Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

While Stephen Harper paid lip service to the ideals of peace, order and good government, the October 16th Speech from the Throne does little to promote these ideals in concrete terms.

Announcing a legislative agenda that prominently features deregulation, broad-based tax cuts, self-imposed limits to federal spending along with inaction on the environment, poverty and the growing prosperity gap, the Harper government has served notice that it intends to degrade existing public services and severely limit the government’s ability to address emerging needs in the future.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada says the government has got it wrong. The Harper Conservatives continue to fail to understand that enlightened investment in people through stable funding for programs and public services is one of the hallmarks of a progressive, modern society and the birthright of every Canadian.

In the wake of enormous budget surpluses, the government’s failure to invest in Canada and in the health and welfare of all citizens is a national embarrassment. Canadians deserve better!

(more…)

The negotiations started in July 2006. From the start, the Corps of Commissionaires displayed its usual bag of bad tricks. They fired one of the members of the PSAC negotiating team and imposed disciplinary measures on another. However, that only served to strengthen our members’ resilience and solidarity. The members fought the firing and the disciplinary measures and they won. The Corps had to reinstate our member and it dropped the disciplinary measures against the other member of the negotiating team.

The parties reached a tentative agreement in February 2007 and the agreement was promptly ratified by the PSAC. However, the Corps kept refusing to sign it. This prompted the PSAC to file a complaint of bad faith bargaining and, after one day of hearings on October 2, the Corps finally agreed to ratify the new collective agreement.

The contract provides our members with a grievance and arbitration procedure, health and safety provisions, a hiring process, job security and salary increases. The contract expires in March 09.

For our members, the signing of this collective agreement demonstrates once again that solidarity among the membership will always win the struggle, even against the toughest employer.

Ottawa - In a week that saw the National Association of Women and the Law forced to close its doors because of funding cuts and the announcement of drastic funding cuts at Environment Canada that threaten environmental monitoring programs and the Canadian Wildlife Service, Canadians should question the Harper Government’s constant refrain that budgetary surpluses should be directed towards tax cuts.

The government announced on Thursday that it will use part of its nearly $14 billion budget surplus to fund $725 million in tax cuts – an amount that adds up to about $35 for every taxpayer.

“Thursday’s announcement is one more example that shows the Harper government’s budgetary policy is out of touch with the views of Canadians, including the members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. We all want more services not less,” says John Gordon, National President of the PSAC.

(more…)

OTTAWA – The Harper government, having finally figured out that being seen to be “green” could translate into votes, is in the process of sacrificing other vital Environment Canada programs in a misguided attempt to focus almost exclusively on climate change.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Union of Environment Workers (PSAC/UEW) takes strong exception to Environment Minister John Baird’s claims that no programs have been cut and that spending is just being prioritized for climate change initiatives.

“Program budgets that are being slashed by 50 to 100 percent are cuts,” says UEW National President Bill Pynn, “regardless of what the government may claim.”

“The government’s decision to cut programs not related to climate change demonstrates their lack of a comprehensive plan for sustaining and protecting our environment and their abysmal lack of understanding of the important work Environment Canada performs,” says Pynn. “It is also one more move by the Harper government to reduce if not eliminate the federal government’s responsibility to provide necessary public services at the national level.”

(more…)

OTTAWA – In spite of election promises by Stephen Harper, women’s groups who track women’s inequalities and advocate for change, such as the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) are being forced to close their doors, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

“During the last election campaign, Harper promised to do more to meet Canada’s international obligations to women’s equality,” says PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President Robyn Benson. “Less than a year after forming the government, then Minister responsible for the Status of Women Bev Oda declared women equal, closed most of the Status of Women Canada (SWC) regional offices and cut funding for research and advocacy.”

“Now, one by one, women’s organizations who lobby for change are being forced to shut down. Today, NAWL’s offices are closing and others are expected to follow.”

Women’s inequality in Canada is still very much an issue. Women are more likely to be poor and almost half of Canada’s poor children live with a single female parent. Women’s earnings are still 71% of men’s earnings and average incomes for Aboriginal, disabled and racialized women are even lower. Women make up 51% of the population but still only hold 20% of the seats in the House of Commons.

(more…)

OTTAWA, Sept. 12 - The Corps of Commissionaires is making excessive profits at the expense of both the Commissionaires they employ and Canadian taxpayers, according to Ed Cashman, Regional Executive Vice-President for the National Capital Region of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the union representing the Commissionaires in Ottawa.

Cashman made the statement this morning. For Cashman, it is unacceptable for the Corps to be pocketing money that should go to its workers.

