Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

National Vice-President Patty Ducharme and REVP Atlantic Jeannie Baldwin were in Charlottetown this weekend to present our pension petition to Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Here’s some video …

Visit the national website for some photos and more information.

The PSAC is more determined than ever to protect the 300 jobs at Canada Post call centres and the National Philatelic Centre in Antigonish.

Sign the online petition to save Canada Post’s Philatelic centre and its call centres

Campaign highlights:

• a petition was circulated at the NDP Manitoba Convention in Winnipeg in April,
• union representatives met with MPs Chris Charlton, Meaghan Leslie and MLA Moe Smith
• union representatives met with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities
• the FCM will consider a resolution on the issue at its June convention .
• strong participation in the May Day celebration. Watch the video
• demonstration and leafleting in Antigonish

For more information:  Canada Post to privatize 300 contact centre jobs across Canada

Register now for PSAC’s first on-line Webinar!

Topic: What does the Federal Budget mean for public services and public service workers

Dates:

• May 17, 2010, 4pm PST (English only) – registration link here
• May 18, 2010, 4pm PST (French only) – registration link here

You are invited to participate in PSAC’s first webinar – an online information session to find out more about the recent federal budget and what PSAC is planning to do about it.

The session will include a presentation by David Macdonald from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives focusing on the fallout from the budget and its impact on the public service. This will be followed by a presentation on PSAC’s campaign to protect public services.

Participants will be given the opportunity to address questions to the presenter.

To participate in this session all you need a telephone and a computer with Internet access. To register, please click on the links above. Note: the session will be recorded for later viewing but registration is still neccessary.

Forty years after the first Earth Day celebrations, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.

Read the PSAC statement on Earth Day at the national website.

OTTAWA — The Conservative government’s 2010 budget will compromise public services and people’s livelihoods, to the detriment of all Canadians. That’s the message that John Gordon, President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, delivered to the House of Commons Government Operations and Estimates Committee this afternoon.

Speaking on behalf of PSAC’s 170,000 members, the majority of whom work in the federal public sector, Gordon didn’t mince words. He criticized the Harper government for punishing workers and the public for a crisis that is not of their making. PSAC maintains that the 2010 federal budget will do little to help Canada recover from the recession, and will likely make things worse.

Read more at the national website.

The PSAC is seeking leave to appeal the recent Federal Court decision dismissing the 2005 Tribunal decision. The PSAC will be filing the necessary documents with the Supreme Court in late April.

Visit the national website for more information and background on the Canada Post pay equity case.

Finally the program is open. For those who are new in applying for a PSAC scholarship – greetings! And for those who have applied before – welcome back!

We have made significant changes to the program this year:

• there is a new deadline – June 30, 2010
• there are more awards for PSAC members who are returning to school
• and there is new way of applying – directly on-line

This year’s scholarship question is a little different – contact your nearest RO for some assistance getting in touch with a PSAC steward, look for one in your workplace, or consider becoming one yourself.

Union stewards are the front-line heroes of the labour movement. In addition to their regular jobs, they also volunteer to represent their union in the workplace. They help members file grievances, they sit on union-management committees, and they share information about PSAC’s campaigns and actions in the workplace.

PSAC will be spending the next year highlighting the amazing – and often unrecognized – work that union stewards do every day.

Applicants to the PSAC Scholarship Program are asked to

• Find a PSAC union steward (call the regional office nearest to you for some suggestions).
• Interview a steward about the work they do.
• Write a profile of no more than 750 words, highlighting the steward’s achievements and the import role they play in the workplace and within PSAC

For more information, and to apply online, visit the national website.

PSAC has filed a policy grievance against a Treasury Board directive to prevent employees from posting the union’s pension petition in the workplace.

The directive, issued Feb. 26, ordered managers to:

• deny all requests to post petition sheets
• deny all requests to distribute the petition electronically
• prevent employees who serve the public from wearing stickers

“We consider this Directive to be censoring and an outright violation of union members’ freedom of expression and association,” said John Gordon.

Did your employer take down PSAC petitions or otherwise interfere in the pension campaign? Let us know.

The grievance alleges the directive violates Use of employer facilities and No discrimination provisions in the following collective agreements:

• Program and Administrative Services;
• Operational Services;
• Technical Services;
• Education and Library Science;
• Border Services;
• Canada Revenue Agency;
• Parks; and
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“We need to hear from PSAC members in these workplaces to determine the extent of the damage the employer caused with this directive,” Gordon said. “If there was an incident in your workplace, let us know.”

