Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

The Public Service Alliance of Canada joins the Assembly of First Nations’ call for a National Day of Action in Support of First Nations on May 29, 2008.

The National Day of Action is an opportunity for First Nations and Canadians to stand together in a spirit of unity to support a better life for all First Nations and Aboriginal peoples, according to the AFN.

PSAC supports the AFN’s call for the federal government to work with First Nations to create a better future for all First Nations children by eradicating First Nations poverty – which many recognize as the greatest social injustice in Canada.

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OTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) doesn’t buy Treasury Board’s recent statement that they are committed to the bargaining process and achieving a fair settlement. Treasury Board has called on the union to respect bargaining dates that had been tentatively scheduled for June.

After a year at the bargaining table, PSAC is essentially in the same place as it was going into bargaining in 2007, according to PSAC’s National President John Gordon.

“In one year of bargaining, we’ve spent most of our time signing off articles in the collective agreement that are being renewed without change, or resisting Treasury Board’s attempts to reduce existing benefits,” says Gordon. “Many of the employer’s demands for take-aways are finally being withdrawn, but this only brings us back to the status quo.”

Gordon says the last straw was the unacceptable wage offer Treasury Board presented to our bargaining teams. At negotiation sessions that have been taking place over the last two weeks, PSAC members were offered increases of 1.5%. 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% over a four-year agreement; increases that will see the value of their salaries decrease as a result of inflation.

“Treasury Board has had ample opportunity in the last year to be more productive at the bargaining table and to negotiate towards a settlement,” says Gordon. “Given that their standard response so far has been to say no to most of our economic and non-monetary demands, another few days of meetings in June for each team wouldn’t make a difference.”

PSAC bargaining team members are now out across the country talking to members about the Treasury Board wage offer at workplace meetings, conferences and conventions, before the union returns to the bargaining table.

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Management makes virtually no movement in bargaining, tables insulting wage offer.

This past Monday through Wednesday (May 26th through 28th) our bargaining team met with Treasury Board/CBSA in an effort to bring the parties closer to a first contract for CBSA workers in the FB bargaining unit. In response to our proposal regarding job security in the context of arming, management stated clearly at the table that CBSA is not prepared to provide full job security to CBSA employees in the context of the arming initiative, and that all decisions related to the impact of arming should be left up to management. Our team made it clear that CBSA’s response is totally unacceptable and that there will need to be clear protections in our new contract in the context of the arming initiative.

On compensation, the employer stated at the table that our Union’s concerns regarding recruitment and retention at CBSA are not supported by analyses done by Treasury Board. Management proceeded to table a wage package of 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% respectively in each year of a four-year agreement, with no market adjustment for FB workers.

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source: The Ottawa Citizen, Friday, May 23, 2008

The stage is set for increased tension in negotiations between Treasury Board and the 120,000 federal public servants represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

John Gordon, the union’s national president, said last night that government negotiators yesterday afternoon put a monetary offer on the table, “which is, quite frankly, insulting.”

The four-year offer included annual wage increases of 1.5, 1.5, 1.2 and 1.2 per cent.

“We were looking for some respect from this employer, which has told us they were bargaining in good faith,” Mr. Gordon said. “We’ve been at this for a year and they come in and insult our members like that … those valuable employees they talk about at every turn. Well, I’ll tell you, those valuable employees are somewhat upset.”

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Summer Employment Opportunity – one position in Vancouver & one in Victoria

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is looking for students to work on our Think Public campaign over the summer. The successful candidates will work with the political action coordinator to organize public outreach. They will assist in researching specific issues, tailor messages to specific audiences, help set up and staff booths at public events, distribute leaflets in crowds, engage the public in discussion about the value of public services, and attend community group meetings with a regional representative.

Energetic self-starters who are students of Marketing, Communications, Political Science, Economics, Community Development, Education or Women’s Studies who believe in social justice and want to develop their activist skills are encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to qualified aboriginal and racialized students. The wage rate is $15/hour. It is a full time 35 hour/week job for a 10 week period between June 15 and Labour Day weekend. Some weekend work is expected.