“The Corps receives 80 cents an hour per Commissionaire from Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) to pay its workers a bilingual premium while the Commissionaires receive only 35 cents an hour, a difference of 45 cents,” says Cashman. “In Ottawa alone, there are about 3,000 Commissionaires. This represents a huge amount of money.”

In a letter to Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, Cashman has requested an investigation into that practice by the Corps.

(more…)

Ottawa – The federal government has sold nine government buildings for more than $600 million less than their actual value to Larco Investments Ltd., according to an analysis conducted by the economic research firm Informetrica Ltd.

Prior to the government announcing the sale, PSAC members leafleted Sinclair Centre while REVP Kay Sinclair held a joint press conference with President of the BC Federation of Labour, Jim Sinclair and Janet Sinclair, daughter of the buildings namesake - read more at globeandmail.com and canada.com.

Informetrica values the prime federal properties at almost $2.3 billion, yet Public Works and Government Services Canada announced today the sale of the buildings for only $1.64 billion.

“This is a give-away of colossal proportion. In addition to ceding ownership of nine premium properties, the federal government has, in effect, written a $630 million cheque signed by Canadian taxpayers,” said Patty Ducharme, National Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada which commissioned the Informetrica report.

(more…)

Daughter of former federal cabinet minister James Sinclair joins public service union, BC Fed to urge federal government to drop sale of historic Sinclair Centre named after her father

Vancouver – Janet Sinclair, the daughter of former federal Liberal government cabinet minister James Sinclair, has joined the union for public service workers and the BC Federation of Labour in urging the Conservative government to drop plans to sell the historic Sinclair Centre that is named after her father.

• Send an email to your MP: Stop The Sale!

The federal government has requested bids for nine buildings across Canada, including the Sinclair Centre, located at 757 West Hastings Street, and is expected to announce its decision today to sell them and lease them back, says Kay Sinclair, Public Service Alliance of Canada BC Vice President.

“We are urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to not sell the Sinclair Centre or the other buildings and keep these public assets that benefits all taxpayers, Sinclair said. “Why would the government want to be a renter when it’s already an owner?”

(more…)

Commissionaires at Library Square working for Immigration Canada sign up with union, seek safety improvements at workplace

VANCOUVER - Commissionaires working at Vancouver’s Library Square on contract with Immigration Canada have signed up to join a union and are seeking safety improvements at their workplace.

The Commissionaires, who provide assistance and security to the public, have signed cards to become members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada,a union that represents Commissionaires across the country.

Kay Sinclair, PSAC’s BC Regional Executive Vice President, said the union has filed an application to the BC Labour Relations Board for certification.

“One of the main reasons these workers are seeking union protection is safety,” Sinclair said. “They are required to work in potentially violent situations and yet are provided no safety equipment or adequate training.”

(more…)

TORONTO- Random workplace drug testing is intrusive and an unreasonable exercise of management rights an arbitrator ruled on June 28. The policy grievance against the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) was launched by PSAC for Local 00004 in February 2001.

The GTAA’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy, which was developed and implemented without union input, cast a wide net and called for provocative measures such as random drug testing involving urine samples, pre-appointment testing and the imposition of discipline upon a positive test. Noting that a positive drug test does not indicate impairment, the Arbitrator also rejected employer arguments that positive tests legitimately alert the employer to increased safety risks.

Highlighting the disconnect between drug test results, impairment and safety, the Arbitrator pointed to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Meiorin and ruled that the employer could not justify the discriminatory aspects of the policy because the testing could not be shown to be reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of a work-related purpose.

(more…)

OTTAWA - The Public Service Alliance of Canada is calling on the Harper government to stop the sell-off of publicly-owned buildings.  The federal government has just announced that it is going ahead with its plan to sell nine buildings, currently owned by the people of Canada, to the private sector.

“This process lacks any accountability and is a very bad deal for the Canadian public”, says PSAC National Executive Vice-President Patty Ducharme. “Canadians would not sell their houses and then rent them back again. Canadians own these buildings. Where is the sense in selling these valuable assets and then having to pay rent for them?”
PSAC members who work in government buildings know from experience that they can expect better conditions if the buildings they work in are owned and managed by the government instead of by investors whose primary concern is reaping a profit.

|inline

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.”

|inline

OTTAWA – In spite of its claims, the latest Conservative budget is not going to make Canada better or safer, nor will it make it fairer, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

“The federal budget proposes to establish a $25-million office to foster public-private partnerships (P3s), when what Canadians need and deserve are quality public services that are publicly funded and delivered,” says PSAC National President John Gordon.

The budget calls for $1.26 billion over 7 years in a national fund for unspecified public-private partnerships, as well as $2.1 billion for gateways and border crossings, including the new Windsor-Detroit access which is already earmarked as a P3 initiative.

