Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Feds receive bids for purchase of Sinclair Centre, other sites; Ottawa yet to decide if it will proceed with sale and leaseback of buildings

Potential buyers have submitted bids on Vancouver’s historic Sinclair Centre and eight other federal buildings across Canada, though Minister of Public Works Michael Fortier says no decision has been made to sell.

Speculation is that properties together would be worth more than $1 billion, but government officials have not revealed what prices bidders are willing to pay.

• Read John Gordon’s letter to Stephen Harper re the sale of government buildings
• Video: Stop the sale of government buildings - rally in Ottawa

Public Works and Government Services Canada did hire the real estate divisions of BMO Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets to advise it on the potential sale and leaseback of 40 government-owned buildings, from which nine were singled out as good candidates.

And those advisers have put that list of nine properties, which includes the Sinclair Centre and the government office tower at 401 Burrard Street, out for offers and were actively marketing them between May 1 and June 12.

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Roy Mah passed away on June 22, 2007 at the age of 89.

Mah was born in Edmonton in 1918. In 1943 at the age of 25, Mah was recruited as a union organizer for the IWA while still a history student at the University of Victoria. He was also the Secretary of the Chinese Youth Association in Victoria.

Even though he was born in Canada, Roy and thousands of other Chinese Canadians were not recognized as citizens. Roy attended a segregated school in Victoria and instinctively rebelled against inequality and other forms of discrimination.

As an IWA organizer, Roy began organizing workers of Chinese origin into the Victoria local of the IWA. He traveled up and down the Coast organizing workers in such places as Duncan, Youbou, Nanaimo, Comox, and Port Alberni.

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The Public Service Alliance of Canada has called on the Prime Minister to mandate the Auditor General of Canada to review the federal government’s plan to sell nine office buildings and lease them back from the new owners. The text of the PSAC’s letter to the Prime Minister is below.

June 27, 2007

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister:

The sale of nine office buildings owned by Canadians will lead to one of the largest sales of public assets ever, assuming the government endorses Minister Fortier’s view that the federal government should not be in the business of owning real estate assets.

This transaction is taking place behind such a heavy veil of secrecy it may well do harm to your call for greater transparency and openness in government. To date, Minister Fortier has refused to release any details related to any aspect of the transaction.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada has deep concerns about the merits of the sale and lease back plan and serious questions about its costs and benefits. We believe that taxpayers will pay $2 in leasing costs for every $1 gained in proceeds from the sale of the buildings.

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The negotiating teams for all five PSAC Treasury Board bargaining units were in negotiations this month. In addition to bargaining, the teams held a joint meeting on June 9 to share information. Here’s what happened at each bargaining table.

Our Program and Administrative Services (PA) negotiating team met with Treasury Board from June 5th to 7th/8th. They made a presentation to the employer on language training and will be tabling language on this issue during the next set of meetings. A number of articles currently in the collective agreement were signed off as renewed. These were articles for which neither side had any demands. Every member of the team had the opportunity to speak to one or more of our demands at the table and to engage with the employer on issues specific to this bargaining unit.

Our Operational Services (SV) team also met with Treasury Board on June 5th to 7th. The Union responded to and asked a number of questions of clarification on several items, and the parties traded preliminary thoughts on outstanding classification and apprenticeship issues. The parties also signed off on 19 renewable articles on which no demands had been made by either side, and which are not impacted by any new proposals, and a handful of editorial changes required as a result of the Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA).

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The PSAC stands in strong support with the Assembly of First Nations’ National Day of Action to Make Poverty History. We encourage all members across the country to participate in the actions taking place on June 29, and in the AFN’s Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign.

In Vancouver: Solidarity for Aboriginal justice

• March and Rally
• March: 11:00 AM - Vanier Park to Library Square
• (Begin assembling at 9:30, Coast Guard Station by the Burrard St Bridge)
• Rally: 12:00 Noon - Library Square (300 West Georgia)
• more info: (604) 684-0231 or www.ubcic.bc.ca/NDOA.htm or NDOA@ubcic.bc.ca

The Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign highlights the struggles facing First Nations people and communities. First Nations and all Canadians must take action together and demand that Canada’s political leaders honour their commitments to end poverty.

