Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

OTTAWA – The largest union of federal public-sector workers is poised to mobilize against cuts in public sector programs and operations and to apply pressure on Parliament to reject the federal budget.

“This budget is a clear attack against quality public services,” says John Gordon, the national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. “The freeze on public-sector operation budgets, combined with an increase in deregulation and free trade, will further weaken the economy and hurt Canadians.”

Gordon argues that freezing the operation spending of government departments will mean significant reductions to the quality of public services that Canadians need in an economy that’s, at best, still undergoing a fragile recovery. Spending freezes, more expenditure review and deregulation will also mean job losses in the federal public sector.

“This runs counter to the government’s stated goal of job creation and economic growth,” Gordon says. “With this budget, the government is compromising the food we eat, the health of our environment, transportation safety and the public services that the people in Canada rely on everyday.”

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OTTAWA –The head of the largest union representing federal public sector workers is urging the Harper government not to cut public services or attack federal pension plans in order to pay off the deficit.

“If the recession has shown us anything, it is that Canadians need and expect more services from their national government, not less,” said the national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, John Gordon, today during a press conference on Parliament Hill. “They expect safe food and drugs, their environment protected, their military and veterans supported and their human rights enforced.”

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Workers on strike, seeking fair working conditions and protections against contracting out

Ottawa/Gatineau – Workers are on strike at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the War Museum.

Represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the 420 workers are demanding the same protections that are in place for other museum workers in the Ottawa/Gatineau region. The Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC) continues to deny their demands for workplace fairness and protections against contracting out.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization and the War Museum had the highest attendance and brought in more revenue than any other museum or gallery in the National Capital Region last year. Meanwhile, workers’ salaries at the two museums are lower than all of the other federal museum workers in the Ottawa/Gatineau – in some cases 40 per cent lower.

“The mandate from our members is to close the wage gap and protect them against the threat of their jobs being contracted out,” says Maria Fitzpatrick, PSAC Vice-President for the National Capital Region. “As it stands, ticketing agents and several security guard positions, as well as cafeteria and boutique employee jobs have already been contracted out to private companies. Our workers are seeking some guarantee that they won’t lose their jobs, especially in the face of an economic recession.”

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Vancouver – Negotiations between the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), bargaining agent for employees working for the Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR), and the Authority have broken off. The Union is seeking the assistance of a conciliation officer.

�We are asking for a meeting with a federal Conciliation Officer in an effort to avert job action, whether that be a strike or lockout.� says Kay Sinclair, PSAC Regional Vice-President for BC, �Our members have bargained in good faith, but YVR remains unwilling to discuss many significant issues, particularly flexible hours of work and a safe and secure pension plan. I find this disappointing coming from an employer that prides itself on its commitment to employee wellness.�

�Despite the fact the airport made a 12.6 million dollar profit in the first quarter of 2009, YVR has also threatened to roll back wages and benefits for some of our members.� adds Dave Clark, Union of Canadian Transportation Employees (UCTE) Local 20221 President, �PSAC members working at YVR will not stand for this – getting a third party involved is our only option.�

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VANCOUVER � John Gordon has been re-elected as the National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). Gordon was first elected President in 2006 and had previously served as the union�s National Executive Vice-President since 2000. Gordon was re-elected National President at PSAC�s 15th National Triennial Convention in Vancouver, B.C.

�Over the last three years, PSAC has taken great strides to defend quality public services against the Harper government�s cynical and ideological cuts,� said Gordon. �Public services are the great equalizer � they improve Canadians� lives and help protect them against job losses and financial devastation. I am proud to work with PSAC to continue the struggle to protect public services, economic justice and human rights.�

Prior to his election as National Executive Vice-President, Gordon was the National President of the Union of Public Works Employees from 1982 to 1999. A PSAC activist since 1974, when he joined the federal public sector as a tradesperson with Public Works Canada, Gordon has held a variety of union positions in his Component.

Patty Ducharme re-elected VP

Delegates also re-elected Patty Ducharme as the union’s National Executive Vice-President for a second term. Prior to her election as National Vice-President in 2006, Ducharme was PSAC’s Regional Executive Vice-President (REVP) for British Columbia.

Prior to her election as REVP in 2000, Ducharme had worked as a customs inspector in British Columbia and served as First Vice-President of Branch 20040 of the Customs and Immigration Union (formerly known as CEUDA). She has been a PSAC activist for almost 25 years holding a number of union positions.

J�r�me Turcq was elected as the Alternate National Executive Vice-President. He is PSAC�s Regional Executive Vice-President for Quebec, a position he has held since 2000.

Vancouver � The Public Service Alliance of Canada announced today that it has filed a case with the Ontario Superior Court, challenging the constitutionality of the Expenditure Restraint Act and the Equitable Compensation Act for breaking collective agreements and denying women the right to pay equity in the federal public sector.

The 166,000-member union maintains that the Harper government attempted to hide its disrespect for workers’ and women’s rights by burying the two contentious laws deep in the Budget Implementation Act.

