Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Are you amongst those confused by the Treasury Board’s recent communication regarding PSAC dues? Here is some background information.

Delegates to the 2006 PSAC National Triennial Convention adopted a special dues levy to replenish the Strike Fund, as the Fund had fallen well below 10 million dollars. Our 2004 strike actions and the increased strike pay from $35.00 per day to $50.00 per day had significantly drawn on the Strike Fund. The delegates passed a special dues rate per member per month beginning on July 1, 2006 and continuing until the Strike Fund attained a positive balance of 25 million dollars.

As the Strike Fund has reached the $25M mark, the special levy is coming off and the new ongoing Strike Fund contribution of $1.00 per member per month is taking effect. (The previous ongoing Strike Fund contribution was $0.35 per member per month.) As a result there will be a net dues decrease which for most members will be $2.10 per month. Please note this change applies to all PSAC members.

Continue reading to see the resolution passed by delegates to the 2006 PSAC Convention.

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East Side Pride kicks off the 2008 Pride season in a very family friendly way. Located within the heart of the funky Commercial Drive area, the festival features a live stage, food vendors, local artisans, and community groups to provide information, products, and services for the GBLT community.

Stop by and say hello to the PSAC members on the Multi Union Pride Committee who will have a table set up at Grandview Park for this event. Look for table 3 – right by the waterpark.

Your bargaining team met with the BC Corps of Commissionaires on June 17 and 18, 2008. The parties reached agreement on a few articles and signed off the following articles (summary only):

• Union Recognition – recognition of the PSAC, by the employer, as the exclusive bargaining agent for the employees identified in the bargaining certificate;
• Joint Consultation Committee�- process and some parameters regarding discussions between the parties on matters of common interest;
• Technological Change – reference to relevant legislation and commitment to meet to discuss any effect it will have on employees, with a view to minimizing such effects;
• Court Appearances – reimbursement for wages lost due to a court appearance when serving as a subpoenaed witness;
• Leave to Vote – in accordance with the relevant statutes.

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The PSAC has produced a wallet/pocket card outlining the steps in the Right to Refuse Dangerous Work as per Sections 128 and 129 of Canada Labour Code, Part II. To obtain an initial supply for your Local please contact your Regional Office.

YOUR Right to Refuse Dangerous Work Section 128/129 Canada Labour Code, Part II

• Report the details of the perceived hazard to your employer without delay.
• If your employer agrees that a danger exists, the employer is then obliged to take immediate action
  to protect you and other employees from the danger and to inform the workplace committee or
  the health and safety representative about the action(s) taken to resolve the problem.

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Our union, UPCE/PSAC, has the duty to fairly represent all members. While the current collective agreement contains provisions that protect against discrimination and sexual harassment, our members have told us that unfairness in the workplace still exists at Canada Post. The bargaining team has proposed a number of changes to broaden the definition of discrimination and define different forms of harassment beyond sexual harassment.

Employers are ultimately responsible for acts of work-related harassment. The Supreme Court has said that the goal of human rights law is to identify and eliminate discrimination.

In agreeing to our proposals, Canada Post would be taking a leadership role in working with the union to reverse the negative effects of harassment. This would help to ensure a healthier and fairer work environment for everyone.

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The Filipino community in Canada and Canadians grieve and sympathize with the victims of supertyphoon Fengshen (Frank) that swept the Philippines over the weekend. We urgently appeal for financial support to help the relief efforts.

According to official reports, nearly 1000 people are confirmed dead, including those dead or missing from a ferry that sank in central Philippines. Over 35, 500 families had to be evacuated from their homes due to the rapid flooding and landslide risks. The hardest hit areas are Iloilo, Romblon, Cotabato, Antique, and Capiz.

In these times of natural disasters, the majority of victims are the poverty-stricken population. The majority of the people are already faced with economic crisis, such as the food crisis, the typhoon adds further suffering to the Filipino people. Already pushed in the margins of government priorities, the needy and poor populations are further left in extreme vulnerability and danger in times of natural and man-made calamities.

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On June 19th PSAC members throughout BC, and from coast to coast to coast, joined together at lunchtime and after work gatherings to tell the employer that we deserve to be treated with respect and to express our frustration at the lack of progress after one year of bargaining. Members in BC sent postcards to their MP’s, distributed leaflets, and wore their “I support my team” bracelets and tattoos, among many other things.

In Kamloops and Salmon Arm, members asked Treasury Board to “Show Us The Green”; in the Fraser Valley, members working for Corrections Canada handed out peanuts and ate vegetarian pizza (where’s the meat in TB’s offer?); in Vancouver members gathered downtown and at Nat Bailey Stadium to hear reports from Bargaining Team members, and REVP Kay Sinclair; and at the airport Customs Officers practiced due dilligence in their work; on the Island members gathered in Victoria, Esquimalt, Nanaimo, Campbell River, and Courtenay.

Continue reading for some more photos & video …

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Why did the Union postpone the June bargaining dates?

The PSAC would have liked nothing better than to take on Treasury Board’s insulting wage offer at the table in June. But we need to plan for what happens in the bargaining process after the talking is done if we can’t reach a settlement.