Please send your resume to Luc Guevremont at guevrel@psac.com. The deadline for receipt of applications is Tuesday June 3, 2008.

OTTAWA – After a year of bargaining, negotiating teams for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are less than impressed with the Harper government’s wage offer tabled this week. The government has offered increases of 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% in a four year agreement retroactive to 2007.

“The government’s proposal is an insult and a joke,” says Patty Ducharme, PSAC’s national executive vice-president. “The wage offer is below current inflation and well below projected inflation rates. It doesn’t even allow our members to stand still.”

Gas prices alone have risen by over 25% over the past year and are projected to rise by another 15 to 20% before the summer is over. “A wage offer that reduces our members’ real income also has a ripple effect on sectors such as manufacturing and tourism that are already being hard hit by the high Canadian dollar and rising gas prices.”

“How does the government think it can recruit and retain workers with this kind of offer,” says Ducharme. “Wages may be moderating in the face of an economic downturn but both public and private sector wage settlements were much higher in 2007 than the 1.5% being offered by the Harper government.”

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May is Asian Heritage Month. This acknowledges the long and rich history of Asian Canadians and their contributions to Canada. It also provides an opportunity for Canadians across the country to reflect on and celebrate the contributions of Asian Canadians to the growth and prosperity of Canada.

Canada’s cultural diversity strengthens the country socially, politically and economically in innumerable ways. Asian Heritage Month is an ideal occasion for all to celebrate the beauty and wisdom of various Asian cultures.

Asian Heritage Month has been celebrated in the United States since 1979. Over the past decade, many Asians in Canada have begun to celebrate their heritage during the month of May. In December 2001, Senator Vivienne Poy introduced a motion in the Senate of Canada to designate May as Asian Heritage Month. The Government of Canada officially recognized May as the Asian Heritage Month in May, 2002.

Canadians are invited to take part in the events that honour the legacy of Asian Canadians. It is a time to participate in festivities across the country that celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Asian Canadians, who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate and prosperous nation we know today

For more information, visit the Canadian Heritage website and click for a list of events and activities sponsored by the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society.

4.5% – You’re worth it!

Your Bargaining Team needs your support to help achieve fair wages and the best possible collective agreement for you.

The British Colombia Area Strike Coordinators will be distributing “Public Services Make a Difference!” postcards throughout workplaces in the coming weeks – they ask PSAC members and the public to remind their Members of Parliament that …

“Public Services make a difference by enhancing our quality of life, promoting equality, protecting us from harm, and limiting the impact of job loss and illness. Public Service Alliance of Canada members who deliver these important and necessary public services deserve fair pay and safe and healthy working conditions.”

We will be collecting the cards and distributing them to the MPs in BC. Contact your ASC here if you would like some cards for your workplace or send an email message to your MP.

Support your bargaining team in their fight for wages that:

• Protect against inflation
• Provide parity and recruit and retain the best
• Pay for the quality public services you provide!

PSAC-BC Young Workers support the BCFED $10 NOW minimum wage campaign. View the latest video and find out why more than 50,000 people have joined this campaign.

Visit bcfed.com for more information on the $10 NOW! campaign, and to send an email to your MLA.

Treasury Board has appointed a new negotiator to lead its bargaining committee at the EB Table. Todd Burke has replaced Monique Forgues-Paradis, who left her position to pursue another employment opportunity.

As a result, your bargaining team spent a considerable amount of time reviewing our proposals with the Employer’s committee in our last session from April 29 to May 2, 2008.

Although no language was signed off, there was a glimmer of movement at the bargaining table, with both sides responding with counterproposals.

Negotiations ended with two proposals packages in the Employer’s court. One deals with hours of work for 10-month ED-ESTs and EUs at First Nation schools, as well as 12-month ED-ESTs at Corrections Canada including the pedagogical break; the other deals with various proposals for education and career development leave. We are hoping for a positive response from the Employer when we meet again the week of May 20.

Your bargaining team also discussed at length our proposed changes to the anti-discrimination article in the collective agreement and impressed upon the Employer’s committee the importance of adding gender identity to the no-discrimination language.

