Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

The PSAC stands in strong support with the Assembly of First Nations’ National Day of Action to Make Poverty History. We encourage all members across the country to participate in the actions taking place on June 29, and in the AFN’s Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign.

In Vancouver: Solidarity for Aboriginal justice

• March and Rally
• March: 11:00 AM - Vanier Park to Library Square
• (Begin assembling at 9:30, Coast Guard Station by the Burrard St Bridge)
• Rally: 12:00 Noon - Library Square (300 West Georgia)
• more info: (604) 684-0231 or www.ubcic.bc.ca/NDOA.htm or NDOA@ubcic.bc.ca

The Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign highlights the struggles facing First Nations people and communities. First Nations and all Canadians must take action together and demand that Canada’s political leaders honour their commitments to end poverty.

Too many First Nations children, elders, families and communities are living in conditions that should not be acceptable to anyone in Canada:

• 1 in 4 First Nations children live in poverty.
• First Nations youth commit suicide at 5 to 8 times the Canadian rate as a result of poverty and despair.
• High school graduation rates for First Nations youth are half the Canadian rate.
• Close to 1 in 4 First Nations communities are under boil drinking water advisories.
• Mould contaminates almost half of all First Nations homes.
• More than half of First Nations people are not employed.
• Diabetes among First Nations people is at least three times the national average.
• First Nations suffer from Third World diseases such as tuberculosis at 8 to 10 times the rate of Canadians in general.

More than half of First Nations people are under 23 years of age. If poverty is not addressed today, it will continue to negatively impact First Nations families and communities into the future.

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PSAC held a demonstration in downtown Ottawa yesterday to protest the Conservative government’s plan to sell off and lease back valuable federal government buildings.

• Pictures at the national website.

PSAC National President John Gordon, and REVP-NCR Ed Cashman delivered speeches in downtown Ottawa yesterday against the government’s plan to sell off the buildings … here’s the video on youtube.

The deadline for PSAC scholarships is July 16th.

The PSAC Scholarship Program is offering the following 15 scholarships to PSAC members and their children:

• one $4,000 PSAC - Groulx National Scholarship;
• one $4,000 PSAC - Coughlin National Scholarship;
• two $3,000 PSAC - Groulx National Scholarships;
• two $3,000 PSAC - Coughlin National Scholarships;
• one $2,000 J.R. (Joe) Power National Scholarship;
• one $1,000 PSAC National Scholarship;
• seven $1,000 PSAC Regional Scholarships; – one for each of the seven regions (Atlantic, Quebec, National Capital Region, Ontario, Prairies, British Columbia, and the North).

Scholarships are available for the children and dependants of PSAC members. As well, three out of the seven $1,000 PSAC Regional Scholarships may be awarded to PSAC members (if applications are received) who are returning to university, college or a recognized institute of higher learning on a full-time basis.

PSAC members (as parents of applicants or as applicants) must be in good standing as of March 31st of the current year.

Visit the national website for more information and an application form.

PSAC has counted the votes cast in the representation vote that has taken place among our members at Service Canada. The vote was to determine which PSAC Component would represent all PSAC Service Canada members at the workplace level.

• View John Gordon’s video message to Service Canada members: High-resolution | Low-resolution

The vote has resulted in the Canada Employment and Immigration Union earning the right to represent you at the workplace level. Here are the vote totals.

• Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) – 3,774 (62.9%)
• National Health and Welfare Union (NHWU) – 2,226 (37.1%)
• Spoiled – 36
• Total votes cast – 6,036

PSAC National President John Gordon will be meeting with the National Presidents of both Components in order to ensure there is a smooth transition process. A key part of the process will be to ensure that there is no disruption of service to members, particularly in the representation of members’ grievances. Another part of the process will be to give voice to the members being transferred from NHWU to CEIU.

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Sisters and Brothers:

This year, on April 22, over 500 million people in more than 100 countries will be celebrating International Earth Day. Some 6 million Canadians will participate in Earth Day events in schools, community groups, youth groups, unions, and environmental organizations. Nearly all school children in Canada will participate in an Earth Day event.

Across Canada, there is widespread support for protecting the environment. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, nine out of ten Canadians rate the environment as one of their top concerns, and eight out of ten Canadians believe that environmental protection should be given priority over economic growth.

