Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Striking PSAC members who work at BHP Billiton Ekati Diamond Mine are holding strong as the strike approaches its fourth week. Daily information updates are being circulated to the picket lines at Yellowknife , Rae-Edzo, Fort Smith , Hay River and Edmonton , keeping everyone up-to-date and informed.

Members who live across the land in isolated locations are finding creative ways to support the strike – some are doing community services, for example. Community events across the North have been well attended: barbeques, information pickets and entertainment. Support remains strong.

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OTTAWA - After six years as the PSAC’s national president, Nycole Turmel will be stepping down and making way for a new leader of the 155,000-strong union. Elections for the new national president and national executive vice-president will be held on Friday, May 5, 2006, starting at 8:30 a.m.

The PSAC Convention officially begins on Monday, May 1, in Toronto, but there will be a pre-convention forum on political action and social justice on the previous day.

The Sunday Forum

• What: Political Action and Social Justice Forum
• Who

• Moderator: Hassan Yussuff, Canadian Labour Congress Secretary-Treasurer
• Panelists: Olivia Chow, NDP Member of Parliament; Carole Lavallée, Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament; Alex Munter, Ottawa Mayoralty Candidate; Jim Sinclair, British Columbia Federation of Labour President

On August 1st, 2005, more than 400 employees were transferred by order of the government from HRDC to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). All are employed in “National Collections Services” and “Collections Litigation and Advisory Services.” The vast majority are PSAC members classified as AS, CR and PM. If you were a part of this transfer, you are now an employee of the CRA. However, in accordance with provisions of the Public Service Labour Relations Act, your existing collective agreement (Table 1) remained in effect until the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) ruled on the assignment of these new positions to bargaining units within CRA.

On 31 March 2006, in decision 538-34-01, the PSLRB approved a joint application of the PSAC and the CRA to have the AS-CR-PM positions assigned to the existing PSAC bargaining unit. Therefore, as of 31 March 2006, the Table 1 collective agreement ceased to apply to you, and you are now covered by the PSAC-CRA collective agreement.

Although the CRA agreement was originally based on the Table 1 agreement, and is structured very similarly to that agreement, over the last three rounds of negotiations a few differences have developed based on bargaining demands unique to one unit or another. To help you understand the provisions of the new collective agreement, the PSAC has put together a short summary of the major differences between the two collective agreements (pdf).

As an important member benefit, the Public Service Alliance of Canada provides members with $5,000 of life insurance plus $5,000 of accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance absolutely free through the PSAC For Life program. Coughlin & Associates, the insurer, also offers PSAC Enhanced life insurance.

Starting next week, PSAC members will have an opportunity to update their PSAC Enhanced life insurance coverage and enter their names to win one of 20 gift certificates worth $1,000 each from Canadian Tire. With PSAC Enhanced coverage, PSAC members can now own as much as $ 250,000 of life insurance protection for as long as age 70. It’s an important product improvement that can ensure that our members have the financial security they need, even after age 65.

In addition to the chance of winning their choice of some fabulous gifts from Canadian Tire, PSAC members can also support justice, simply by completing a PSAC Enhanced coverage application. For every application received, $5 will be donated to the PSAC Social Justice Fund.

For details and an application form, visit coughlin.ca/psac-afpc/

Via email: It was all coming together: a long-awaited national child care program, the first new social program since medicare. Less than six months ago, federal and provincial governments had signed historic agreements that signaled the beginning of a program aimed at meeting the needs of Canadian children and families.

Now, the new Conservative government has cancelled these agreements, cutting $4 billion in federal funds for child care. Without federal funding, many provincial plans to improve and expand child care will barely, if ever, get off the ground.

The dream of a community-based early learning and care program for all children, regardless of whether their parents are at home or in the workforce, has been 30 years in the making. Now, it could all evaporate.

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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.

Visit the national website for more information. Note the deadline to apply is July 31st, 2006.

