Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

By Pieta Woolley
Publish Date: December 13, 2007

On weekday mornings, Nancy Liang leaves her home in Coquitlam and drives her two-year-old son to his daycare, which is in a grey industrial-business zone in Richmond. The building that contains his child-care centre looks dismal. A furniture store takes up the whole first floor. It borders a gravel parking lot and is across the street from a cement factory. Truck traffic on Sea Island Way trundles by.

But on the second floor of the two-storey building sit the spacious offices of Syscon Justice Systems, a software company that designs computer programs for jails and prisons. This is where Liang works as an application developer and where little Bernard Liu attends daycare with seven other kids aged one to five.

Workplace childcare is relatively new to Canada, but it’s poised to revolutionize how the service is delivered. This year, both the B.C. and federal governments changed laws to make workplace daycares more attractive to businesses. The City of Vancouver will consider a report in the spring of 2008 that could facilitate on-site daycare in office buildings. However, some child-care lobbyists–who have been fighting for a taxpayer-funded system for three decades–hate the idea. (more…)

Here are a few photos of PSAC events & activities over the last month …

Members at the Service Canada office in Nelson supported their TB bargaining teams last week, click the thumbnails for a larger view. Cheers to Sheila Pearce, Treasury Board Area Strike Coordinator for the South Kootenays, for the photos. Visit this webpage to find out how to keep up to date with TB bargaining, or send a message to your TB strike coordinator.

Members of CEIU Local 20975 - the Victoria Service Canada office - held their AGM, and re-elected Mandi Schubert as the President. Congratulations Mandi, and thanks for the photos!

The PSAC Regional Staff conference took place last week in Victoria. The Director of the Regional Offices Branch, Penny Bertrand (in black) presented Dave Jackson and Janet Routledge with their long service pins - 20 and 30 years respectively!

… an ongoing series of articles and information of interest to PSAC stewards. See more at the stewards network pages.

PSAC members covered under the National Joint Council directives (TB, CFIA and CRA) will find the following adjudication decision of some importance. The PIPSC decision interprets the expression sole caregiver as defined in the NJC Travel Directive.

TRAVEL ALLOWANCE - EXPENSE ALLOWANCE

Travel Directive – Reimbursement of dependant-care expenses – Whether the grievor was the “sole caregiver” at the time of travel

The grievor incurred expenses for the care of his two sons while he was on business travel – at that time, his wife was also on business travel – his wife was not employed in the public service – the employer denied the grievor’s claim for reimbursement of dependant-care expenses – the adjudicator found that, in the circumstances, the grievor was the sole caregiver of his sons at the time of travel and that he was entitled to be reimbursed for the dependant-care expenses that he incurred as a result of travelling on business.

Grievance allowed.

Read the full decision at the PSLRB website.

If you want to keep up to date on what activities are going on for TB bargaining in the B.C. region and nationally please sign up for our regional list-serve here.

There is also have a link dedicated to TB bargaining on our regional website - look for !
This week: TB-Area Coordinators are distributing an info flyer on current negotiations. Please help get these flyers out to your members, Union boards, lunch rooms. Help spread the word, support your bargaining teams!

In Solidarity, Monica Urrutia, TB-RSC for BC Mainland

OTTAWA – Conservative ideology has triumphed over the needs of Canadians in the latest federal budget according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

“This budget is a medley of misguided priorities,” says PSAC National President John Gordon. “The Harper government’s obsession with deficit reduction continues unabated with more than $10 billion going to pay down the debt this year, money that should have been invested in Canadians.”

“Continued debt reduction at a time when Canada may be facing an economic slowdown is not sound economic policy. Conservatives have once again missed an opportunity to use the surplus to invest in the health and well-being of Canadians through a national pharmacare or child care and early learning program or a comprehensive environmental protection plan.”

(more…)

On February 26 the Harper government will present its 2008 federal budget, making choices that directly affect the quality of our lives.

Up to now, this government’s budget choices have been very bad for many Canadians. Their tax cuts and overly aggressive debt repayment have reduced the level of public services that Canadians need and expect. Adequate responses to climate change, affordable housing, child-care, post secondary education, accessible health care, equality for women, minorities and aboriginal Canadians cannot be financed by their tax cuts and near-obsession with debt repayment.

Canadian families are working 200 more hours a year on average than only 10 years ago. Eighty percent (80%) of Canadian families are taking home a smaller share of the economic pie than families did a generation ago. Corporate profit is at a 40-year high, but that wealth is not being shared.