Despite this widespread popular support, successive federal governments have systematically dismantled environment programs and replaced them with rhetoric and little substance. Canada is sadly one of the world’s most wasteful nations in terms of excessive energy consumption, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Our performance on the majority of environmental indicators is worsening. Clearly, there is a gap between our environmental values and our poor environmental record.

Read John Gordon’s Earth Day message at the national website.

OTTAWA - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says the federal government needs to change a number of its practices if it is to meet the challenges of the changing demographic of the federal public sector.

PSAC National President John Gordon, appearing today before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, called for changes in staffing approaches and practices if the federal government is to meet the challenges of an aging workforce.

• Read John’s presentation at the national website.

“Staffing for part-time or short-term needs does not attract the same consideration of employment equity objectives as are in place when an employer is staffing on an indeterminate basis,” says Gordon in response to a statement by the President of the Public Service Commission (PSC) that 88.6% of federal staffing is in term, student and casual positions.

According to the PSC’s 2004-05 Annual Report, approximately 65% of those hired permanently into the federal public service were hired from a pool of temporary workers. “Perhaps this is why a Senate Committee recently described this practice as a ‘significant stumbling block’ to achieving employment equity,” says Gordon. “Reducing, if not eliminating, these back door opportunities is the solution and it’s a solution that our staffing agencies ignore.”

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PSAC members working for Service Canada will be asked to select either the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) or the National Health and Welfare Union (NHWU) to represent them.

• Read the letter from John Gordon
• View the video from John Gordon High-resolution / Low-resolution

In BC the Service Canada vote will be held from March 21 until April 12, 2007, mail in ballots must be post-marked no later then April 27 and vote count will begin on May 3rd.

For a complete list of dates and locations please scroll down.

Please note that if you have not signed a PSAC membership card you will need to do so before you can vote. Members will be asked to provide either their PSAC membership card or any other photo ID.

In you have any questions concerning the vote, contact your respective PSAC Regional Offices. Please note these dates and locations are subject to change.

OTTAWA - The Chretien government had already secretly used up much of the $30-billion surplus in the pension plans of its employees by the time it sat down with unions to negotiate a new pension deal and refused to share the windfall.

• National website: Pension trial begins Feb 26th.

Lawyers for the 18 unions and pensioner groups that are fighting the government to get the surplus back told an Ontario Superior Court judge Monday the government had already ’scooped’ the surplus in the pension plans of Canada’s public servants, military and RCMP before Bill C-78 - the legislation that allowed the government to claim the surplus and book it against the debt - was passed in 1999.

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I want to start by thanking you for providing me with an opportunity to participate in your pre-budget consultation.

I do so on behalf of more than 160,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union representing the vast majority of Canadian workers employed by the federal government and its various departments and agencies.

In this short statement, I want to make a case for renewal of public services, public service delivery and public infrastructure.

• Have your say on the budget!

But first, I want to make a couple of comments on the revenue side of the equation.  From my perspective there is both good news and bad news on the fiscal front since your government was elected a little over a year ago. I believe that your decision to reduce revenue by almost $5 billion by cutting the GST was a mistake. On the other side of the coin, I would like to commend you for taking action last fall on the income trust file because failure to act would have continued and increased the leakage from the tax system putting even further pressure on your governments ability to deliver service to Canadians.

Clearly, budgets are about priorities. And in looking forward to your 2007 budget, I can’t help but look at the past and your government’s September 25, 2006 announcement of a 1 billion dollar reduction in government expenditures.

Not all cuts are created equally, and I would urge you to take a second look at the 2006 cuts that undermine equally and use your budget to, in the words of the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality “Put Equality Back on Track”.

That means restoring operational funding for Status of Women Canada, and restoring funding for the Court Challenges program and the Law Reform Commission.

It means putting literacy back on the priority list, and investing more resources, not less to level the playing field for aboriginal peoples.

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OTTAWA - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is putting the defense of quality public services on the bargaining table in the upcoming round of negotiations with the federal government for over 100,000 federal public sector workers.

“PSAC members are proud of the role they play in the daily lives of Canadians from coast to coast to coast,” said National President John Gordon. “Our negotiations serve a larger purpose as Canadians across the country want more public services and are prepared to pay for them, not further cuts to our public services. The work we do at the bargaining table and in the community is about building a better Canada.”