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Public access to medically necessary health care is a human right

The Public Service Alliance of Canada denounces the Alberta government for de-listing sex re-assignment surgery (SRS) from its provincial health plan and urges Health Minister Ron Liepert to reinstate funding immediately.

On Wednesday, transsexual people in Calgary and Edmonton simultaneously filed a series of human rights complaints against the Government of Alberta. They maintain that the Alberta government is discriminating against transsexual people by cutting off public funding for a medically necessary procedure.

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OTTAWA � The Public Service Alliance of Canada is thrilled with the results of a new study proving that public services make a significant contribution to Canadians� standard of living � worth at least 50 per cent of their income.

The study, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, thoroughly debunks the notion that tax cuts put money in people�s pockets. In fact, authors Hugh Mackenzie and Richard Shillington prove that tax cuts actually take money away from most workers and would be better spent by investing in public services for Canadians.

�Quality public services improve Canadians� lives in so many immeasurable ways. But this new study demonstrates the fact that middle-income Canadian families benefit from public services that are worth about $41,000 per year � or 63 per cent of their income,� says John Gordon, PSAC�s National President.

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OTTAWA � A study released yesterday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) (.pdf)� is sounding the alarm about the minority Conservative government�s Bill C-13.

C-13, the reincarnation of Bill C-39 (which died when the last Parliament was prorogued) represents a concerted attack on key pillars of the Canadian public system for managing and marketing grain, says the CCPA study called Threatened Harvest: Protecting Canada�s World-Class Grain System.

Measures in the bill propose to deregulate/privatize inward weighing and inspection services to the detriment of independent quality assurance and the long-term reputation for quality associated with the Canadian brand.

�Given the abundant evidence about the potentially devastating effects of rampant deregulation � whether we�re talking about food safety or financial markets � this hardly seems like the time to be dismantling a grain system that is the envy of the world,� says Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union.

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OTTAWA � The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is congratulating Senators who are making the case that many of the non-budgetary changes in Bill C-10 should be carved out and debated separately.

�From the beginning, PSAC and its members have been trying to make the point with Parliamentarians that the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act is not a budgetary measure and should be withdrawn from Bill C-10,� says PSAC National President John Gordon.

�We also made the point that while the fast track process being used by the government to adopt Bill C-10 may be appropriate for the budgetary stimulus measures, it is completely inappropriate for other pieces of legislation affected by the bill.�

During second reading debate in the Senate last week, it was pointed out that only 27 of the 550-plus pages of the budget bill actually relate to the budget and economic stimulus measures. As one Senator noted, the Senate is being asked to make amendments to 42 acts of Parliament, many of which have no connection to the budget.

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NEW YORK�Representatives of women�s groups and labour unions gathered at the United Nations yesterday, to announce that they will be filing a complaint against the Harper government with the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The complaint condemns the Canadian government for rushing controversial pay equity legislation through Parliament, which will make it extremely difficult for women in the federal public sector to demand equal pay for work of equal value.

The �notice of communication� to the UN was signed by representatives of more than 40 organizations, including the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Syndicat de la fonction publique du Qu�bec, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Feminist Alliance for International Action.

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Ottawa � The 166,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada made its submission to the Standing Committee on Finance today, criticizing the federal government for only allowing three days of debate on the far-reaching Budget Implementation Act, given its serious implications for workers’ and women’s rights.

In particular, PSAC’s submission highlights the following problematic features of the Act:

• The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act would make it virtually impossible for women in the federal public sector to be paid equal pay for work of equal value. It uses pay equity as a bargaining chip during negotiations where the employer historically holds the balance of power. It bars unions from supporting members who want to make pay equity claims. Bill C-10 would do nothing to narrow the income gap between women and men in the federal public service.
• The wage roll-backs contained in the Expenditure Restraint Act would overturn collective agreements that were fairly negotiated. Bill C-10 undermines workers’ constitutional right to free collective bargaining.

�Government officials have admitted that there’s no proof that the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act will save the government any money. So why is it in the budget bill?� asked John Gordon, PSAC National President. �It won’t help the economy or save jobs. It will prevent women in the federal public sector from demanding equal pay for work of equal value. It has no place in the budget.�

PSAC is demanding that Parliament remove the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act from Bill C-10 and halt the wage roll-backs contained in the Expenditure Restraint Act.

Ottawa � The Public Service Alliance of Canada is encouraging opposition members to remove legislation from the budget bill that would prevent women in the federal public sector from demanding equal pay for work of equal value.

The 166,000-member union is concerned that the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act will remove women’s ability to file pay equity complaints, making the process even more difficult than the current complaints-based system.

The �pay equity� bill is part of the omnibus Budget Implementation Act (Bill C-10), which was tabled on February 7, 2009. PSAC refutes the notion that this legislation is �proactive,� given that it ignores the recommendations made in the well-respected 2004 report from the federal Task Force on Pay Equity. The union contends that the new scheme would make a bad system much worse, removing pay equity’s status as a human right and opening it up to market forces.

