Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Bargaining Workplace Fairness

Our PSAC/UPCE National Bargaining Team met with Canada Post in Ottawa to exchange bargaining proposals on June 4th. We presented a series of specific, detailed proposals based on the input we received from members across the country.

We have, among other proposals, suggested ways in which bargaining unit work can be better protected, (no contracting out), signalled to the employer that there is no tolerance for personal harassment or abuse of authority and have again reminded the Corporation that our members have the fundamental right to work in a harassment free environment.

We have also tabled proposals that will simplify and improve the grievance process, tackle subjective and unfair staffing practices and will improve the working conditions of part-time workers and Contact Centre workers.

The team was generally very disappointed with the Corporation’s approach to our first day of bargaining. It appears that through “corporate speak” the Corporation will be targeting our hard won Vacation Leave entitlements, Health Care Benefits, Staffing and Pay.

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Joint JLP Workshops Being Offered by the PSAC and the Pacific Federal Council in Vancouver, Surrey and Abbotsford.

The PSAC and the Pacific Federal Council are working together to offer Joint Learning Program (JLP) workshops during National Public Service Week in the Vancouver and Fraser Valley areas.

We are offering the 1-day respecting Differences/Anti-Discrimination workshop in Vancouver, Surrey, and Abbotsford.

The dates and locations for the workshops are:

• Vancouver: June 17th, Vancouver YWCA, 733 Beatty Street
• Surrey: June 17th, Surrey Days Inn, 9850 King George Hwy
• Abbotsford: June 18th, Best Western, 32110 Marshall Road

This exciting and interactive workshop examines what is meant by diversity and why gaining an understanding of issues of diversity and equity is both an individual and organizational necessity. There will be an exploration on how unconscious biases or assumptions impair our ability to work with others and limit our lives. By using various exercises and case studies, participants will practice skills to deal with the challenges of facing diversity in a reflective, responsible, and proactive manner.

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Your PA negotiating team was the first of the union’s team to be presented with Treasury Board’s monetary offer. It consisted of a woefully inadequate economic increase and nothing else.

Treasury Board had the nerve to propose 1.5% for 2007, 1.5% for 2008, 1.2% for 2009 and 1.2% for 2010 in a four-year agreement.

• No adjustments to bring us in line with Canada Revenue Agency workers.
• No other market adjustments.
• No changes in increments.
• Allowances – they’ll get back to us.
• Nothing but a proposal for an economic increase that’s an insult.

Your team was outraged.

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The SV Team was once again back at the table for a session with the employer from May 20 to 22, 2008.

We provided language around unresolved Ship’s Crews demands to the employer , and they provided us a copy of their outstanding proposals.

Apprenticeship language, which was signed off at our session in February but still required the pay grid to be completed, is now finalized and signed off.

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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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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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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!

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.

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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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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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

Demands Includes Wage Increases to Bring CBSA Workers in Line with Other Enforcement Workers.

The week of April 30th our Bargaining Team met with Treasury Board/CBSA Administration to continue negotiations for a first contract for FB workers at CBSA. At the table our team made it clear to management that officers are leaving CBSA on a regular basis because working conditions and wages are inferior at CBSA in comparison to other unionized law enforcement agencies in Canada. Recently our team received the first installment of an independent pay study produced for the PSAC that confirmed that compensation for CBSA workers are significantly below market. To address the issue of wage inequity, our team tabled an economic package based on the initial findings of the independent study, a package proposal that includes the following …

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• Sign up for regional TB bargaining updates by email
• Contact your Area/Hub Strike Coordinator here.

Your PA negotiating team finished its work on our pay proposal and spent two days, April 23 and 24, with the Treasury Board team.

Our proposal has three significant elements:

1. Adjusting our salaries to keep them in line with other federal public sector employers

We’re proposing what are known as “market adjustments” so that salary rates in the PA unit are in line with comparable jobs in the federal public sector – particularly the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Effective June 21, 2007, before applying an economic increase, we’re proposing that job rates (the maximum rate) for each classification, except WPs, be increased to the job rates for comparable positions at CRA when they were converted to their new classifications on November 1, 2007. To ensure that none of our members are left behind, we’ve also asked for increases to job rates for the small number of classifications and levels that can’t be compared to CRA. These market adjustments, if implemented, would result in increases to all pay rates.

