Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

OTTAWA, Sept. 12 - The Corps of Commissionaires is making excessive profits at the expense of both the Commissionaires they employ and Canadian taxpayers, according to Ed Cashman, Regional Executive Vice-President for the National Capital Region of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the union representing the Commissionaires in Ottawa.

Cashman made the statement this morning. For Cashman, it is unacceptable for the Corps to be pocketing money that should go to its workers.

“The Corps receives 80 cents an hour per Commissionaire from Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) to pay its workers a bilingual premium while the Commissionaires receive only 35 cents an hour, a difference of 45 cents,” says Cashman. “In Ottawa alone, there are about 3,000 Commissionaires. This represents a huge amount of money.”

In a letter to Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, Cashman has requested an investigation into that practice by the Corps.

“Our membership believes that Canadians must receive value for money when purchasing goods and services,” Cashman wrote. “While suppliers may be entitled to reasonable profit margin, we question why there is such a considerable difference between the bilingual premiums paid by PWGSC to the Corps and the premiums received by the Commissionaires to provide bilingual service.”

The PSAC is currently negotiating a first collective agreement for the Commissionaires providing security guard services at the Health Canada buildings in Ottawa. The negotiations started 14 months ago and the Corps still refuses to negotiate the monetary aspects of the contract.

“The Corps of Commissionaires has made the entire process extremely difficult,.” says Cashman. “But we intend to persevere because our members deserve a fair and equitable collective agreement.”

Corps representatives recently walked out of a meeting with a conciliation officer when the time came to discuss salaries.

“The managers of the Corps want to impose salaries on the workers without any discussions,” says Cashman. “It’s unacceptable. They need to move into the 21st century and update their approach to labour relations.”