Too many First Nations children, elders, families and communities are living in conditions that should not be acceptable to anyone in Canada:

• 1 in 4 First Nations children live in poverty.
• First Nations youth commit suicide at 5 to 8 times the Canadian rate as a result of poverty and despair.
• High school graduation rates for First Nations youth are half the Canadian rate.
• Close to 1 in 4 First Nations communities are under boil drinking water advisories.
• Mould contaminates almost half of all First Nations homes.
• More than half of First Nations people are not employed.
• Diabetes among First Nations people is at least three times the national average.
• First Nations suffer from Third World diseases such as tuberculosis at 8 to 10 times the rate of Canadians in general.

More than half of First Nations people are under 23 years of age. If poverty is not addressed today, it will continue to negatively impact First Nations families and communities into the future.

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• Thursday, June 28, 7 pm
• BCGEU HQ Auditorium
• 4911 Canada Way, Burnaby (half block west of Norland, entrance at Iris Crescent)

Join other Asian Canadian union members at a meeting of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance to discuss plans for upcoming events. (Light Refreshments will be provided.)

The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance provides a forum for Asian Canadian Union members to connect, encourages the increased participation of Asian Canadian union members in the labour movement, and works to strengthen the relationship between labour and our Asian Canadian communities.

For more information about the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, or for directions to the meeting please contact: Lorene Oikawa at 604-291-9611 or via email.

Your PSAC negotiating team reached a tentative agreement on June 20th for our members working at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. This is a one-year agreement that includes a salary increase of 2.5% effective January 1, 2007. The agreement would expire at the end of 2007.

The tentative agreement contains changes to reflect new provisions in the Public Service Modernization Act regarding union leave (the replacement of Conciliation Boards with Public Interest Commissions) and a Grievance Article to reflect our ability to file Group and Policy grievances.

The Maternity and Parental Articles were also updated to reflect the improvements gained as a result of the introduction of the changes made in the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan.

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Here are some photos taken at recent PSAC and related events … updated June 28^th

Advanced Stewards Training in Vancouver

Members from many different components & locals came together at the beginning of the month to take four-day Advanced Steward Training courses held in Vancouver & Victoria. The objectives of the course were:

• To identify the roles and responsibilities of PSAC Stewards.
• To develop participants’ confidence in their ability to be effective Stewards in the workplace.
• To increase participants’ understanding of how to empower and motivate members.
• To provide participants with the opportunity to develop and practice the skills necessary to be effective advocates in representing their members.
• To motivate participants to use their knowledge and skills as Stewards to establish an effective union presence at the workplace.

Stewards from across the province built on their knowledge, skills and confidence so that they could provide effective representation in the workplace and mobilize members. Here are some photos, click the thumbnails for a larger view.

Visit the PSAC photo gallery for all the pictures taken at the Advanced Steward Training course in Vancouver.

Here are the members in Victoria who took the AST, click for a larger view …

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June 21st is the summer solstice, marked for centuries by many Aboriginal communities as a day to celebrate their heritage. In 1996, the Parliament of Canada proclaimed June 21st as the National Aboriginal Day.

For the PSAC, it is a day to express solidarity with Aboriginal Peoples as well as a day to recognize and celebrate the contributions of the Aboriginal Peoples in our communities.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis people have and continue to make important contributions in their struggles for social justice, equality and workers’ and human rights.

Their struggles are numerous, given the failure of successive governments to address Aboriginal poverty, access to education, employment, housing, water, health care and access to other basic infrastructures and social services within the Aboriginal communities.

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PSAC held a demonstration in downtown Ottawa yesterday to protest the Conservative government’s plan to sell off and lease back valuable federal government buildings.

• Pictures at the national website.

PSAC National President John Gordon, and REVP-NCR Ed Cashman delivered speeches in downtown Ottawa yesterday against the government’s plan to sell off the buildings … here’s the video on youtube.