For these reasons and many more Canadians need to seriously reflect on the choices that the Harper government will make in the latest federal budget.

There is an alternative: A budget you can count on

Each year the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives consults with a wide range of community groups, unions and others to create an Alternative Federal Budget.

Its recommendations are analyzed and costed by economists who are as equally well respected as those the government depends on. They simply have different views about how the economy can help Canadians and how different choices are possible and preferable.

When the latest federal budget is released on February 26, you decide whether the choices the Harper government has made will really benefit Canadians.

Read more, including the complete alternative federal budget, at the national website.

The Finance Department has advised that they will be sending out T-4’s for members who claimed loss of salary for 2007, this week. If you are expecting a T-4 and do not receive it in the near future, please contact your Regional Office.

The Vancouver & Victoria offices have also received a quantity of 2008/09 personal leave charts, please give us a call if you would like some for your Local.

Another in an ongoing series of handouts, news and information that will be of interest to PSAC stewards …

The Duty of Fair Representation - What the law says

The Canada Labour Code, Part 1, the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA), and most provincial and territorial labour laws address a union’s duty of fair representation (DFR). The language varies from statute to statute, but essentially, the duty of fair representation requires a union to treat bargaining unit members fairly and honestly, in a manner that is not arbitrary, discriminatory or in bad faith. Part 1 of the Canada Labour Code (Sec. 37) and Sec. 187 of the PSLRA describe it as follows:

Duty of fair representation

37. A trade union or representative of a trade union that is the bargaining agent for a bargaining unit shall not act in a manner that is arbitrary, discriminatory or in bad faith in the representation of any of the employees in the unit with respect to their rights under the collective agreement that is applicable to them.

Unfair representation by bargaining agent

187. No employee organization that is certified as the bargaining agent for a bargaining unit, and none of its officers and representatives, shall act in a manner that is arbitrary or discriminatory or that is in bad faith in the representation of any employee in the bargaining unit.

Read more, including some legal principles, origins of the DFR, and some tips for local officers and stewards in the “Duty of Fair Representation - What the law says” handout (pdf), prepared by the PSAC education section.

Mark your calendars! Multi Union Pride will be meeting on the last Thursday of the month at the PSAC offices. The office is located at 5238 Joyce Street - right at the Joyce Skytrain Station. Meetings will start at 7pm and will generally run 75 to 90 minutes. Many GIANT thanks to our friends at PSAC for their generosity in assisting our group.

So our next meeting will be on February 28 at 7pm.

Proposed agenda is as follows

• approval of the agenda
• approval of the minutes
• Elections of officers
  • Chair (overseeing the organization, chairing meetings, signing officer)
  • Vice-Chair (assist the Chair in various duties as required)
  • Recording Secretary (take notes at the meetings, and send to the Chair for distribution)
  • Treasurer (overseeing the finances of the organization, prepare statement for membership, signing officer)
  • Float Committee Chair (overseeing the logistics of the float construction)

None of the tasks should be too onerous, and if everyone helps out, the year will be a breeze. If you would like to put your name forward, and are not able to attend the meeting, please let me or someone attending the meeting know.

There may be some new activists in your union who may be interested in participating in MUP. Please feel free to invite them to this meeting.

OTTAWA – Conservatives are not the good fiscal managers they would like the country to believe and there is plenty of evidence to prove it. According to John Gordon, National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Conservative budgets have been contributing to a growing gap between rich and poor Canadians.

“Why is it that, in spite of continued economic growth, poverty is still on the rise in Canada,” says Gordon. “Nearly one in six Canadian children live in poverty; one in four in First Nations communities. Our social safety net is disappearing and economic disparity and social exclusion are deepening.”

Since their election, Conservative budgets have been designed to provide a few ‘goodies’, such as the GST reduction and the taxable child care allowance, that are of little real benefit to individuals but advance the government’s agenda of undermining publicly funded services and reducing their role in meeting Canadians’ priorities. The money lost by reducing the GST by just 1% could have financed a universal early learning and child care system for three to five-year olds across the country.

At the same time the Harper government has been devoting large surpluses to debt repayment, they’ve been cutting social programs. Debt reduction will be cold comfort to the working families affected by the impending economic slowdown and who are even now living from pay cheque to pay cheque. Nor will it help new immigrants already clustered in low-wage, no benefits, precarious work.

(more…)

Your Bargaining Team was disappointed, in this week of negotiations, by the employer’s lack of understanding of the need to have meaningful negotiation on the priority issues. It is clear that the employer is not ready or willing to negotiate a collective agreement after their statement that all demands carry equal weight in terms of importance.

