abuses. Members will also be trained on potential abuses so they can spot and report them.

Other measures include:

• Identify abuses of student employment and bring them to the attention of the government, employees and Canadians.
• Track use of students in bargaining unit positions to ensure they are not being used to reduce jobs of regular workers.
• Develop an inhouse student employment program for PSAC.
• Lobby Treasury Board and other federal employers to ensure student employment benefits students without affecting job security of public servants.
• Take action to ensure students are properly trained so they don’t risk the safety of themselves, employees and Canadians.

source: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=88f2cf66-fa20-4821-ac64-5042a1b9fefa&k=57872