Public Services International conference to develop agenda against privatization

Ottawa (14 March 2006) — More than 75 trade union leaders and activists from six countries will gather in Ottawa this week, under the umbrella of the Public Services International (PSI), to foster alliances and develop a coordinated agenda to prevent the privatization of public services.

“Many governments around the world are in the midst of turning control of public services over to large corporations,” says Nycole Turmel, National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). “The public is paying a huge price for this privatization in terms of less quality, less access and less accountability.”

The three-day conference, being held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa from 14-16 March, will provide a forum to share and evaluate recent union campaigns against privatization and to develop a coordinated trade union agenda in the fight for quality public services.

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The Ottawa Citizen, Mon 06 Mar 2006

Re: Labour pains, March 1.

The Citizen rightly claims that the Public Service Alliance of Canada “endorsed a number of separatist candidates in the Pontiac, despite the fact that the union represents workers whose livelihood depends on a strong federal government.” However, poll after poll suggests that about 25 per cent of Bloc Quebecois supporters are federalists.

The reason is that the Bloc is proactive and progressive on a range of issues, from pay equity to anti-scab legislation to child care. On the basis of its strong support for social, human and labour rights alone, it gets support from workers and their families.

And while the leadership of the Bloc supports separation for Quebec, this is an issue that will not be decided in a federal election.

Workers and businesses in the area should be more concerned about the Citizen editorial board’s support of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) which, in the words of the editorial, is “regularly putting forward serious policy proposals.”

The Harper government and the CCCE, and by implication the Citizen, endorse the concept of a fiscal imbalance between the federal and provincial governments, a notion that I and my union reject. I suggest that your acknowledgement of a fiscal imbalance and lack of support for measures to ameliorate it will do more to undermine workers and businesses, including the Citizen, whose livelihoods depend more on a strong federal government than on the endorsement and democratic election of a Bloc MP.

Nycole Turmel, Ottawa, PSAC National President

TO: Voting Delegates from the BC Region to the 2005 BC Region Convention – Still in Good Standing.

FROM: Nycole Turmel

RE: Alternate REVP BC

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The ballots in the elections to the above-noted position have been counted and Kay Sinclair received a majority.

Therefore, I declare Sister Kay Sinclair the new Alternate Regional Executive Vice-President for the BC Region.

Congratulations Kay!

In Solidarity, Nycole Turmel, National President

OTTAWA - For the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the largest union representing federal public sector workers, the Gomery report, if implemented, would represent a fundamental shift in the way government works. Increased power would go to the Secretary of the Treasury Board and the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, with diminished power and responsibility for the Privy Council Office.

“This is an important report for all workers in the federal public sector” said PSAC National President Nycole Turmel.

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FROM: Nycole Turmel

RE: Cyclical Review Schedule – PSAC Dental Plan

Consultations regarding changes to the PSAC Dental Plan will begin shortly.

We already have a number of demands, including raised yearly maximums, use of current fee guide and decreased deductibles.

If you have any suggestions for changes to the Plan other than those above, please send them to my office as soon as possible. I will then forward them to the PSAC representative on the Dental Board.

Thank you for your cooperation.

In Solidarity, Nycole Turmel, National President

Now that the election is over and PSAC members and all Canadians are waiting to see what the new Conservative minority government’s first actions will be, National President Nycole Turmel has written to the incoming Prime Minister and the leaders of the opposition parties to put some of our members’ concerns before them and to ask for an early meeting to discuss these concerns, read the letters here: Letter to Stephen Harper | Letter to Paul Martin | Letter to Jack Layton | Letter to Gilles Duceppe (all )

VANCOUVER — The Conservative justice critic says the party will stand behind its promise to give guns to Canadian border guards.Vic Toews’ pledge comes a day after two murder suspects from California made a run for the border south of Vancouver before they were stopped in a shootout.

Toews says it’s just a matter of how soon the Canadian officers can be trained and the firearms issued.

His comments came as B-C Solicitor General John Les was calling on the new Tory government to arm border guards.

Toews says he was disturbed Canadian guards left their posts yesterday as the gunmen approached, but he understands because of the threat to their personal safety.

Read more at ctv.ca