Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

PSAC participated in a historic first step toward long-awaited classification reform in the federal public service last fall. In November, PSAC and Treasury Board negotiated a collective agreement that includes a commitment by the employer to engage in a process of meaningful consultation with the union on occupational group structure, beginning with the Program and Administrative Services (PA) bargaining unit.

This group includes almost 70,000 employees responsible for program administration, information services, communications, secretarial services, office equipment, administrative services, welfare programs, clerical functions and data processing.

As we all know, this commitment to reform from the employer is years overdue. Classification standards in the federal government are over 40 years old and do not reflect the important services we deliver to Canadians on a daily basis.

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The first collective agreement for the FB group has been signed. The provisions in the collective agreement are now in effect, and the employer has 150�days from today to implement the new rates of pay and issue cheques for retroactive pay reflecting the wage increases going back to June�21, 2007.

Wage increases are pegged at 2.3 per cent for the first year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three years of the collective agreement.

Members in the FB�group have won an agreement that reflects the nature of the professional services they provide and compensates them accordingly. FB�workers have also won seniority rights for employees working under Variable Shift Scheduling Arrangements. Another highlight is the strengthening of Workforce Adjustment provisions that requires the government to review the use of contractors and consultants in order to avoid layoffs.

The four-year collective agreement expires on June�20, 2011.

At 1:30 this morning, after 18 months of negotiations including 4 days of roundthe-clock bargaining starting last Thursday, and with the threat of legislation looming, our FB Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement with Treasury Board/CBSA for a first contract. The Agreement addresses core goals set by our Bargaining Team at the outset of negotiations. Our Bargaining Team unanimously recommends ratification of our new agreement.

SUMMARY OF TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

Duration of Agreement

1. The agreement is a four-year collective agreement with an expiration date of June 20, 2011.

Wages

1. The Agreement features a new FB wage grid. The grid includes significant acrossthe-board increases, including a minimum 19.5 % wage increase for Border Services Officers over the life of the agreement. For a complete copy of the new FB wage grid for all classifications and accompanying Pay Notes, go to www.ciu-sdi.ca. With the new wage grid, Union members in the FB bargaining unit achieve wage parity with (and in some cases exceed) other enforcement workers in the core federal public service.
2. The PSAC achieved a contractual commitment from Treasury Board to engage in classification reform. The commitment is to be contained in the PA collective agreement but will apply to other units as well.

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Parties Remain Apart on Several Fundamental Issues.

This past week our FB bargaining team met with Treasury Board/CBSA in negotiations for a first FB contract. The parties continued discussions regarding critical operational issues such as hours of work, Doubling Up, Alternative Working Arrangements/Telework, respect for workers’ seniority and the Arming Initiative. Our team reiterated to management the vital importance of ensuring that we have a voice in the hours that we work, the need for there to be protections in place around Alternative Working Arrangements for Trade Compliance Officers and other workers that have traditionally performed work duties off-site, and Doubling Up language for BSO’s, Inland Enforcement and other FB workers.

The parties also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Arming Initiative. As we have stated from the outset of negotiations, there must be language in our contract providing protections in the context of the implementation of firearms. CBSA/Treasury Board’s refusal to date to include language in our collective agreement over this fundamental change in working conditions for thousands of workers in the FB bargaining unit has been a serious stumbling block in negotiations.

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CBSA to Remove Arming Q & A from Atlas Website.

Last year our Union filed an Unfair Labour Practice charge with the Public Service Labour Relations Board alleging bad faith bargaining on the part of Treasury Board and CBSA. The charge was filed in response to CBSA’s posting of a Question and Answer document dealing with the impact of the Arming Initiative on it’s employees, including PSAC members, while our Union and Treasury Board were engaged in collective bargaining over the issue of job security of CBSA employees in the context of the arming initiative.

After a mediation session convened by the Labour Board this past summer and subsequent talks this week (October 28th), we have reached an agreement with CBSA resolving our Unfair Labour Practice charge filed with the Board.