You may be aware of the crisis currently affecting Rights and Democracy, Canada’s public agency for human rights and democratic development. You can find out a lot more if you go to www.rightsanddemocracymovement.org.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada represents the unionized employees at Rights & Democracy – it’s a Directly Chartered Local based in Montréal. Despite our grave concerns with the internal situation and its impacts, we strongly believe that the crisis at Rights & Democracy is not simply an internal matter, but one of political interference in this institution of Parliament. What is happening amounts to the silencing of human rights’ defenders, much like the silencing of women’s advocacy work, the closure of the Court Challenges Program, and other actions to silence diversity and debate.

Canadians and international allies are mobilizing around Rights & Democracy, and a movement has been created to channel this support.

I am writing to invite you to sign on to the petition in favour of Rights and Democracy, and to distribute this invitation throughout your networks as appropriate.

The list of supporting organizations and individuals is growing, and includes the PSAC, Stephen Lewis, Alex Neve, the Fédération des femmes du Québec, and many more.

In Solidarity, John Gordon, PSAC National President

The Harper government’s 2010 Budget demonstrates a government that is devoid of new ideas and full of ideological cuts to the size of government masquerading as fiscal restraint. It is difficult to believe that they prorogued Parliament and then introduced a new budget with so little new and positive to show.

This budget includes two major measures: another tax cut for business and ongoing cuts to federal public services. Tariffs will be eliminated on all manufacturing inputs at a cost estimated at $1.3 billion over five years. This is on top of further corporate tax cuts, previously announced, that will cost more than $20 billion over the next five years.

At the same time, the federal government will force the Canadian public and public servants to pay for the costs of an economic crisis that was caused by the financial industry by putting a stranglehold on federal departmental spending. This will lead to ongoing cuts to the public services that people depend on and further job losses.

Continue reading the PSAC’s overview and summary of the 2010 budget at the national website.

The March 4 federal budget freezes federal departmental spending. The government has announced they want to balance the budget on the backs of public service workers – a direct threat to federal public service jobs and the important services we deliver to Canadians.

Our federal employers have a legal responsibility to bargain in good faith, and our Union is already preparing for the next round of bargaining. We need to be prepared as Union members to support our bargaining proposals and to fight against any concessions at the bargaining table.

PSAC members working for the Federal Government and Agencies maintain and interpret National and Historic Parks, process and verify EI and CPP claims, provide support for the Canadian forces and RCMP, process and verify passport applications, inspect meat and food processing plants, assess tax returns and administer tax benefit programs, monitor and enhance fish stocks and habitat, work with inmates and parolees, maintain airport runways and navigation systems, stop guns and drugs at the border, and provide services to veterans and their families.

These are just some of the programs and services we deliver and that Canadians depend every day. We must speak out against cuts to these services. Speaking out works. We saw this when the budget did not cut our pensions because we took action in the workplace.

Management may propose layoffs and job cuts to deal with the budget freeze. We know the government has indicated it will not necessarily staff the 14,000 positions expected to be vacated this year due to retirement and attrition.

Our union will fight any proposed reduction in workforce and any reduction in our ability to deliver quality programs and services to Canadians.

What can you do?

PSAC BC is launching a “Workplace Watch” campaign to document and speak out against the effect of cuts in the workplace – cuts that hurt both the Canadian public and Federal employees. Your Local Executive and PSAC Regional Offices will be in touch soon with more information about how to get involved.

Go to psac-afpc.com/federal-budget and sign up to receive updated information on the impact of the budget.

The next chapter in the Federal Superannuation Surplus dispute begins at the Ontario Court of Appeal, April 19, 20 and 21, 2010 in Toronto.

PSAC and other federal public service unions took the then-Liberal government to court over 1999 changes to the Public Sector Investment Board Act which allowed it to expropriate $30 billion from the federal superannuation fund.

Read more at the national website.

Judging from the Throne Speech, the Harper government’s strategy for containing the deficit will focus on attacks against quality public services through spending freezes, more expenditure review and deregulation.

The speech was clear that the government plans to balance the budget by restraining federal program spending overall. It will do this by freezing the total amount that government departments spend on salaries, administration and overhead, and by aggressively undergoing a review of all departmental spending.

Continue reading John Gordon’s message regarding the Throne Speech at the national website.

