Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Here are a few photos of PSAC staff and members taken over the last couple of weeks … click the thumbnails for a larger view.

Cheers to PSAC/CEIU local 20901 for organizing their members and other co-workers at Library Square to take part in a lunch time solidarity action for their neighbours, the CUPE Local 391 Library Workers who have been on strike for five weeks. PSAC/CEIU local 20901 also made a donation to the CUPE local, and CUPE members on the line expressed their sincere appreciation for the effort and support.

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On Labour Day this year, the Public Service Alliance of Canada celebrates with working Canadians the recent landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, affirming that the right to collective bargaining is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That decision was a great victory for all working people and a stern reminder to governments that they cannot run roughshod over the rights of workers and erase the hard-won gains of collective bargaining by legislative fiat.

Looking forward, the PSAC remains committed to standing up for quality public services both as an expression of core Canadian values and as a legitimate and effective investment in the nation’s social and physical infrastructure. Many of our over 160,000 members work everyday to protect the health and safety of Canadians and to improve the nation’s environment and culture. The work they do for the public good is the very embodiment of the collective Canadian vision of a fair, equitable and healthy Canada where no one gets left behind.

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$10 minimum wage critical as BC’s economic boom bypasses provinces’ working families and key region

BC’s current economic boom is bypassing working families, according to a Labour Day analysis prepared by the B.C. Federation of Labour, forcing them to work longer hours just to stand still while corporate profits rise and CEOs take home massive pay increases.

• Sign the minimum wage petition @ bcfed.com
• Download a copy of the report (pdf)

“A $10 minimum wage would help nearly 250,000 working people who are at or below the poverty line,” says B.C. Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair. “Despite positive economic news, most British Columbians are not seeing their incomes improve and some regions are actually experiencing declining employment. BC has a very high level of people living in poverty. To them, this is not the ‘best place on earth’ as provincial propaganda suggests.”

The Federation issued a review of the provincial economy to support its call for a $10 minimum wage – which has been frozen by the Campbell Liberals at $8 per hour since 2001. The increase would bring 246,000 British Columbians up to the poverty line with particular benefits for women and younger workers, who make up a large share of BC’s low-paid workforce.

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<small>via BC Federation of Labour</small>

John Graham faces extradition to the United States without any evidence having been presented to a Canadian judge – find out why at a public forum:

• Thursday August 23rd, 7:00 pm
• YWCA Hotel, 733 Beatty St. (two blocks south of Stadium Sky Train)

For more information visit GrahamDefense.org

The application deadline is Friday, August 24^th.

The theme for our Conference is “Women and the Environment: Our Health, Our Families, Our Communities, Our Jobs”

Are you worried about how environmental degradation is affecting your health? your family? your community? your job? your leisure time? your safety? What’s happening to our environment is a women’s issue and a union issue.

Join with other union women at our upcoming women’s conference to learn more about what is happening to our environment, hear from union sisters who work in the front line federal departments about how government cutbacks are undermining our ability to protect each other, network with others in the union and community who are working together to save our planet, and find out how you can get involved.

The Conference will take place September 28,29,30 2007 at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, Burnaby, BC.

Apply on line here, or download an application form (pdf) and mail or fax it back to the Vancouver Regional Office. Please note the application deadline is Aug 24^th, and the resolution deadline is Aug 17^th. Resolutions may be submitted by PSAC constitutionally-recognized bodies and union structures.

Ottawa – The federal government has sold nine government buildings for more than $600 million less than their actual value to Larco Investments Ltd., according to an analysis conducted by the economic research firm Informetrica Ltd.

Prior to the government announcing the sale, PSAC members leafleted Sinclair Centre while REVP Kay Sinclair held a joint press conference with President of the BC Federation of Labour, Jim Sinclair and Janet Sinclair, daughter of the buildings namesake – read more at globeandmail.com and canada.com.

Informetrica values the prime federal properties at almost $2.3 billion, yet Public Works and Government Services Canada announced today the sale of the buildings for only $1.64 billion.

“This is a give-away of colossal proportion. In addition to ceding ownership of nine premium properties, the federal government has, in effect, written a $630 million cheque signed by Canadian taxpayers,” said Patty Ducharme, National Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada which commissioned the Informetrica report.

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Daughter of former federal cabinet minister James Sinclair joins public service union, BC Fed to urge federal government to drop sale of historic Sinclair Centre named after her father

Vancouver – Janet Sinclair, the daughter of former federal Liberal government cabinet minister James Sinclair, has joined the union for public service workers and the BC Federation of Labour in urging the Conservative government to drop plans to sell the historic Sinclair Centre that is named after her father.