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FB Bargaining Team Discusses Operational Issues with CBSA Management at Bargaining Table.

This past Tuesday through Friday (September 30th through October 3rd) our bargaining team met with Treasury Board/CBSA in an effort to bring the parties closer to a first contract. The parties spent the week discussing hours of work � including VSSA’s, �day is a day’, seniority protections and issues related to ensuring safe working conditions for enforcement workers (�Doubling Up’). Our team reiterated at the table that we will not agree to remove the language in our contract that ensures that VSSA’s are negotiated between Union and employer. We also reiterated that, like hundreds of thousands of other unionized workers across Canada, CBSA workers deserve to have a say in the hours that they work, including the line they are assigned and the shifts that they work.

While progress was not made with respect to specific contract language, there was for the first time a willingness on the part of management’s team to discuss and gain an understanding of our issues and what we need addressed in our contract regarding hours of work and the doubling up initiative. We return to the table in three weeks time.

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Our union is ready to get back to the bargaining table to fight for a fair contract that includes wage parity and an end to contracting out.

The bargaining-session dates for each TB unit are as follows:

• FB � four days September 30 to October 3
• SV � four days September 30 to October 3
• EB � four days October 6 to 9
• PA � four days October 6 to 9
• TC � three days of mediation from October 8 to 10.

Future dates are to be determined by each team.

The bargaining team members for all units appreciate the support expressed by our members during the summer months with various information pickets and mobilizations in different regions across the country. We ask for your continued support. Visit this web site regularly for future updates on negotiations.

Last weekend the TB-BC Regional Strike Coordinating Committee met with Local/Branch Presidents from across the province to understand where we are in the negotiations process with Treasury Board. We heard from some of the Member Negotiators from BC. We held workshops to improve our mobilization skills, connect our “Think Public” campaign to collective bargaining, and strengthen our communication structure from the work site level onwards. Most importantly we generated ideas and plans for actions in the future.

Your Region is getting ready for action!

Find out more from your Local/Branch President on how you can help support your bargaining team and/or send a message to your Area Strike Coordinator to find out what is coming up in your area.

Several handouts were distributed to the participants, they are available for download here

• 10 things you need to know about a strike under the PSLRA (pdf)
  
• Collective Bargaining under the PSLRA (pdf)
• Collective Bargaining under the PSLRA (ppt)
• BC Regional Strike Structure (pdf)

What happens to our negotiations if a federal election is called?

PSAC currently has two weeks of negotiations scheduled for our PA, EB, SV and FB bargaining units; one week in September, one in October. The TC group is in the process of establishing dates for mediation this fall.

It is our intention to proceed with negotiations if an election is called. There are no legal restrictions that would prevent Treasury Board and other Agency employers from bargaining during an election period.

The union also intends to continue its negotiation of Essential Services Agreements, including hearings before the Public Service Labour Relations Board, during the election period, if one is called. There is no legal restriction that prevents the Board from continuing this work during a federal election.

Conducting a strike is prohibited when a federal election takes place. However, if an election is held this fall, this restriction will not affect our negotiations with Treasury Board, Parks Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The government we elect has a direct impact on our negotiations

PSAC members working in the federal public sector aren’t just electing a government, they’re electing their employer.

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Your union is raring to get back to bargaining with Treasury Board with negotiations set to resume in the coming weeks.

The bargaining-session dates for each TB unit are as follows:

• FB � four days September 30 to October 3
• SV � four days September 30 to October 3
• EB � four days October 6 to 9
• PA � four days October 6 to 9
• Future dates to be determined by each team
• TC � The union is still in talks with the employer to establish dates for the TC bargaining unit. The dates will be posted once they are confirmed.

After a year of frustrations at the bargaining table, your union sincerely hopes the employer is now ready to seriously negotiate fair contracts and seriously address the issues of wage parity and contracting out.

Your union is determined to fight for fair wages and for protecting quality public services. We ask for your continued support. Visit this web site regularly for future updates on negotiations.