Essential Service Agreements (ESAs) play a critical role in the bargaining process because they directly affect what we can do next. While the goal of our bargaining teams is to negotiate a fair settlement at the table, there is no guarantee that they can do so.

For example, it might be necessary to conduct a strike in order to obtain a fair settlement. Under the new rules, no bargaining unit may conduct a legal strike until 30 clear days have passed after the Essential Services Agreements for that bargaining unit have been signed off.

PSAC is negotiating Essential Services Agreements for the first time under the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA). This new scheme replaces the old designation process and it means that we have to negotiate all the Essential Services Agreements one position at a time.

Under the new rules we have one chance to negotiate Essential Services Agreements that will stay in place for future rounds of negotiations so we need to get it right the first time!

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via PIPSC

Ottawa, June 20, 2008 – Federal public service employees have won a landmark victory before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. In a decision released today, the Tribunal ruled that the Treasury Board term employee policy was discriminatory.

Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada member Brigitte Lavoie filed the complaint before the Tribunal, alleging that the term employee policy discriminated against women who take maternity leave. The TB policy stated that term employees would automatically become indeterminate after three years of employment yet would not count the leave period.

The Tribunal ruled that the Treasury Board did discriminate by refusing to count the maternity leave period towards continuous employment therefore eliminating her chances of permanent employment and career advancement.

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June 21 marks the summer solstice, which has been celebrated for centuries by many Aboriginal communities. In 1996, the Parliament of Canada proclaimed June 21st as National Aboriginal Peoples’ Day.

National Aboriginal Peoples’ Day is an opportunity for PSAC to express solidarity with Aboriginal Peoples and support the call for a better life for all Aboriginal Peoples. This is also an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Aboriginal Peoples in our communities and our Union. The day is of such significance that there has been a call to have this day recognized as a national statutory holiday which would allow all Aboriginal Peoples and other people in Canada to celebrate the important contributions of Aboriginal Peoples.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis people continue to make important contributions in the struggle for social justice, equality and workers’ and human rights.

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* Ghadari Mela ((Revolutionary Martyr Festival) honouring the Sacrifices of South Asian revolutionaries
* Dedicated to the 100th birth anniversaries of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru
* In solidarity with current First Nations struggles

Media Release – June 17, 2008

Surrey:  The Indo Canadian Workers’ Association is organizing its free annual fair on June 21, 2008 at the Cloverdale Millennium Park in partnership with the Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation. The fair is organized every year in the memory of the Indian revolutionaries, who had sacrificed their lives to free their country from the colonial rule.

This year’s fair will be dedicated to the 100th birth anniversaries of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. The three martyrs were hanged by the British government in 1931. The Indo Canadian Workers’ Association believes in their socialist ideology and respects their internationalist outlook.

The association will also organize a special exhibition of the pictures of the revolutionaries who had dedicated their lives to the struggle for social justice and equality.

A special calendar dedicated to the history of Indo Canadian struggle that was issued by the association earlier this year will also be distributed during the event.

Since June 21 is the National Aboriginal Day of Canada, our association will bring a resolution to condemn the abuse of the natives in the residential schools and encourage the people to denounce the continuous exploitation of the First Nations.

Besides, entertainment by the folk singers from Punjab, the event will provide an opportunity to the people to buy progressive literature and books from the stalls being set up by different groups.

On June 19th PSAC members throughout BC marked one year of bargaining with Treasury Board by joining together and telling the employer that we deserve to be treated with respect and that we deserve more at the bargaining table.

In downtown Vancouver, 250 people braved the rain and gathered at Canada Place to hear REVP Kay Sinclair and member negotiators Karim Lawji and Megan Adam speak.  PSAC and PIPSC members working for Treasury Board, CFIA, CRA, Canada Post and Parks Canada gathered to hear bargaining updates, sign thinkpublic! postcards to their MPs, and enjoy lunch.

At the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, UEW members were joined by their PIPSC and summer student co-workers for a hamburger BBQ. In Nelson, Area Strike Coordinator Sheila Pearce and members at the Service Canada office dressed in ratty clothes to demonstrate how poorly they are paid!

Other lunch time activities took place across BC and we will have a full report soon. In the meantime, here are some photos.

PSAC members take pride in the work that they do for Canada Post, and more often than not, those contributions are not recognized or valued. This is the first in a series of information bulletins that will highlight our workplace issues and what we want to achieve this round of negotiations to build a better workplace.

• View all the PSAC/UPCE demands for the current negotiations at the national website (pdf).

Surveillance

Contact Centre workers work in an electronic production environment that has been called the “factory of the new economy”. From the moment they go to work people are timed, measured and watched. Emails are measured for efficiency and productivity and calls are measured by calls per hour, talk time, not ready time. Supervisors have unfettered access to workers’ calls and emails, and conversations with clients can be listened in on by a supervisor at any time. It is becoming increasingly the norm for Canada Post to change and apply unreasonable standards to individual employees in measuring work performance and in surveilling employees.