Although your bargaining team has been preparing a wage proposal, we are still awaiting the results of the pay study for the 12-month ED-ESTs before tabling the demand. We are hoping that study will be completed before the end of the summer.

via BC Federation of Labour

Food fair to raise funds for relief efforts in Myanmar (Burma), organized by the Myanmar Community in Vancouver.

• Sunday May 18, 2008
• Manawmaya Buddhist Monastary
• 13260 – 108th Ave @ 132nd St., Surrey

Come one, come all! Bring your family, friends, and anyone who will be interested. Your support is greatly appreciated.

It is time that we achieve a contract that meets the standards found in other enforcement agencies, and elsewhere in the federal public sector.

It has been almost a year now since we first tabled our demands with CBSA/Treasury Board for the FB bargaining unit. During that time there have been dozens of meetings between our bargaining team and CBSA management. We have made clear to the employer that the things that we are asking for are well established both in the federal public sector and with enforcement agencies across the country. Yet management continues to refuse to agree to fair and equitable rules around the work that we do, rules that are already well established in the federal public sector. For example, tens of thousands of workers at Canada Post have full job security. If a federal employer like Canada Post can provide full job security to its employees, CBSA can do the same in the context of the arming initiative.

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OTTAWA – The union representing about 10,500 CBSA workers, which includes all of Canada’s Front-Line and Inland Customs & Immigration Officers, is charging the employer of being irresponsible with how it is handling workplace issues, including the implementation of the arming initiative.

The government has given CBSA a mandate for a smooth transition over a 10-year period for the implementation of the arming of Canada’s border officers, but the Public Service Alliance of Canada says the Agency is not following that mandate at the bargaining table.

“Our union has been pushing for a smooth transition that ensures that officers are protected through the arming implementation process,” says PSAC National President John Gordon. “CBSA has responded irresponsibly by implying that officers may be laid off as a result of arming. CBSA has also indicated that there is no long-term plan regarding implementation.”

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Major Public Forum: We are expecting representatives from all political parties with over 1000 members of the public attending this event.

The topic: Homelessness! What’s happened? What’s next? The number of homeless in Vancouver keeps rising! Learn about innovations in Vancouver!

Hear from Steve Snyder and Tim Richter! (Calgary’s Committee to End Homelessness www.endinghomelessness.ca)

• May 22, 2008 at 7pm (doors open 6:30)
• St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church
• Nelson & Burrard, Vancouver
• (free underground parking from alley)

For more information call: 604-683-4574

source: The Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Gurcharan Singh Gill’s grandfather was a stout man – and could just barely see over the rails of the Komagata Maru when it docked in Burrard Inlet 94 years ago.

Despite that, Daljit Singh, the personal assistant to the man who led the voyage, was proud as he looked out over the water to Vancouver after a month-long voyage that began in Asia, Mr. Gill said.

But after a two-month standoff in British Columbia, the Komagata Maru was turned away, marking one of the most shameful chapters in Canadian immigration history.

Now, the federal government is preparing to apologize for its exclusion of 376 would-be immigrants from India.

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OTTAWA – The union representing about 5,000 workers at Parks Canada denounces the employer’s attempt at undermining contract negotiations when the Agency’s negotiators walked away from the table.

The union adds that the employer’s inflexibility on its meagre wage offer, on the elimination of pay zones and on closing the pay gap for Parks trade workers is a strong indication that the Agency is not taking negotiations seriously.

“After we reached impasse last February, the employer contacted us and asked us to return to the table because they said they were ready to respond seriously to our demands,” said the Public Service Alliance of Canada Regional Executive Vice-President for Atlantic, Jeannie Baldwin. “We came back to the table last week. After seven days of talks where they refused to budge from their positions, they walked away from bargaining and are now proposing mediation to which we don’t agree.”

Baldwin says in order for mediation to work, the two parties have to be close to an agreement, but this is not the case given that the employer refuses to deal with the major issues. “We want the employer to come back to the table and negotiate,” Baldwin says.