The federal budget will probably talk about both short term measures and long term measures to slay the deficit. Some of those measures could involve direct attacks on federal public sector workers. Read more at the national website, and download the budget background documents on …

• Child care
• Debt and deficits
• Destroying public services
• A healthy economy
• Taxes and public services

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has released the 2010 version of its Alternative Federal Budget. The budget is produced in collaboration with unions, including the PSAC, and other progressive groups and individuals. As its name suggests, the Alternative Federal Budget offers a different economic approach, one that supports strong public services and working people. Read more at the national website.

Speculation about what will be in the March 4 federal budget is rampant in the media. Some reports would lead us to believe that the Harper Conservatives will leave the federal pension plans alone.

So far, nothing PSAC has heard from Treasury Board President Stockwell Day would lead us to believe that we won’t have to continue to fight to protect the pension benefits our members in the federal public sector pay for.

Minister Day has made repeated references to the pension plan funds. At no time has he guaranteed federal public sector unions that the Conservative government will not reduce pension benefits and/or increase contribution rates.

Our pension campaign is in full swing and we are not letting rumours slow us down. I urge you to continue your hard work gathering signatures on our petitions to Stephen Harper. The willingness of our members to send a strong message to the government is critical if we are to succeed in getting the Conservatives to keep their hands off our pensions.

In solidarity, John Gordon, PSAC National President

Powerful business interests, some corporate media, and corporate think-tanks such as the C.D. Howe Institute and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, are pressuring the Harper government to attack our pensions under the guise of reducing the deficit.

The PSAC is launching a campaign to stop the attack on our pension and to ensure that all Canadians have a safe and secure public pension when they retire.

Here are some of the campaign materials (all pdf):

• A petition that can be circulated and returned to PSAC,
• The ‘Retirement security for all‘ flyer which summarizes the issue and what we can do to take action to protect our pensions
• ‘Building on what works‘ – a series of myths and facts about public and defined pension plans.

Please give these wide circulation in your worksites. All of these materials, as well as an on-line petition, are available at the national website which will continue to be updated as the campaign progresses.

In B.C. we are organizing an M.P. lobby on the issue. Meetings of union officers and members will be held to ensure members are well-equipped to lobby their M.P.s; write letters to the editor; gather petitions; talk to co-workers, friends, and neighbours etc. Staff from the PSAC Regional Offices will contact you soon regarding these activities.

The Conservative Government will table a new budget on March 4th. Please join with me and PSAC members from coast-to-coast-to-coast-to-coast to let them know that we are against using federal public sector workers as scapegoats and attacking pension plans and the important public services we deliver.

We need you to be involved in this crucial campaign.

In Solidarity, Kay Sinclair, Regional Executive Vice-President, BC

Lobby groups with the Harper government’s ear are making much of the federal public service’s pension. They’re calling for cutbacks spreading misinformation and distortions to make their case for funding tax cuts and investment loopholes that would benefit their constituents.

We need to make sure Harper knows he’s in for a fight if he wants to pilfer our deferred wages or weaken our pension plan.

Take action to protect your pension:

• Sign our online petition calling for retirement security for all and to preserve federal public service pension plans.
• Follow us on Twitter: PSAC BC | PSAC National
• Join our Facebook Fan page: PSAC BC | PSAC National
• Forward this URL via email to co-workers, friends and family who share your concerns about federal public service pensions and retirement security.

During the Labour Day long week-end, I encourage PSAC members and all Canadians to take a moment to reflect on the exceptional contribution made to Canadian society by working people and their unions.

• Labour Day events in Vancouver | Victoria | All BC

Today, we enjoy a more compassionate and just world because of hard-won struggles of the labour movement. The right to a healthy and safe workplace, to Medicare, to unemployment insurance, to paid holidays and vacation, to public pensions, to living wages and maternity and parental leave – these were all fought for by the labour movement.

PSAC marks this day by celebrating the work done by its members who deliver quality public services to all Canadians. PSAC strongly believes that social services, including quality child and health care and environmental protection, are best delivered by those who do their jobs out of genuine concern for the collective welfare of Canadians and not by those who are motivated by profit.

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Everyone should have the right to join a union if they want to.

Did you know that students who work under the Federal Student Work Experience Program are banned from joining a union? The definition of employee in the Public Service Labour Relations Act excludes student, casual, and short-term workers from access to collective bargaining.

This provision prevents these workers from becoming union members and enjoying the rights and protections afforded to them by membership in a union, including the right to bargain collectively and access to the grievance process.

The PSAC thinks this is unfair and has filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government that argues that this violates the Article 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the freedom of association.

We are also undertaking a number of initiatives to demonstrate that our charter challenge has the support of student workers and of the public at large.

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