Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

As victories go, this was a big one. A memorandum of agreement signed October 5th with Correctional Service Canada will see the Penological Factor Allowance restored to the roughly 2,000 USGE members who have been denied the longstanding allowance since the summer of 2005.

The official signing capped a 14-month struggle to see the restoration of PFA. Last July, a joint union-employer fact-finding tour of several British Columbia institutions provided all parties a thorough understanding of the workplace realities faced by the affected members.

“The loss of the PFA was a significant hardship for our members who work in federal correctional institutions” said John Gordon, PSAC National President. “I am proud that PSAC and USGE were successful in restoring the PFA, as it recognizes the dangerous work environment faced by the membership”.

John Edmunds, USGE National President, praised all the USGE members who supported the campaign to restore PFA, and in particular members of the USGE PFA Working Group: Ian Chinnery, Keith Glover and Mike Arsenault. “Without membership support and pressure, none of this would have been possible,” he said.

Edmunds also credited CSC Commissioner Coulter, Senior Deputy-Commissioner Don Head and Hélène Laurendeau, Assistant Secretary of Treasury Board’s Labour Relations Compensation Operations, for helping to bring this contentious issue to a successful conclusion.

While the restoration of PFA takes effect October 5th, the date of signing, it will take time to administer the process. Accordingly, the USGE is asking affected members not to call their compensation specialists at this time.