Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Delegates to the BC Federation of Labour Convention have once again stood in Solidarity with PSAC members and federal government workers. Yesterday afternoon delegates passed the following resolution, which calls on the three opposition parties to defeat Harper’s anti-worker, undemocratic legislation, bring down the government and form a coalition government to pursue economic policies that support workers facing difficult economic times.

Recent news reports indicate the opposition got part of the message: read more for the text of Emergency Resolution #8.

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The 40 Commissionaries, members of the PSAC, working on contract to the Canada Boarder Services Agency at Library Square and the Vancouver International Airport served 72 hour strike notice on November 27, 2008.

It’s about safety according to Rob Hellenius President of Local 20501 Mainland Commissionaires. “We have been forced to perform unsafe work, escorting dangerous detainees around the country without proper safety equipment or training and the Corps of Commissionaires refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for ensuring our safety on the job. This is one of the key reasons we joined the PSAC.”

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The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says the Conservatives’ plan to introduce new legislation covering pay equity for federal public sector employees flies in the face of the principles in the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as international human rights law.

“The Harper government doesn’t want to modernize pay equity, it just wants to eliminate its responsibility for providing a workplace free of discrimination, including wage discrimination,” according to PSAC national president John Gordon.

Turning over pay equity to the bargaining table and making both the employer and the union accountable may seem like a reasonable thing to do until you consider the discrepancy between the two parties.

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In Victoria this week it has been business as usual on the picket lines, members are continuing to slow down the trucks and one point management watching the picket line outnumbered the picketers! Media coverage has been great - click to read an article on the front page of the Times Colonist. After receiving an injunction barring them from impeding vehicles or workers at their usual location, members switched up their tactics a couple of times to keep Canada Post off guard. They are very appreciative of the support they have received from CUPW, other PSAC Locals and members, and other groups.

In Vancouver, members also switched tactics, picketing as usual in the morning, then moving to outlying areas in the afternoon. The theme of the week was “Union Solidarity” - UPCE members were joined on the line by Jim Sinclair, President of the BC Fed, members of the Telecommunications Workers Union (Telus) and other unions, and as always, members of CUPW. They also received a letter of support from the Teaching Support Staff Union (SFU) and members of the federal NDP caucus.

On Thursday, delegates to the BC Federation of Labour Convention, which is taking place in Vancouver, unanimously passed a resolution calling upon Canada Post to negotiate a fair and just collective agreement and calling on the federal government to keep our postal service universal and public. Several UPCE members were in the media section while the resolution was debated (it did not require much debate) and received a standing ovation from the delegates.

Convention delegates then marched to Library Square where they joined the striking workers, PSAC members from surrounding workplaces, and other supporters in Solidarity. Approximately 350 people listened to speeches and messages of support from UPCE Local President Sharon Tieman, CUPW member Ken Mooney, REVP BC Kay Sinclair, Bill Saunders, President of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, and Jim Sinclair, President of the BC Fed. There were several local media outlets covering the event.

Read on for some photos from Vancouver and a video from Victoria …

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OTTAWA - Finance Minister Flaherty and the Harper government would rather tinker with public sector wages than deal with the real problems facing Canada’s economy, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

PSAC national president John Gordon reacted with anger today to Flaherty’s announcement that negotiated collective agreements and arbitral awards in the broader public sector will be rolled back and the right to strike on wages will be suspended through 2010-11.

“Negotiating with the government and agreeing to accept and recommend a wage increase as the PSAC has done over the past week is one thing, legislatively rolling back negotiated, ratified and signed collective agreements and taking away the right to strike is entirely another,” says Gordon.

“It’s wrong, pure and simple,” says Betty Bannon, president of the Union of Taxation Employees (a PSAC component), the largest group of PSAC members directly affected by the legislation. “The union negotiated in good faith, the Canada Revenue Agency negotiated in good faith, and now, a year later, the government steps in and cuts our members’ pay,” says Bannon.

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source: Vancouver Sun, Wednesday Nov 26

They sometimes escort suspected killers, drug dealers and terrorists from jail to hearings and even out of the country, but they have no weapons or bulletproof vests.

Concern over their safety is a big reason commissionaires contracted to the Canada Border Service Agency planned to serve strike notice today, union official Dave Thompson said.

The 40 or so guards who work at CBSA jails at the airport and Vancouver’s Library Square could be off the job by Sunday, said Thompson, of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

The security specialists, who look after those detained for being in Canada illegally, technically work for the Corps of Commissionaires, a non-profit company formed to employ former servicemen after the Second World War.

But they are looking after the same inmates who are arrested by CBSA enforcement officers or police officers who are fully armed and wear body armour, Thompson said.

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Vancouver - Striking workers at Canada Post and their supporters are holding a rally between 12 and 1 PM today at Library Square in downtown Vancouver. The rally will mark their second week of job action and call for Canada Post to drop concession bargaining demands.

Approximately 125 PSAC members in Vancouver began strike action on November 17th to protest against Canada Post’s attempts to take away sick leave and family-related leave from this predominantly female group.

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PSAC and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have reached a tentative agreement. Details to follow soon.

Source: The Ottawa Citizen, November 26, page A1

A day after the Public Service Alliance of Canada announced a new federal contract that reflects the tough economic times, the union is giving no ground at Canada Post, where 2,100 of its members are on strike over sick leave.

Under a deal proposed by Canada Post, union members would get a new contract that includes a 10.5-per-cent wage increase over four years. But the workers walked out last week over a contentious proposal by Canada Post to roll back sick leave and eventually phase it out.

The union says Canada Post is trying to claw back health gains enshrined in previous agreements and members would not stand for it.

At a news conference yesterday, PSAC president John Gordon vowed the union will not be bullied into making concessions that, in the end, will give insurance companies the final say on the health of its members.