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TORONTO – The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) is the co-recipient of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Award of Excellence. In a ceremony May 2 in Calgary, representatives of CCNC shared the spotlight with co-recipient Le Carrefour BLE and 5 other Award finalists. CRRF also anounced the establishment of a new fund to recognize the efforts of CCNC, redress-seeking groups and the Chinese Canadian community for its efforts in seeking redress of the Chinese Head Tax, Newfoundland Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act.

Sid Chow Tan, CCNC National Chairperson and President of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada and Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director attended the CRRF Gala. Over the last 24 years, CCNC has worked in coalition with head tax families, redress-seeking groups and activists and allies including the Head Tax Families Society of Canada and the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Families and lobbied the administrations of seven Prime Ministers in seeking a just and honourable resolution.

“We are honoured to share this recognition with Le Carrefour BLE and with all of the finalists, the honourable mentions and all of the groups that participated in the CRRF Award of Excellence this year,” Sid Tan, CCNC National Chairperson said today. “We share this recognition with the head tax families, redress-seeking groups and activists and allies from coast to coast to coast who assisted us over the years in the 24-year campaign for justice.”

The Chinese Head Tax (1885 - 1923), Newfoundland Head Tax (1906-1949) and Chinese Exclusion Act (1923 - 1947) were racist legislation targeted directly at people of Chinese descent. On June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a Parliamentary Apology in the House of Commons and announced direct redress in the form of $20,000 ex-gratia payments to living head tax payers and surviving spouses and a $2.5 million community education fund. More than 82,000 Chinese paid the Chinese Head Tax, yet only 800 living head tax payers and surviving spouses will receive direct redress.

CCNC continues the campaign for inclusive redress by calling upon the Canadian Government to extend a meaningful apology in the form of direct redress to all head tax families. There are some 3000 families where the head tax payer and spouse have both passed away and these families are excluded under the June 22, 2006 Parliamentary Apology and redress announcement. The sons and daughters of the head tax payers were also directly affected by this legislation and experienced poverty, racism, family separation and lost educational opportunity first hand.

Founded 28 years ago on April 20, 1980, CCNC is a national non-profit organization with 27 chapters across Canada and a community leader for Chinese Canadians in promoting a more just, respectful, and inclusive society.

For more information contact: Victor Wong at (416) 977-9871.

Using the 7 W’s. Once the steward identifies what the problem is, they will begin to gather the facts. What kinds of questions will assist them in that process? The following list provides a number of examples to assist you in the fact gathering exercise.

Who

• who are the grievors (and contact information)
• who are the protagonists
• who caused/contributed to the problem
• who are the supervisors/managers
• who are the witnesses
• who will provide signed statements, testify
• who did the grievor tell
• who else has this problem, now or in the past
• who will be affected by the outcome
• who has information you need
• who will investigate
• who will provide representation
• who will set up the hearing
• who will be at the hearing
• who will help the grievor
• who will hurt the grievor
• who do you need to consult with
• who can you get advice from
• who will provide representation at next levels

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Please see the document below (jpg), which outlines the bargaining process for CFIA under the Public Service Labour Relations Act: Conciliation/Strike route.

Download this document as a pdf: CFIA bargaining process under the PSLRA

“Employees will not be worse off than the core of the Federal Public Service” – Tom Lee, CEO Parks Canada Agency

One of the priority bargaining proposals for the current round of bargaining with the Agency is protection against job loss. Parks Canada has announced that they intend to reduce the bargaining unit in a number of different ways.

The Agency issued a document called “Integrated Delivery Through Shared Leadership – Mountain Parks Business Plan – 2007/08-20011/12”. In this document under the “Recruiting” section Parks Canada states “An aggressive and coordinated mountain park student recruitment program will be put in place, targeting 50% of pure summer seasonal positions to be staffed by students within five years.”

Seasonal employment is but one aspect of the Agencies plan to attack the current size of our bargaining unit by taking away your seasonal work.

Contact a member of your Local’s Executive to find out what you can do to assist and support your bargaining team. United We Stand!