In June we distributed a list of summer suggestions (pdf) on how you can support your bargaining team and challenged people to check off as many support actions by Labour Day. Well, Labour Day is just three weeks away so take a peek and see (pdf), you probably have done more than you think!

You can check off three of the things today by:

• signing up for the Regional TB bargaining e-info bulletin
• writing to your Member of Parliament regarding the value of public services and the public servants who provide them
• helping get the word out about bargaining and Think Public! at some upcoming summer events by leafleting and gathering public support. Please contact one of our two summer students who are looking for volunteers to help them out until August 30. Ria can be contacted in the Vancouver RO or at rknishikawara@gmail.com and Jade can be contacted at jade.kennedy101@gmail.com or the Victoria RO.

We’ll be back to the bargaining table soon. Make sure your views are heard before then!

Treasury Board has recently attempted to shift the blame onto the PSAC for canceling what were only tentative bargaining dates in June. If anyone’s responsible for bargaining not taking place in June, it’s Treasury Board.

PSAC has already been at the bargaining table for a year. What we’ve heard most from Treasury Board is NO, NO and more NO.

• NO to the elimination of regional pay zones
• NO to pay adjustments to bring our members’ salaries in line with the private and public sectors
• NO to important demands such as job security for CBSA members affected by the arming initiative.

At the same time, it has taken a year for Treasury Board to put any pressure on departments to submit their proposals for essential services. Treasury Board knows very well that Essential Services Agreements must be signed before members can take legal strike action. The longer they drag this process out, the more they think it will weaken the union’s ability to negotiate fair settlements for our members.

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source: Vancouver Sun, June 13 2008

Travellers going through customs at Vancouver International Airport today have faced waits of up to two hours because customs officials are deliberately slowing down lines to highlight a contract dispute, a union president said.

“The officers did tell me today that they’re working to the full extent of their work description,” said Sue Neumann, customs excise union president responsible for Vancouver’s airport, sea ports and cruise ships. “This is obviously a reaction, this is not normal.”

The union is currently in a contract dispute with the Canada Border Services Agency, but is not in a legal strike position.

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Our bargaining team members aren’t the only people who were angered by Treasury Board’s wage offer of 1.5% and 1.2%.

As your National President, I’m disgusted that the employer would show so little respect for the work that our members perform every day for Canadians across the country, in all walks of life.

Our members provide quality public services. All we expect is a fair increase that protects our purchasing power and provides fair compensation.

It’s not that the government couldn’t do better. The Treasury Board offer is a far cry from the settlement our Union negotiated just last fall with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Not only do our Treasury Board members have to put up with a dinosaur of a classification system that doesn’t recognize the work they do, and outdated notions like regional rates of pay, they’re now being offered increases that don’t even match the increases in the cost of living.

Your bargaining team members and your elected officers are speaking out against the government’s wage offer. But we need you to speak out too.

We’re coming up to the one-year anniversary of the expiry date of most of our agreements with Treasury Board.

One year later and we still don’t have a new collective agreement – just a miserable wage offer.

I urge all of you to participate in activities being planned for June 19. Look for information from your Local/Branch and from the PSAC regional office in your area.

We need to send a loud and strong message to this government that we expect and demand better. You’re worth it!

In solidarity, John Gordon, National President

Management makes virtually no movement in bargaining, tables insulting wage offer.

This past Monday through Wednesday (May 26th through 28th) our bargaining team met with Treasury Board/CBSA in an effort to bring the parties closer to a first contract for CBSA workers in the FB bargaining unit. In response to our proposal regarding job security in the context of arming, management stated clearly at the table that CBSA is not prepared to provide full job security to CBSA employees in the context of the arming initiative, and that all decisions related to the impact of arming should be left up to management. Our team made it clear that CBSA’s response is totally unacceptable and that there will need to be clear protections in our new contract in the context of the arming initiative.