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The PSAC reached a tentative agreement with Parks Canada Agency on Tuesday, November 25. The proposed collective agreement covers the 3000 – 4500 PSAC members who work for Parks Canada in a variety of fields and occupations. Details to be announced.  Parks Canada Agency is a separate employer under the Public Service Labour Relations Act. Bargaining began in May, 2007.

Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working at Canada Post are on strike to protect their hard-earned sick leaves and family related leave. They voted 88% in favour of strike action because they don’t want the new short term disability system that Canada Post is trying to impose on its employees.

The 100 members in Vancouver have been out on strike since Nov 17th with no immediate return to the table scheduled. In anticipation of a second week of picketing, the group is planning a noon hour rally to show Canada Post that their support and resolve is strong! Please come out and show your support and solidarity.

• When: Thursday November 27, 2008
• Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
• Where: Library Square, Vancouver Library, Georgia & Homer
• Contact: Garry Fraser 604-317-4979

Thank you for your Solidarity and Support! “The longer the line, the shorter the strike!”

Summary of key elements of PSAC’s tentative agreements with Treasury Board.

Information on the proposed settlements for members of Border Services (FB), Program and Administration Services (PA), Operational Services (SV), and Education and Library Science (EB) groups is currently available at the national website.

Information specific to all members of the DD, EG, GT, PI, PY, and TI pay groups.

I am pleased to inform you that the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Treasury Board have reached tentative agreements for more than 100,000 members in the main bargaining units governed by the Public Service Labour Relations Act.

The membership should be proud of the work of their bargaining teams, who worked very hard over the weekend to reach these tentative agreements.

I am proud to say that these tentative agreements contain some gains, and no concessions.

We feel this is an accomplishment, given the challenging bargaining environment we are now in.

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OTTAWA- Canada Post Corporation is misleading Canadians about the quality of mail delivery during the current strike by 2 000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

““We know that mail volumes are down and that there are delays as a result of this national strike,” said Lemelin. “That means people will be going elsewhere for postal services during the Christmas rush and Canada Post will be losing revenues.”

According to reports the union receives from strike locations in each province, CUPW truck drivers cross the picket lines very carefully and very deliberately and take the time to listen to information provided by the strikers.

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At 1:30 this morning, after 18 months of negotiations including 4 days of roundthe-clock bargaining starting last Thursday, and with the threat of legislation looming, our FB Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement with Treasury Board/CBSA for a first contract. The Agreement addresses core goals set by our Bargaining Team at the outset of negotiations. Our Bargaining Team unanimously recommends ratification of our new agreement.

SUMMARY OF TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

Duration of Agreement

1. The agreement is a four-year collective agreement with an expiration date of June 20, 2011.

Wages

1. The Agreement features a new FB wage grid. The grid includes significant acrossthe-board increases, including a minimum 19.5 % wage increase for Border Services Officers over the life of the agreement. For a complete copy of the new FB wage grid for all classifications and accompanying Pay Notes, go to www.ciu-sdi.ca. With the new wage grid, Union members in the FB bargaining unit achieve wage parity with (and in some cases exceed) other enforcement workers in the core federal public service.
2. The PSAC achieved a contractual commitment from Treasury Board to engage in classification reform. The commitment is to be contained in the PA collective agreement but will apply to other units as well.

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Canada Post Corporation is trying to deprive PSAC members of benefits that the majority of unionized workers in Canada are entitled to.  It is a fundamental issue which our members and all of the labour movement in Canada are ready to fight for.

Email your Member of Parliament today. Tell them you want Canada Post to take its short term disability system off the table in its negotiations with the PSAC.

We encourage you to use the PSAC template letter to write your MP, and ask them what they are doing about this situation.

Union makes gains in tough bargaining environment

Ottawa - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and Treasury Board have reached tentative agreements for more than 100,000 members in the main bargaining units governed by the Public Service Labour Relations Act.

“The members can be proud of gains the union has achieved in a very challenging collective bargaining environment,” says PSAC national president John Gordon.

It has been a difficult round of bargaining, says Gordon. “Talks began in an expanding economy with reasonable expectations of economic increases. Times change, the economic landscape has been altered and now, after 18 months of bargaining, a deal has finally been reached that does not contain any concessions.”

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In Victoria traffic was slower and Local Presidents Ian Wiggs (UNDE 21008) and Pete Wills (UEW 20076) brought financial donations to the UPCE 20104 strike fund.

In Vancouver members set up pickets early this morning and spirits were high. CUPW showed support and solidarity by taking their daily walk around the block at coffee - they were greeted with donuts. 13 Canada Post managers spent most of the day standing around doing nothing, staffing the doors and REVP Jeannie Baldwin visited the line and brought a message of solidarity from the Atlantic region.

Despite higher education levels, new immigrants to Canada are worse off now than they were in the 1990s and face higher probability of chronic poverty. Too many immigrants are denied recognition of post-secondary degrees or trade skills, and are forced to work in low-paying sectors outside their discipline. Roughly 80% of immigrants to Canada are people of colour. And incidents of racism in the workplace are on the rise.

The Changing the Canvas initiative of the CLC highlights the experiences of immigrants of colour in the workforce. Their stories remind us that real people live behind the statistics about racism, barriers to employment, chronic poverty, and failures with how Canada recognizes foreign credentials or prior learning assessments.

Click to visit changingthecanvas.org.

The Victoria Area Council, Vancouver Island Human Rights Committee and South Vancouver Island Regional Council Coordinators invite all PSAC members in the Southern Vancouver Island area to a Festive Meet & Greet

• Thursday, Dec 4th, 2008
• 3:00 – 7:00pm
• Unit 210-1497 Admirals Rd, Victoria BC (PSAC Victoria Regional Office)