Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

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.”

In the Canadian context, Roundtable founder and CEO Bill Wilkerson says depression is the fastest growing source of disability in the country, accounting for 75 per cent of long-term disability and about 40 per cent of short-term disability.

The Citizen Headline writer claims that the “Number of depressed workers claiming disability doubles in a decade.” In fact, the number of workers claiming disability benefits as a result of mental health issues increased by 41% from 602 in 1991 to 856 in 2002.

So why the increase?

First, I suspect that the stigma associated with mental illness has dissipated to a degree and more federal public sector workers are seeking the help that they both need and deserve.

Second, over-worked federal public sector workers in high demand/low control jobs react to stress and the challenges of maintaining an appropriate work-life balance like other workers. Diagnosed or not, significant numbers of federal public sector workers will develop mental health issues as a result of the stress they face on the job.

The government must halt its incessant restructuring and seriously address the issue of understaffing - particularly on the front lines where PSAC members are encountering a public that is increasingly frustrated by longer wait times and the move toward a client self-service model.

If some of the recommendations contained in the Lahey report are implemented, the restructuring will continue unabated and worker stress will increase as will disability claims.

Moreover, if implemented, a central recommendation in the Lahey report will make the situation that much worse. The recommendation that workers be provided with an allowance to select benefits from a menu of choices may sound like a good idea but the efficacy of “cafeteria style benefits” has long been discredited.

Under this model, working women in their twenties could be forced to make a choice between maternity leave, disability or pension benefits. This is clearly discriminatory. Similarly, young workers with little seniority who may be tempted to opt for more vacation over disability insurance may put themselves in the position of betting that the stress of the job - or any one of a host of other debilitating diseases - doesn’t strike them a decade or two down the road.

Cafeteria style benefits are bad labour relations from both an employer and an employee perspective and poor public policy in general.

John Gordon, National President