By Bill Tieleman

But even by his own steamroller standards, Premier Campbell violated a basic covenant on the weekend by forcibly rewriting legal, negotiated contracts that were still in force. If he is not prepared to respect so basic a legal agreement, what other contracts is he prepared to rip up? This is not reform. It is legislative vandalism.

- Globe and Mail editorial on Bill 29, Jan. 30, 2002

Canada’s highest court has ruled that Premier Gordon Campbell’s “legislative vandalism” is illegal.

On Friday the Supreme Court of Canada looked at B.C. Liberal legislation that ripped up freely negotiated, legal collective agreements and rejected it.

It is a stunning and welcome repudiation of reprehensible actions that took away the jobs of about 8,000 health-care workers through privatization.

Those same workers, who were so terribly mistreated, should now be compensated by the Campbell government.

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The Joint Learning Program is pleased to invite you to the JLP Open House

• Monday, June 18, 2007
• Ramada Plaza Hotel, 36035 North Parellel Road, Abbotsford, BC
• 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Come and learn about the benefits of the Joint Learning Program at this highly interactive, inclusive, barrier-free event. Refreshments will be served.

Contact Susan Jardine or Julie Balantes with any questions or inquiries.

OTTAWA – Today is the closing day for bids on nine choice pieces of federal government real estate in some of Canada’s hottest markets.  The sell off is a bad deal for Canadians but it can and must be stopped says the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

The Conservative government is in the process of selling off federal government buildings and arranging to lease them back for 25 years.

“The Conservatives are willing to trade short-term cash gain for long-term taxpayer pain,” says PSAC National President John Gordon.  “Rent payments over the life of the leases will be double the sale price.”

The government will be guaranteeing rent for 100% of the space for 25 years.  “Where is the incentive to find tenants at the Skyline Complex in Ottawa, a property on the block that currently has an occupancy rate of less than 10%, when taxpayers are picking up the tab?” says Gordon.

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via BC Federation of Labour

The WCB has introduced new regulations this year aimed at improving safety for late night retail workers working alone. The regulations include a risk assessment for workers working alone who are at risk of violence, and prepayment of gas. There will also be requirements for employers to ensure the safety of workers by separating workers from customers with a barrier such as a locked door, and to have two people on during the late night hours.

• Email the WCB and tell them you support tougher laws to protect late night retail workers.

WCB will be holding public hearings in June 2007 to review these regulations. For more information visit the BC Federation of Labour.

OTTAWA — In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada on Friday declared for the first time that collective bargaining rights are protected in the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The court was ruling on the B.C. Government’s introduction of a law in 2002 that effectively canceled collective agreements for health-care workers and resulted in mass layoffs. The court gave the B.C. government, which imposed the law to cope with soaring health-care costs, a year to deal with the fallout of the decision before it takes effect.

A majority of judges concluded several sections of the legislation violated section two of the charter, which protects freedom of association.

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First meetings held with Parks Canada

The first meetings with the employer for this round of negotiations took place on May 24 and 25. The first day, the union reviewed and explained its demands for the employer. On the second day, Parks Canada did the same. Both parties had an opportunity to ask questions and get clarification about each other’s demands.

• Keep up to date with Parks Canada Agency bargaining: visit this page and sign up for the BC regional Parks Negotiations updates!

Negotiations will continue at the next set of negotiations that are scheduled to take place from June 18-22. An update on the progress of bargaining will be published soon after these meetings.

Regional Mobilization Committee Meeting

PSAC/PCA Local representatives met in Richmond BC on May 9 to strategize around this round of negotiations. Specifically, the group discussed collective bargaining under the new Public Service Labour Relations Act; building our communication networks both inside and outside our Locals and mobilizing the membership during negotiations and at an impasse. Lastly, we discussed how we will assess our effectiveness as a committee.
The participants at this important meeting were: Amandeep Johal, Jon Barss, Dawn Kelly, Alistair Crawford, Lonnie Young, Steve Houston, Lise Edwards, Jeanne Freer, Blandine Baritaud and Mas Matsushita. The meeting was chaired by both Dave Jackson and James Little from the PSAC Victoria Regional Office.