On compensation, the employer stated at the table that our Union’s concerns regarding recruitment and retention at CBSA are not supported by analyses done by Treasury Board. Management proceeded to table a wage package of 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% respectively in each year of a four-year agreement, with no market adjustment for FB workers.

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OTTAWA – After a year of bargaining, negotiating teams for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are less than impressed with the Harper government’s wage offer tabled this week. The government has offered increases of 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% in a four year agreement retroactive to 2007.

“The government’s proposal is an insult and a joke,” says Patty Ducharme, PSAC’s national executive vice-president. “The wage offer is below current inflation and well below projected inflation rates. It doesn’t even allow our members to stand still.”

Gas prices alone have risen by over 25% over the past year and are projected to rise by another 15 to 20% before the summer is over. “A wage offer that reduces our members’ real income also has a ripple effect on sectors such as manufacturing and tourism that are already being hard hit by the high Canadian dollar and rising gas prices.”

“How does the government think it can recruit and retain workers with this kind of offer,” says Ducharme. “Wages may be moderating in the face of an economic downturn but both public and private sector wage settlements were much higher in 2007 than the 1.5% being offered by the Harper government.”

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4.5% – You’re worth it!

Your Bargaining Team needs your support to help achieve fair wages and the best possible collective agreement for you.

The British Colombia Area Strike Coordinators will be distributing “Public Services Make a Difference!” postcards throughout workplaces in the coming weeks – they ask PSAC members and the public to remind their Members of Parliament that …

“Public Services make a difference by enhancing our quality of life, promoting equality, protecting us from harm, and limiting the impact of job loss and illness. Public Service Alliance of Canada members who deliver these important and necessary public services deserve fair pay and safe and healthy working conditions.”

We will be collecting the cards and distributing them to the MPs in BC. Contact your ASC here if you would like some cards for your workplace or send an email message to your MP.

Support your bargaining team in their fight for wages that:

• Protect against inflation
• Provide parity and recruit and retain the best
• Pay for the quality public services you provide!

It is time that we achieve a contract that meets the standards found in other enforcement agencies, and elsewhere in the federal public sector.

It has been almost a year now since we first tabled our demands with CBSA/Treasury Board for the FB bargaining unit. During that time there have been dozens of meetings between our bargaining team and CBSA management. We have made clear to the employer that the things that we are asking for are well established both in the federal public sector and with enforcement agencies across the country. Yet management continues to refuse to agree to fair and equitable rules around the work that we do, rules that are already well established in the federal public sector. For example, tens of thousands of workers at Canada Post have full job security. If a federal employer like Canada Post can provide full job security to its employees, CBSA can do the same in the context of the arming initiative.

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OTTAWA – The union representing about 10,500 CBSA workers, which includes all of Canada’s Front-Line and Inland Customs & Immigration Officers, is charging the employer of being irresponsible with how it is handling workplace issues, including the implementation of the arming initiative.

The government has given CBSA a mandate for a smooth transition over a 10-year period for the implementation of the arming of Canada’s border officers, but the Public Service Alliance of Canada says the Agency is not following that mandate at the bargaining table.

“Our union has been pushing for a smooth transition that ensures that officers are protected through the arming implementation process,” says PSAC National President John Gordon. “CBSA has responded irresponsibly by implying that officers may be laid off as a result of arming. CBSA has also indicated that there is no long-term plan regarding implementation.”

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Demands Includes Wage Increases to Bring CBSA Workers in Line with Other Enforcement Workers.

The week of April 30th our Bargaining Team met with Treasury Board/CBSA Administration to continue negotiations for a first contract for FB workers at CBSA. At the table our team made it clear to management that officers are leaving CBSA on a regular basis because working conditions and wages are inferior at CBSA in comparison to other unionized law enforcement agencies in Canada. Recently our team received the first installment of an independent pay study produced for the PSAC that confirmed that compensation for CBSA workers are significantly below market. To address the issue of wage inequity, our team tabled an economic package based on the initial findings of the independent study, a package proposal that includes the following …

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