In the case of WP positions, and two groups of PM-4 positions with enforcement responsibilities, we’re proposing adjustments based on the results of an Enforcement Study conducted for the Union by compensation consultants Morneau Sobeco. For WPs, we’re proposing to increase all job rates, which would result in an increase to all WP pay rates. For PM-4 wildlife officers and fishery officers with enforcement duties, we’re proposing an annual allowance, on top of the market adjustment for PM-4s, outlined above.

2. Changes to our system of increments

Right now there are differences in the number of increments for each of the groups in the PA bargaining unit. In order to even this out, we’re proposing that there be a job rate (the maximum rate) and two increments for most levels in each classification. The period between increments would in most cases be 52 weeks and the difference between most levels in each classification would be 4%.
Deep discounts shouldn’t apply to your job

We’re proposing this change to stop the employer’s practice of discounting your job. We understand that some members see the increments as a way for the employer to recognize their years of service. But think again. The actual value of each classification is the maximum rate. Increments are calculated downwards from that rate. In other words, every year that you are not at your maximum rate, the employer is devaluing your work, not recognizing it. We want to reduce the number of years the employer can take advantage and pay you less than your job is worth. Fewer increments mean more years at the maximum rate of pay.

3. A fair economic increase

After applying market adjustments and fixing up the increment system, we’re proposing economic increases of

• 4.5% - effective June 21, 2007
• 4.5% - effective June 21, 2008
• 4.5% - effective June 21, 2009

The full details of our pay proposal will be posted on the PSAC web site soon.

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This round of bargaining is taking place under the new Public Service Labour Relations Act, here are 10 things you ought to know about the law …

1. The basic framework remains unchanged
2. The new Act emphasizes “the public interest”
3. There are new factors which Arbitration Boards must consider, including an “ability to pay” clause.
4. Conciliation Boards are replaced by Public Interest Commissions, which also must consider the same factors.
5. The conduct of strike votes is now governed by the law.
6. The strike vote has a “best before” date (60 days).
7. The Employer has a “free speech” clause.
8. Designations are gone, replaced by “Essential Services Agreements”.
9. There are prohibitions against impeding ESA workers.
10. Planning strike vote timing and strike vote commencement has become more complex.

The factors that go into developing a pay demand

Our Union considers a number of factors when putting together a pay demand.

1. We examine what other workers are being paid who are doing comparable work and we make direct comparisons with PSAC members working for other federal employers.

We use union research, sometimes supplemented by compensation studies, to see what workers are being paid for comparable jobs both in the public and private sectors. With this data, we can propose what are known as “market adjustment” increases. These increases are designed to keep the federal government competitive as an employer. In an economy with low rates of unemployment and an aging workforce, that’s important. Our negotiating teams for each Treasury Board unit are determining what “market adjustment” increases are needed for their members. Look for more information on proposed adjustments in upcoming bulletins from the negotiating teams.

1. We calculate what we need to give our members some real economic improvement that reflects the continued strength of the Canadian economy and protects against inflation.
2. We consider what kinds of increases other workers are negotiating.

Our demand for 2007-2008-2009

For this round of negotiations, we’re proposing:

• an economic increase of 4.5%,
• in each year of a three-year collective agreement,
• retroactive to the first day of the new three-year agreement (the date in 2007 will vary by bargaining unit),
• that applies to all members covered by the agreement.

This proposal has already been tabled with Treasury Board for the PA and FB units and will be soon for the SV unit.

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Your Bargaining Team met with the BC Corps of Commissionaires on April 24 and 25, 2008.

This was the first meeting of the parties following the exchange of bargaining proposals on February 27, 2008. These negotiations, for a first collective agreement, include two (2) bargaining units: approximately 40 Commissionaires performing work on behalf of the Canadian Border Services Agency at Library Square and the Vancouver International Airport and 8 Commissionaires performing work on behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Seal Cove Coast Guard Base in Prince Rupert.

The following issues were discussed:

• Purpose and Scope of the Collective Agreement
• Management Rights
• Definitions and Interpretations
• Union Recognition
• Union Representatives
• Use of Client Facilities
• Union Dues and Membership
• Information
• Leave With or Without Pay for Union Business

Although some progress was made during those two (2) days of negotiations, no articles were signed off. The next meeting has been tentatively set for May 29 and 30, 2008.

There was a preliminary statement by the Union negotiating team addressing the issue of Pay Parity with other sectors of the Public Service. We have put the employer on notice that this will be a priority for the union when we table our full pay position.

We encourage the membership to read both the Union and The CFIA bargaining proposals and to provide feedback to the team member in BC - email Bob Jackson.