Our bargaining team has proposed the following collective agreement language changes to address this problem and to introduce workplace fairness:

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Discussion Night: Decriminalization of Prostitution in Vancouver

• June 25, 5:30-8:30PM
• SFU Harbour Centre
• 580 West Hastings, Vancouver

Co-sponsored by the PSAC National Component, the PSAC Vancouver Regional Women’s Committee, and
Vancouver Area Council. For more information, please contact the PSAC at (604) 430 5631.

Program:

• 5:30: Reception
• 6:00: Opening remarks
• 6:30: Guest speakers include: Libby Davies, MP Van East; Representatives from Vancouver Rape Relief & Vancouver Women’s Shelter
• 7:10: Plenary session
• 8:30: Discussion

OTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says the federal government has crossed the line in its attempts to discourage protests against the government’s recent wage offer.

According to PSAC National President John Gordon, union members who work for Treasury Board have been organizing activities across the country to protest the insulting and inadequate wage offer the government put on the table last month.

“In recent days, Treasury Board and at least one of its departments have sent out heavy-handed e-mails to our members in an attempt to discourage them from participating in activities on June 19 and in union activity in general,” says Gordon.

“The government’s warnings are not only a complete over-reaction to the June 19 events, they cross the line by trying to intimidate workers from exercising their constitutionally-protected union rights.”

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source: The Ottawa Citizen, June 16, 2008

It’s time for a major study into what is ’sabotaging taxpayers’ investment’: mental health expert

Canada needs a national inquiry into the management and working conditions of the public sector, which is a “toxic place to work” for a growing number of employees who are stressed, burned out and slipping into depression, says a mental health expert.

Bill Wilkerson, chairman of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, said the absenteeism, disability claims and distress among Canada’s nurses, doctors, teachers, police, military and bureaucrats have reached such crisis proportions that it’s time for a major study into what is “sabotaging taxpayers’ investment” into these critical services.

“We are seeing absences, disability rates and illness among public sector organizations that beg a national evaluation of what it is about these workplaces that creates such high levels of distress,” he said.

“And I would argue, conceptually, that this goes beyond the question of too few nurses, for example, doing too much work.

“There is something wrong with the culture of these workplaces.”

Disability claims in Canada are climbing and between 30 to 40 per cent of claims are for depression. The cost to the economy is $51 billion, or four per cent of GDP.

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• Date: July 6, 2008
• Where: A Channel Bldg on Broad Street, in downtown Victoria.
• Who: All GLBT PSAC Members, Families and Friends.
• Why: To celebrate Victoria Pride, PSAC Pride & to let the public know that we are proud to be federal public services employees; To also raise awareness that we deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully by our Departmental Employers & the Treasury Board.

We will be having a PSAC Union table on the festival grounds at Fisherman’s Wharf Park following the parade. We are looking for volunteers for the union table and to hand out information regarding PSAC initiatives to support our members, communities as well as our world’s communities.

Please feel free to contact Paul Jones, GLBT Member Coordinator, PSAC Regional Council @ pablojones@shaw.ca or at 250.813.0565. See you there! Visit victoriapridesociety.org for lead-up events.

via BC Federation of Labour

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The B.C. Federation of Labour is supporting women who are making a journey from British Columbia to Ottawa in honour of missing and murdered women across Canada. This Walk is supported by Amnesty International, B.C. Federation of Labour, BCGEU, ILWU Local 500, United Native Nations, Native Women’s Association of Canada and countless other organizations across Canada.

This important walk begins in Vancouver, BC on June 21, 2008 and ends with a huge event in Ottawa on September 15, 2008 where there will be a full day session on Parliament Hill and presentation of a petition. On June 21 in Vancouver, an event is being organized to launch the walk and more details will be provided.

These women need your help, and we are asking unions, labour councils and communities along their route to pitch in and help support this important Walk. Even if you are not en route, you can help by sending a donation to support the walkers.

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Treasury Board has recently attempted to shift the blame onto the PSAC for canceling what were only tentative bargaining dates in June. If anyone’s responsible for bargaining not taking place in June, it’s Treasury Board.

PSAC has already been at the bargaining table for a year. What we’ve heard most from Treasury Board is NO, NO and more NO.

• NO to the elimination of regional pay zones
• NO to pay adjustments to bring our members’ salaries in line with the private and public sectors
• NO to important demands such as job security for CBSA members affected by the arming initiative.

At the same time, it has taken a year for Treasury Board to put any pressure on departments to submit their proposals for essential services. Treasury Board knows very well that Essential Services Agreements must be signed before members can take legal strike action. The longer they drag this process out, the more they think it will weaken the union’s ability to negotiate fair settlements for our members.

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The British Columbia Regional Safety and Health Committee (BRUSH) would like to announce an upcoming meeting. Meetings will normally be scheduled two weeks in advance and we will attempt to deal with issues at the workplace, provide education, raise H&S awareness, and much more.

Please encourage your local H&S Activists and members to participate!

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, 2008 beginning at 5:30 PM. Members can attend in person at the PSAC Vancouver Regional Office, #200 – 5238 Joyce Street in Vancouver or via conference call: please email James Little for details.