The union has been holding a national bargaining conference for its five Treasury Board bargaining units and for its bargaining unit at the Parks Canada Agency. PSAC members, who attended regional bargaining conferences in late 2006, have spent the last four days reviewing bargaining priorities established by the 2006 PSAC triennial convention and bargaining demands submitted by PSAC Locals.

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The PSAC Scholarship Awards Committee has chosen the recipients of this year scholarships.The PSAC offers 12 scholarships valued at $30,000 to the sons and daughters of PSAC members who attend a university, college or an institute of higher learning.

These scholarships are awarded on the basis of an 800-word essay, scholastic achievement and community and union involvement. This year, the topic of the essay was:

Tell us why you think Canada needs quality, publicly funded and publicly delivered social programs and services.

• $4,000 Groulx - PSAC National scholarship: Jeremy Brouillard (parent: Christiane Allaire / CEIU/Quebec)
• $4,000 Coughlin – PSAC National scholarship: Amanda Long (parent: Colleen Whiteley / CEIU/Ontario)
• $3,000 Groulx – PSAC National scholarship: Michael Drew (parent: Dorothy Drew / Agriculture/Ontario)
• $3,000 Coughlin – PSAC National scholarship: Anna Lambert (parent: George Lambert / UPCE/NCR)
• $3,000 Groulx – PSAC National scholarship: Jason Harvey (parent: Doug Harvey /National /NCR)
• $3,000 Coughlin – PSAC National scholarship: Judith Jayasuriya (parent: Hycinth Jayasuriya / GSU /Prairies)
• J.R. (Joe) Power $2,000 National Scholarship: Katherine Fane (parent: Ruth McDiarmid / Agriculture/BC)
• $1,000 PSAC National Scholarship: Meghan Donovan (parents: Joyce and Reg Donovan /CEIU/Atlantic)
• $1,000 scholarship Atlantic: Brittany Churchill (parent: Helen Churchill / UTE/Atlantic)
• $1,000 scholarship Quebec: Sebastien Rioux (member / UQAM/Quebec)
• $1,000 scholarship National Capital Region : Greer Brabazon (parent: Kirsten Kizolanka / National/NCR)
• $1,000 scholarship Ontario: Kelly Manweiler (member / National/Ontario)
• $1,000 scholarship Prairies: Nathan Huisman LaBerge (parent: Sharon Laberge / UNDE/Prairies)
• $1,000 scholarship British Columbia: Michael Munro (member/ UTE/BC)
• $1,000 scholarship North: Christine Miller (parent: William Miller / UEW/North)

As victories go, this was a big one. A memorandum of agreement signed October 5th with Correctional Service Canada will see the Penological Factor Allowance restored to the roughly 2,000 USGE members who have been denied the longstanding allowance since the summer of 2005.

The official signing capped a 14-month struggle to see the restoration of PFA. Last July, a joint union-employer fact-finding tour of several British Columbia institutions provided all parties a thorough understanding of the workplace realities faced by the affected members.

“The loss of the PFA was a significant hardship for our members who work in federal correctional institutions” said John Gordon, PSAC National President. “I am proud that PSAC and USGE were successful in restoring the PFA, as it recognizes the dangerous work environment faced by the membership”.

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Starting August 17, almost 5,000 PSAC members in the Treasury Board, Parks Canada, Canada Revenue Agency and Canadian Food Inspection Agency bargaining units will be getting a call at home from their union.The union has prepared a survey that will be conducted by the Environics Research Group, asking members about bargaining issues and their priorities. The survey will help the union prepare its negotiating and political strategy for the next round of bargaining for these units.

Over the last several weeks, the survey has been tested in a series of focus groups involving about 80 rank and file and activist members. Now it’s ready to go.

If you are one of the members called by Environics, we hope you’ll participate. Individual information is completely confidential and at no time will the opinions of individual members be identified.

If you participate in the survey, consider sharing the experience with others in your Local and conduct your own mini-survey to find out what other members see as bargaining concerns and priorities. It’s never too early to get ready for the next round of negotiations

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government has quietly handed senior government officials and the heads of Crown corporations pay raises and increased bonuses, sounding alarm bells from a tax watchdog and the biggest public service union.

Government executives and deputy ministers, the highest ranking public servants, are in line to get a 2.5-per-cent pay raise.

The chief executives of Crown corporations, such as the CBC and Canada Post, are slated to get three-per-cent raises.