Your Team was also frustrated as the employer continuously focused on grammatical changes instead of the key issues such as:

* Seasonal and term employment
* No contracting out
* Wages
* The return to the National Joint Council
* No Zones
* Misuse of student program

The Bargaining Team unanimously agreed that it is left with no choice but to apply for conciliation to get the process back on track, with the goal of achieving a fair and just collective agreement that addresses all of the bargaining unit’s priority issues.

For more information on Parks collective bargaining and to find out how you can participate in mobilization activities, please contact your Bargaining Team member, your local executive, or the PSAC local regional office, or visit our website.

We’ll be sure to update as things progress.

Progress slow at PA bargaining table after another four days of talks

PSAC was back at the table in negotiations for the Program and Administrative Services (PA) unit from February 5 to 8. As of the end of this session, our PA team has tabled all of the union’s demands with the exception of the wage package.

Employer demands more shift work

Hours of work have been the subject of much discussion in this round of bargaining and the last session was no exception. While we have heard in the past that the employer wants to create special hours of work for Service Canada members, this time the discussion included the WP and IS groups who are currently excluded from shift work. The employer is demanding the right to change members in the WP and IS groups, as well as those at Service Canada, into shift workers.

(more…)

The Issues: Quality jobs, quality public service

Parks Canada Agency’s mandate is to protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage on behalf of all Canadians. The Agency meets this mandate through the work of PSAC members. Parks workers are committed to preserving an important part of Canada’s heritage and to keeping visitors to national parks, canals and historic sites safe and well informed.

However, many of our jobs have been or are under threat of being contracted out. The quality of our jobs is deteriorating as the Employer takes advantage of our most vulnerable members: the term and seasonal work-ers. The work of our members is a valuable public service to Canadians. To defend the quality of this service means to defend the quality of our jobs.

(more…)

Another in an ongoing series of handouts, news and information that will be of interest to PSAC stewards …

Special Leave With Pay - Snowstorms/Inclement Weather
Most collective agreements covering PSAC members contain a provision similar, if not identical, to the following:

At its discretion, the employer may grant:

(a) leave with pay when circumstances not directly attributable to the
employee prevent his or her reporting for duty; such leave shall
not be unreasonably withheld;

The following principles outline what we have learned from arbitrators’ decisions on the many grievances on denial of “special leave”. While the above provision can also apply to a variety of other circumstances that prevent an employee’s reporting for work, the following references apply to snow storms and other weather-related conditions. The references represent a sample of arbitrators’ decisions.

1. The main thrust of the provision is to provide for the exceptional treatment of particular employees under certain kinds of circumstances. This is why one speaks of “special leave”. Ultimately, each case must turn on its own particular facts.

2. The first issue to be decided is whether the circumstances preventing the employee from reporting for duty were or were not directly attributable to the employee. The conclusion must be arrived at reasonably on the basis of the information obtained after a due and diligent enquiry by the employer.

Read more, in the ‘Special Leave With Pay - Snowstorms/Inclement weather’ handout (pdf), prepared by the PSAC Education Section. Visit the Steward’s Network pages at the Regional Website.

Parks Canada Agency puts up wall at bargaining, union ready to tear it down

From January 28 to February 1, 2008, your bargaining team faced an inflexible Employer across the table as the last of our demands were tabled. Important issues, such as “no contracting out,” the elimination of pay zones and pay increases, among others, either got a “No” from the Employer or a “We’ll get back to you on that in the next round.”

• Sign up for BC Parks Negotiations email bulletins

Your team was also encouraged and felt they had the members’ full support as it heard reports of the success of the plantgating by members across the country. The flyer on the “Student Hiring” issue elicited a response from the Employer entitled “Setting the Record Straight.” Our members, however, were not fooled by the so-called “facts” that the Employer claims, knowing full well that what we experience in the field and what we hear them say at the negotiating table fully contradict what they say in this paper. Our members know that the Employer is hiring students as flexible and cheap labour to do bargaining unit work.

(more…)

Rights, Not Wrongs: The role of unions in creating a better world

A joint conference for human rights activists in the labour movement sponsored by the BC Federation of Labour and the BC Teachers’ Federation. The conference will focus on emerging human rights issues, featuring leading BC human rights specialists in First Nations, peace, anti-poverty, women’s rights, antiracism, international issues and many more.

• Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
• April 3-5 2008
• Keynote Speaker: Stephen Lewis, Friday April 4th @ 7:30PM

Organized by the BCTF Committee for Action on Social Justice and the BC Federation of Labour Human Rights Commitee. For more information, visit www.bctf.ca or www.bcfed.ca. Download the Rights not Wrongs poster (pdf).

Frustrating negotiations for EB group

Four full days of bargaining with Treasury Board last week left members of the EB Table feeling disappointed and wondering if their management counterparts have a mandate to bargain.

Your team was able to sign off on the existing hours of work for librarians, language teachers, and employees in the ED-EDS classification, after the Employer dropped a demand (dealt with at the PA table) to expand the hours of a normal work day to between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. And the EB team also withdrew a Travelling Time proposal dealing with child and elder care, acknowledging that the issue is more appropriately dealt with at the National Joint Council.

But that was where the progress ended. The Employer has said no to our demand to improve bereavement leave to five working days from five consecutive days, in the case of a death in the immediate family. They have said no to our proposal to remove the cap on the amount of vacation pay that can be carried over from year to year.

(more…)

Ottawa – Former Reform MP Elwin Hermanson who was appointed chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission only weeks ago is advocating in favour of a controversial bill that has never been endorsed by Parliament.

Hermanson authored a strongly worded opinion article in favour of amendments to the Canada Grain Act in Bill C-39 which was published in the February 7th edition of The Western Producer. Mr. Hermanson declares in his opinion article: “As chief commissioner of the CGC, I strongly support this legislation… .”

• Oppose amendments to Canada Grain Act: Fax your MP

The bill would gut or kill several services and regulatory oversight activities of the Canadian Grain Commission, leaving producers newly disadvantaged in their dealings with grain companies and undermining the quality and food safety assurance programs Canada’s international reputation for excellence are built upon.

(more…)

All delegates are asked to complete the delegate registration form and return to the REVP’s office by February 25th.

• Download the delegate registration form (.doc)
• Download the delegate registration form (.pdf)

The nominations have been re-opened for the PWD and Aboriginal delegate elections, the deadline for nominations is Wednesday, February 20, 12:00 noon.

•  Download a delegate nomination form (pdf)

And a reminder: the deadline for sumbission of resolutions to the BC Regional Convention is February 15, 2008. Resolutions may be submitted by Locals, Branches, Regional Women’s Committees, Area Councils in good standing, and nationally and regionally recognized committees. We welcome resolutions written in clear language format.

Vancouver, BC, February 16, 2008, the Vancouver and District Labour Council Young Workers’ Committee (VDLC Young Workers’ Committee) is organizing a rally in front of Premier Gordon Campbell’s office (3615 W. 4th Ave) in support of the campaign to increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour and eliminate the $6 per hour “training wage”.

Endorsed by many organizations, including the Vancouver and District Labour Council, the BC Federation of Labour, and the Canadian Federation of Students, the rally sends a unified message to Premier Gordon Campbell. The $8 per hour minimum wage is below the poverty line and not sufficient for minimum wage workers to live on.

“$10 per hour is a reasonable demand and one that can easily be met in our booming economy,” said Stephen Von Sychowski, the chair of the VDLC Young Workers’ Committee. “Young workers are being taken advantage of and paid insufficient wages to live a life that they deserve because of this government’s inaction.”

The minimum wage in BC has not been increased since 2001. According to 2005 Statistics Canada numbers, in order for a minimum wage to earn above the poverty line, they would have to earn at least $10 an hour in 2005 dollars. Inflation has made the situation even worse today.

“We need to change the minimum wage in BC so the term young worker is not synonymous with poor worker,” says Emily Ottewell, who will be speaking at the rally on behalf of the VDLC Young Workers’ Committee. “Gordon Campbell has told the people of BC who counts – his own MLAs just got huge raises. Thousands of people who earn minimum wage are still waiting for theirs.”

The guest speakers for this event include Jim Sinclair, President of the BC Federation of Labour; Emily Ottewell from the VDLC Young Workers’ Committee; and Shamus Reid will be speaking on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Students. There will also be two minimum wage workers who will be telling their tale of living and surviving as minimum wage workers.

More than 50,000 British Columbians have signed the “$10 NOW” petition. Many provinces in Canada have already increased their minimum wages. It is time for British Columbia’s government to legislate a living wage for BC’s young workers.

For more information:
VDLC Young Workers’ Committee Chair, Stephen Von Sychowski, 778-231-4635
Strategic Communication Advisor, Siavash Rokni, 604-782-1950