“Despite the Conservative budget’s praise for P3s in other countries, experience actually shows that public-private partnerships are less accountable and produce higher long-term costs,” says Gordon. “If our tax dollars are paying for this country’s infrastructure, then we should own it. P3s are simply a way to guarantee corporate profits at taxpayers’ expense.”

|inline

Ottawa-PSAC members at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) received their own bargaining certificate from the federal Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB). They are now part of the unit called Frontière-Border Services (FB).

The new bargaining unit includes approximately 7,000 members and represents all PSAC members employed by the CBSA inland and at points of entry. The new unit also includes PSAC members providing immigration and food inspection services at CBSA.

For these PSAC members, the new certification represents an important step towards solving many issues that are specific to their place of work and duties.

|inline

Halifax- On Valentine’s Day, PSAC members working at IMP Group Limited poured their chocolate coated hearts out in an attempt to soften management’s stone cold heart.

In front of the company’s headquarters in Halifax, the workers distributed heart shaped chocolates to managers and other employees as they entered the building. The workers hoped their gesture will be seen as an expression of their heartfelt desire to reach a negotiated settlement with IMP Group Limited.

“We are hoping the company will realize the benefits of open and positive negotiations with the employees’ union,” said Greg Isberg, president of PSAC Union Local 21018 in Comox, British Columbia. Isberg is also a member of the PSAC negotiating team at IMP Group Limited. “We want to maintain peaceful and harmonious relationships with the company, but management seems intended in creating a confrontation,” he added.

|inline

OTTAWA - IMP Group Limited, which is charged with maintaining and repairing Canadian search and rescue helicopters, refuses to address some important labour issues with its employees, according to the union representing the employees, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

“Our members perform work that is of great importance to the safety and security of many Canadians,” said PSAC National President John Gordon. “IMP management should do everything they can to resolve the labour problems within the company and to develop harmonious work relations with the employees.”

For Gordon, the time has come for IMP management to learn how to deal fairly with its unionized workforce. “Many Canadian companies deal with unions representing their employees,” he said, “and in doing so they are able to ensure labour peace in their workplaces. IMP should do the same.”

|inline

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.

|inline

Ottawa–Canadians are outraged at the $5M cuts to Status of Women Canada (SWC) and the changes in the guidelines which saw the elimination of funding for research and advocacy for women’s equality rights.

To add insult to injury, under the guise and premise of “achieving efficiencies” at SWC, the government has decided to eliminate almost half its workforce across the country.

“How can Minister Oda expect Canadians to believe that she and her government are acting in the best interests of women? We are calling on this Minister to resign. She simply cannot profess to represent Canadian women, nor can she claim she is defending women’s equality” stated Robyn Benson, PSAC Officer responsible for women’s rights.

|inline

OTTAWA - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) applauds the adoption today, in second reading, of Bill C-257, the anti-scab legislation introduced by the Bloc Québécois.

“After several attempts to have this piece of legislation adopted,” says Patty Ducharme PSAC National Executive Vice-President, “Members of Parliament have finally accepted to give workers a more level playing field in their relations with their employers. It’s a great day for working women and men in Canada.”

• CLC: Georgetti urges MP’s not to delay approval on third reading.

Bill C-257 is a Private Member’s Bill introduced by the Bloc MP for Gatineau, Richard Nadeau. It’s inspired by the anti-scab legislation currently in force in Québec, which prohibits employers from using strike-breakers during a strike or a lockout.  Today’s vote will send the Bill to a House of Commons Committee before coming back for a final vote.

|inline

Union members are meeting with Members of Parliament October 23-25, 2006, to secure their support for the second reading of Bill C-257, which will amend the Canadian Labour Code to prohibit the use of replacement workers during a labour dispute. PSAC members across the country have been busy over the summer and fall contacting and meeting with their MPs to build support for the vote which is scheduled for Wednesday, October 25, 2006, at 5:00pm.

• Email your MP - ask them to support Bill C-257

Four PSAC – Union of Northern Workers members participating in the lobby, Andy Anderson, Richard J. Charlo, Ian Kelly and Troy Oslanki, have recent first-hand knowledge of the reasons why Canada needs anti-scab legislation. They walked the picket line this past spring during the strike against the multinational corporation BHP Billiton at the Ekati Mine in the Northwest Territories. They experienced the negative effects replacement workers can have on a community during a labour conflict.

“Scabs make a labour conflict last longer because some employers choose to hire them instead of negotiating with the unions,” said Troy Oslanki, vice-president PSAC Local 3050 in Yellowknife. “Also scabs create deep and long lasting divisions in the small communities where the workers live.”

Continue reading about the anti-scab legislation lobby at the national website.