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The deadline for PSAC scholarships is July 31st:

The PSAC Scholarship Program is offering the following 15 scholarships to PSAC members and their children:

• one $4,000 Groulx-PSAC National scholarship;
• one $4,000 Coughlin-PSAC National scholarship;
• two $3,000 Groulx-PSAC National scholarships;
• two $3,000 Coughlin-PSAC National scholarships;
• the J.R. (Joe) Power $2,000 Scholarship;
• one $1,000 PSAC National Scholarship;
• one $1,000 scholarship for each region ( Atlantic , Quebec , National Capital Region, Ontario , Prairies, British Columbia and the North).

Awarding of the scholarships is based on an 800-word essay, scholastic achievement, and community and union involvement. The subject of the essay is determined in January of each year. Three out of the eight $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to PSAC members (if applications are received) who are returning to university, college or an institute of higher learning on a full-time basis.

Eligibility

All scholarships are available for PSAC members and their children. Members must be in good standing as of May 31 st of the current year. The student will attend a recognized university, college, or institute of higher learning on a full-time basis. These scholarships are not restricted to first-year students. No more than one scholarship will be awarded to the same family in a given year and no one will be awarded a scholarship more than once.

Read more and find out how to apply at the national website.

PSAC is going to be surveying members in preparation for the next round of bargaining with Treasury Board, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Parks Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency.

Environics Research Group, a well-known and respected polling firm will be conducting the survey for PSAC, asking questions about bargaining issues and priorities.

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Yellowknife – Public Service Alliance of Canada members at the Ekati diamond mine have voted to ratify a tentative agreement with Ekati owner BHP Billiton, ending a strike that began April 7 with the first-ever union contract at a Canadian diamond mine and significant improvements for workers there.

Ekati workers voted 66% in favour of the one-year contract that contains a full grievance procedure to protect workers from arbitrary and unfair treatment, wage increases, a signing benefit, more vacation days and other improvements, said Jean-François Des Lauriers, PSAC Executive Vice-President-North.

“This has been a tough strike but our members are going back to work with significant improvements in their workplace as a result of their determination,” Des Lauriers said. “And we will be back at the bargaining table on our members’ behalf next year.”

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Yellowknife - The Public Service Alliance of Canada has reached a tentative agreement for striking Ekati diamond mine workers with Ekati owner BHP Billiton and will be recommending acceptance to end the strike that began April 7.

PSAC National President John Gordon said Ekati workers can be proud of their fight to win the first-ever contract at a Canadian diamond mine against BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world.

“When less than 400 union members take on a giant multinational corporation with $7.5 billion in annual profits to try and win a first contract, it’s hardly a fair fight,” Gordon said. “But our members can hold their heads high. They reached a tentative agreement against the odds in an extremely tough strike where the employer did everything it could to defeat them and failed to do so.”

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OTTAWA - Despite feeling that they are overworked and have had no improvement in working conditions, public service workers are still strongly committed to their job of providing quality services to Canadians, according to the latest results of the federal government’s Public Service Employees Survey.

The survey, released today by the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, found that 90 per cent of federal public service workers admit to being proud of the public services they deliver, and 96 per cent say they are committed to making their organization successful.

• View the results of the survey online at hrma-agrh.gc.ca

“These results confirm what we’ve been saying all along: That our members care deeply about their work and that public services need to be defended from cutbacks and privatization,” says Public Service Alliance of Canada National President John Gordon.

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Public Service Alliance of Canada says don’t buy trademarked Aurias™ and CanadaMark™ diamonds produced by strikebreakers

YELLOWKNIFE, June 13 /CNW/ - Over 2 million readers of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in the United States will read today about “Dirty Diamonds” being produced despite a strike by Ekati diamond mine workers, as their union runs major ads in the newspapers as part of its growing international campaign against mine owner BHP Billiton.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is asking consumers not to buy Ekati diamonds being produced by strikebreakers under the Aurias™ and CanadaMark™ trademarks behind union picket lines as the union fights to win a fair first collective agreement for nearly 400 Ekati workers on strike since April 7.

“BHP Billiton is going to feel increasing heat around the world until it reaches a fair contract with Ekati diamond mine workers,” said Jean-François Des Lauriers, PSAC Executive Vice-President-North. “We will be telling readers of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal that they should not buy Canada’s own conflict diamonds - diamonds being produced despite a labour conflict.” Click here to view the ad (pdf).

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