Come and listen to bargaining updates from members of PSAC units that are currently in bargaining: Treasury Board, CFIA, Commissionaires and Parks. If time allows, there will be a question and answer session.

Please RSVP to Regina Brennan at (604) 430 5631 x 228 so we can plan for dinner.

The National Day of Action is an opportunity for First Nations and Canadians to stand together in a spirit of unity to support a better life for all First Nations and Aboriginal peoples, according to the AFN.

PSAC supports the AFN’s call for the federal government to work with First Nations to create a better future for all First Nations children by eradicating First Nations poverty – which many recognize as the greatest social injustice in Canada.

The situation couldn’t be more urgent:

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

PSAC’s National Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis Network (NAIM) met in Ottawa in April 2008, endorsing four priority resolutions that it will bring to PSAC’s first National Aboriginal Peoples’ Conference in September 2008: improving Aboriginal union education, making Aboriginal poverty history, fighting for access to clean water for all Aboriginal peoples and pressuring the Canadian government to endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

“The Assembly of First Nations is promoting education, awareness, and action through peaceful rallies across the country. We encourage PSAC members to take part,” said John Gordon, PSAC National President. “The National Day of Action is an opportunity for all Canadians and Aboriginal peoples to stand together in support of a better life for First Nations people.”

A report from our northern correspondent: In Yellowknife, PSAC members attending the Health & Safety Conference and Regional Convention marched and rallied in solidarity with local aboriginal groups.

Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, REVP North, spoke at the rally where he said “The Public Service Alliance of Canada is proud to stand in solidarity with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters to voice concerns about their situation in Canada today. The poverty experienced by Aboriginal people is one of the greatest social injustices in Canada, and we support calling upon the federal government to live up to its responsibilities to improve their lives”.

Here are some photos …

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.

“I’ve been hearing from members who are pretty fed up with the lack of respect they receive from their employer and with the wage offer that has made them feel even worse,” says Gordon. “Treasury Board says they’re disappointed we won’t be meeting in June. That’s nothing compared to our members’ dissatisfaction with Treasury Board’s wage offer and their unwillingness to deal with workplace problems at the table.”

PSAC members will also be out this summer at a variety of events talking to Canadians, including Members of Parliament, about the quality public services they provide.

PSAC represents over 100,000 workers in five Treasury Board bargaining units. The latest news releases on bargaining are posted on the union website at www.psac-afpc.com

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.”

The negotiations cover five collective agreements involving the complete administration of the federal government plus such personnel as border guards, immigration officers and coast guard crews. Contracts expired in June and July 2007.

The offer made yesterday was for the administrators, the largest of PSAC’s five groups.

“We’ll be telling our members about this insult they’ve done with respect to the monetary offer beginning (today), when we have a demonstration taking place in Gatineau,” Mr. Gordon said. “This will be the first time the members will have heard this and we’ll be sending bargaining teams to meet with members across the country and we’ll be dealing with it from there. If the Treasury Board are pushing us to the ultimate position of a strike somewhere down the road, then our members will make that decision, I’m sure.

Mr. Gordon said negotiations for other PSAC groups were scheduled to resume next week, and he expected a similar position from the government.

“It seems to me they want to take us on, and, if that’s what they want to do, our members will rise to the challenge,” Mr. Gordon added.

The PSAC demonstration is scheduled for noon today between Gatineau City Hall and Phases I and II of the Place du Portage

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.

Contract negotiations began in May last year but reached impasse after 10 months when the employer refused to respond to the union’s major issues, including job security, contracting out, misuse of student hiring and wages. The PSAC filed for third-party conciliation, called Public Interest Commission, on April 21, 2008. The union had agreed to return to bargaining talks “without prejudice” on May 5.

The employer proposed a four-year collective agreement and tabled an offer of 2.1 per cent wage increase in the first year, two per cent in the second, 1.5 per cent in the third and 1.5 per cent in the fourth. The employer also rejected the union’s demand to eliminate regional pay zones, where the same work is paid differently according to geographical locations. The employer further refused the union’s demands for an increase in allowances.

“Their offer is less than half of what we were demanding for fair annual wage increases that would protect our members against inflation and reflect the current strength of the Canadian economy,” Baldwin said. “Not only has the employer failed to consider our position at the bargaining table, they’ve been misrepresenting our bargaining demands in communicating with our members and the public.”

Media articles have quoted Parks Canada Agency spokespeople saying the union’s demands for wage increase amount to a total of 47 per cent.