• Send an email to your MP: Stop The Sale!

The federal government has requested bids for nine buildings across Canada, including the Sinclair Centre, located at 757 West Hastings Street, and is expected to announce its decision today to sell them and lease them back, says Kay Sinclair, Public Service Alliance of Canada BC Vice President.

“We are urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to not sell the Sinclair Centre or the other buildings and keep these public assets that benefits all taxpayers, Sinclair said. “Why would the government want to be a renter when it’s already an owner?”

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SPP Montebello Summit August 20-21, 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet with US President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at Montebello on August 20-21 2007, to discuss the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). What will be on the agenda? We can only guess at this point, because all of the meetings to review the progress of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) have taken place in secret so far.

• Join protests across Canada against the SPP …
• Rally in Vancouver – Monday Aug 20th, 5:30 PM, Vancouver Art Gallery (south side).

The SPP – which is being implemented without any public discussion or parliamentary debate – is about eliminating Canada’s ability to set its own independent regulatory standards, environmental protection measures, energy security, foreign, military, immigration and a frighteningly wide range of other policies.

• What is the SPP? Security and Prosperity for whom? A series of fact sheets at the national website.
• Read John Gordon’s letter to Stephen Harper regarding the SPP (pdf).

The summit brings together a US president whose policies are backed by hardly a quarter of his own people, a Mexican president whose election is highly disputed, and a Canadian Prime Minister heading a minority government. The decisions they make will have no legitimacy and will affect the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the human rights and civil liberties we enjoy.

At the request of your negotiating team, UTE National President Betty Bannon met with CRA representatives in order to obtain more bargaining dates.

The union’s aim is to negotiate a new agreement as quickly as possible, preferably before the October 31st expiry date of the current agreement.

CRA has now agreed to add some additional dates to the bargaining calendar. Your team will be meeting with the employer from September 17 to 21 as well as from September 24 to 28. Another session had already been scheduled for October 22 to 26.

Your team will be issuing more information bulletins once bargaining resumes in September.

The Globe & Mail, Aug 16 2006

The Canadian Medical Association has recently recommended that private competition be introduced into medicare by allowing physicians to bill patients (or private insurance plans) for services that are covered by medicare, and allowing medicare to purchase covered services from for-profit private facilities.

Those who champion privatization claim these modifications of Canada’s publicly funded health-care system would save money, help eliminate waiting times and possibly even improve the quality of care.

Policy-makers need only look to the United States for the evidence such claims have no merit. The U.S. experience shows that private, for-profit medical insurance and investor-owned medical facilities are a bad deal for the public, and that a health-care system that encourages physicians to behave like private entrepreneurs leads to extravagant costs.

Those who would deny this obvious evidence are either blinded by unshakable faith in market ideology or are biased by their interests in businesses that profit from the privatization of health care.

Read more at globeandmail.com.

The PSAC BC Regional Education Program is coming to your neighborhood!

• Penticton: August 21st, 2007, 5pm to 8pm – Lakeside Resort, 21 Lakeshore Drive West, Merlot Room
• Kelowna: August 22nd, 2007, 5pm to 8pm – Coast Capri Hotel, 1171 Harvey Avenue, Shiraz Room
• Vernon: August 23rd, 2007, 5pm to 8pm – Best Western, 3914 32nd Street, Okanagan Room

We want to hear from you: share your thoughts and feedback on union education and courses for your area!

• Help shape the future of the regional education program!
• Join us for some great food, company and conversation!
• Meet other PSAC members and staff!
• Refreshments will be served.

For more information, please contact Amal Rana (Regional Education Officer) at the Vancouver Regional Office @ 1.800.663.1655 or ranaa@psac.com

Cheers to Alistair Crawford, NAT 20088, for these photos of the Multi-Union Pride float taken at the parade last weekend. REVPs Kay Sinclair (BC) and Jeannie Baldwin (Atlantic) marched alongside dozens of other union members. Click the thumbnails for larger versions – there are more photos at the BC Federation of Labour website.

Union Bargaining Team Brings Student Work Issue to the Table – PSAC bargaining team proposes union wages for students doing union work

In the workplace and by submitting contract demands, union members across the country have expressed concerns about Parks Canada practices regarding student employment at our worksites.

• Visit www.psacbc.com/parks-bulletins/ and enter your email address to automatically receive negotiation updates as they are issued.

In response to these concerns, and as an important part of PSAC’s Defending Quality Public Services campaign, this past spring your elected bargaining team submitted proposals in nego-tiations with Parks Canada concerning student workers.

Your bargaining team has taken the following positions at the bargaining table:

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Workers in Toronto to join global protests against the abduction and imprisonment of Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi

OTTAWA – Canadian workers will mark an International Day of Action this Thursday, August 9 to protest the Iranian government’s arrest and imprisonment of two of that country’s prominent labour leaders.

Trade unionists and activists around the world are worried about the safety and
well-being of Mansour Osanloo, President of the ITF affiliated bus workers’ union Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed (Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company). Mansour was reported as kidnapped on July 10th as he was getting off of a bus.

• Rally in Vancouver – join BC Federation of Labour, BC Teachers Federation, VDLC, CAW Local 111 & 333, Hospital Employees Union and other unions
• Time: 17:00 to 19:00 , Thursday, August 9, 2007, Vancouver Art Gallery, Howe & Robson

On July 12th it was confirmed that Osanloo has been imprisoned. Just days before his abduction, Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti had the pleasure of meeting Mansour as he addressed the ITUC General Council in Brussels. This was the first time that the ITUC – or for that matter its predecessor, the ICFTU welcomed an independent Iranian trade union leader from inside the country to its meetings.

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Vancouver Prison Justice Day, Friday, August 10th

Speakers and Performers

Join us at 7 p.m. at Trout Lake Park (E. 15th and Victoria) at the Claire Culhane Memorial Bench (in the southeast corner) to hear ex-prisoners and prisoners’ rights activists speak on justice issues such as the danger of passing the Conservative government’s U.S. style crime bills into law.

This is a memorial rally in honour of Harriet Nahanee, Dec. 7, 1935 – Feb 24, 2007

Vancouver Workers are Rising – UNITE HERE Local 40

• Rally & March – Friday, August 10, 4:15 pm
• Vancouver Art Gallery, Downtown Vancouver

Rally at the Art Gallery and march to the Downtown Hotels to hear workers speak on and about the working conditions in the service industry. Join them in their struggle for respect and justice on the job.

Minutes of the Regional Council Meeting

October 28 & 29, 2006

Continue reading below or download the BC Regional Council meeting minutes (pdf)

To the editor,

RE: Mental leaves in PS Soar (The Ottawa Citizen, July 31, 2007 – read the article at canada.com )

To suggest that mental health absences in the Public Service are soaring is more than a stretch. More troubling is the possibility that your article will discourage workers suffering from depression from seeking the help they need.

Mental health is a growing issue for the global workforce, not just federal public sector workers. According to the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health:

“Depression is the leading source of disability in the world and as a percentage of the burden of disease, it is growing faster in the global population than cardiovascular disorders yet it remains under researched, under diagnosed and under treated.”

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4th Annual Vancouver Dyke March, Saturday, August 4th

Join us at 12 p.m. at McSpadden Park at 5th and Victoria Drive to begin the march down Commercial Drive to Grandview Park where there will be a great line-up of performers. The organizers of the Dyke March hope that people of all ages “will enjoy an afternoon of visibility, pride, music, community art and merry-making the day before the annual Pride Parade.”

Vancouver Pride Parade, Sunday August 5th

All LGBT labour activists and allies are invited to join REVP Kay Sinclair, members of the PSAC BC Human Rights and the Multi Union Pride Committees on Sunday, August 5^th at this year’s Pride Parade in Vancouver.

• More about Pride Week in Vancouver: www.vancouverpride.ca
• Email for more info about Multi Union Pride: multiunionpride@gmail.com

The marshalling begins at 11:00 am in front of Capers on Robson Street. (If marchers cannot find the Multi Union Pride group, there is a point person at the West End Community Centre to direct the way.)

The Parade begins at noon and is always a fun event where everyone is welcome. Come join in the celebration!

PS unions scoff at idea to end right to strike; Federal workers dismiss call for dispute-solving alternative

No way.

That sums up the response of the largest public service union to a federal study that calls for a new collective bargaining system for government workers that removes their right to strike.

“It’s a non-starter,” Patty Ducharme, national executive vice-president of the 150,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada, said yesterday. “Quite honestly, I think it’s a non-starter for the government as well.”

The reaction was similar, though less emphatic, from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). “The stars would have to be perfectly aligned for us to consider something like that,” said Johanne Bray, PIPSC’s manager of policy and national representational activities.

The wide-ranging study, known as the Lahey report after its lead author, senior bureaucrat James Lahey, questions whether the current conciliation/strike model is appropriate for public servants.

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PSAC members with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have ratified their tentative agreement. Arrangements will now be made to sign the new collective agreement which expires on December 31, 2007. Preparation for the next round of bargaining will begin soon. Discussions are underway to begin negotiations with the employer early in the fall.

For more information visit the national website.