“That’s a total distortion of our demand,” says Baldwin. “Our proposal for wage increases includes demands to eliminate pay zones and to close the wage gaps identified in a pay study for our members working in trades. I don’t know what kind of calculations the employer is making, but even if you take all our demands into consideration, it would not amount to 47 per cent.”

The pay study by the firm Moreau-Sobeco in 2003 clearly indicates that the wages paid to Parks trades workers are much lower than those paid to other private and public workers doing similar work.

“The Agency and the federal public service sector are having problems with retaining employees,” Baldwin said. “The employer’s wage offer is a long way from solving this problem. We’re left with no choice now but to take action. The employer can expect our members to bring our message to UNESCO at the World Heritage events in Quebec city and at world heritage sites this summer.”

PSAC members at Parks Canada have been without a contract since August 2007.

One of the priority bargaining proposals for the current round of bargaining with the Agency is protection against job loss. Parks Canada has announced that they intend to reduce the bargaining unit in a number of different ways.

The Agency issued a document called “Integrated Delivery Through Shared Leadership – Mountain Parks Business Plan – 2007/08-20011/12”. In this document under the “Recruiting” section Parks Canada states “An aggressive and coordinated mountain park student recruitment program will be put in place, targeting 50% of pure summer seasonal positions to be staffed by students within five years.”

Seasonal employment is but one aspect of the Agencies plan to attack the current size of our bargaining unit by taking away your seasonal work.

Contact a member of your Local’s Executive to find out what you can do to assist and support your bargaining team. United We Stand!

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.

What’s next?

Your team is back in negotiations starting on May 20. In addition to our wage proposal, we still have demands on the table. To date, we’re still waiting for the employer to respond to our outstanding non-monetary demands. Treasury Board has indicated they want to discuss the elements of our pay proposal at the negotiating sessions in May and we’ll be expecting their responses on our other issues as well.
Your support just keeps on coming – and it’s terrific!

We can’t thank you enough for the supportive letters and e-mails that you send us. They keep us strong, no matter what the employer does – or doesn’t do – at the table.

Whenever you do something extra, like coming up with creative ideas for our mobilizing activities or sending us messages in special ways, it gives your team a terrific boost.

And speaking of special messages – we send a special thank you to the members of PSAC-USGE Local 50081 in Winnipeg who took the time to send us a package of photos of themselves and their families. They wanted to remind us that anything we gain in negotiations has an impact not just on our members but their families as well and they’ve inspired us to work even harder.

And a big Thank You to all the members who took part in activities on April 21 when we returned to the table.

Next day to show your support

Be a part of the activities in your area on May 21. We need you to send a strong message to the employer on that day: you want a fair wage increase!

We’re united and we’re strong!

Your PA team: Megan Adam, Ken Boone, Michele Coe, Sharon DeSousa, Debbie Graham, Louiselle Laforest, Doug Marshall, Sylvie Pinard, Geoff Ryan.

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.

The reasons for 4.5%

Wage settlements are on the rise

Settlement patterns for major employers show that wage increases are on the rise. Private sector wage increases in 2008 are already at an average of 4.1%, that’s a full 1% above 2007. Settlements in the federal jurisdiction are up 0.5% since 2007. Compensation consultants are projecting wage increase growth in 2008 and increases averaging at least 3.6%. Our 4.5% starting point is a reflection of the upward trend of wage settlements.

Future recruitment is a challenge

Canada’s aging workforce is reflected in the federal public sector. According to the President of the Canada Public Service Agency, “more than half of all public servants are now over 45.” Retirements in the federal public sector are rising and are expected to do so for at least another five years. Treasury Board pay levels are going to have to be highly competitive to meet staffing needs and provide the necessary level of quality public services Canadians need and want.

Unemployment rates are expected to remain low

While any rate of unemployment is unacceptable, rates have been dropping steadily over the past five years to a rate of 6.0% in 2007. Economists are predicting that while rates may rise somewhat in 2008 and 2009, they project that the increases will be small. Low unemployment rates combined with high rates of retirement will mean fierce competition for available workers.

Inflation rates could be anyone’s guess

While economists predict that inflation will continue to be contained, there are some concerns that inflation may start to rise as a result of increases in fuel and food prices. In fact, the Consumer Price Index does not include energy and food prices in its calculations. So, official inflation statistics don’t necessarily reflect the real picture of rising costs our members face.

Putting our demands on the table

Negotiations for three of our Treasury Board bargaining units (FB, PA, SV) have reached the stage where it was time to put our demands for wage increases on the table.

Specific wage proposals for our TC and EB members are being developed and will be presented to Treasury Board in the months ahead. Some of them are being developed based on compensation studies that have either just been completed or are still in the process of being conducted.