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Vancouver International Airport union demands independent inquiry into snow removal problems at YVR after learning new details concerning a jet crash in an early January snowstorm and damaged caused by plowed snow, while landing on runway that should have been closed; union releases crash photos

Vancouver � A union representing hundreds of workers at Vancouver International Airport is demanding an independent inquiry into snow removal problems at YVR after learning new details of a jet crash during a snowstorm in early January.

A Mexican-registered Cessna Citation 650 business jet with five people on board crashed off Runway 12 after landing in a snowstorm at Vancouver at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday January 4, collapsing its nose gear when it went through 18 inch deep plowed snow alongside the runway edge lights, according to a report from Transport Canada�s Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS).

But original YVR reports to the media said the nose gear �collapsed after landing� and did not mention that the nose gear was broken by the heavy, ploughed snow, says Stephen Dunsmore, Regional Vice-President Pacific of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees � a component union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. The union is also releasing photos of the jet crash on the PSAC BC website at www.psacbc.com.

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Union will challenge wage roll backs and the destruction of pay equity

On Friday, February 7, the Conservative government introduced an omnibus bill to implement the provisions of the federal budget that contains two �poison pills�: legislated wage rates for federal public sector workers and a problematic overhaul of federal pay equity legislation.

PSAC is committed to fighting wage legislation that would affect any of our members � especially if it threatens free collective bargaining. We also oppose changes to legislation that would undermine pay equity as a human right and make it much harder for women to demand equal pay for work of equal value.

Wage roll-backs

Bill C-10, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on January 27, 2009 and related fiscal measures, legislates national rates of pay of 2.3%, 1.5%, 1.5% and 1.5% from 2006-2011, for employees of Treasury Board and all other government-affiliated agencies.

The bill explicitly states that it will roll back any wage increases that differ from this formula, stating that they �are of no effect and are deemed never to have had effect.� (19 b)

This would directly affect PSAC’s members at the Canada Revenue Agency, who negotiated wage increases of 2.5% for 2007, 2008 and 2009. Bill C-10 would effectively break their collective agreement and override the 2009 wage increases that they freely and fairly negotiated with the federal government.

PSAC is convinced that Bill C-10 violates a 2007 Supreme Court of Canada decision that found free collective bargaining to be encompassed and protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The union will challenge Bill C-10 and its impact on workers at the CRA and elsewhere.

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OTTAWA � The Public Service Alliance of Canada is challenging the federal government�s definition of employee, claiming it denies certain federal public service workers the freedom of association guaranteed under section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The definition of employee in the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA), excludes student, casual, and short-term workers from access to collective bargaining under the Act. This provision prevents these workers from becoming union members and denies them access to the collective bargaining process contrary to the freedom of association guarantee in the Charter. PSAC, the largest federal public service union in Canada, has filed its case at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

�It is time for the Federal Government to accept that the Charter is for all members of Canadian society including federal public service workers,� PSAC National President John Gordon says. �For the Federal Government to deny any worker a fundamental freedom guaranteed by the Charter sends the message that the Federal Government believes the Charter can be ignored. We do not agree and we intend to fight for the right of these workers to become union members and to bargain collectively with their co-workers.�

But PSAC commits to fighting federal wage legislation that would affect any of our members and threaten free collective bargaining

On January 27, the Harper government renewed its intention to introduce legislation to control the wage increases of federal public sector workers. This legislation � as alluded to in the federal budget — would cover the federal public administration, establishing wage increases of 2.3 per cent for 2007, and 1.5 per cent for 2008, 2009 and 2010. While the definition of �federal public administration’ has yet to be clarified, what is clear is that the federal government wants to clamp down on any spending which it can control.
PSAC can confirm that the recently ratified Treasury Board agreements for the PA, SV, FB and EB groups would not be subject to the legislation.

That’s because the economic increases contained in these agreements match those outlined in the federal budget: 2.3%, 1.5%, 1.5% and 1.5%. These agreements, as well as the many others negotiated in November 2008, all contain the government-mandated economic increases. More information on these negotiations can be found at the national website.

What we are concerned about is the possibility of wage roll-backs for any of our members who negotiated higher wage rates than the ones stipulated as �mandatory� in the federal budget. The November 27, 2008 Economic and Fiscal Update strongly indicated that negotiated collective agreements with a higher wage increase in 2009 and 2010 would be rolled back.

The January 27th budget is somewhat less clear. But the government’s recent announcement that it would roll back scheduled wage increases for the RCMP, combined with statements made in November by Treasury Board President Vic Toews, strongly suggest that the proposed legislation will roll back wage increases contained in previously signed collective agreements.

Any such action would violate a 2007 Supreme Court of Canada decision that found free collective bargaining to be encompassed and protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
PSAC will challenge any legislation that rolls back any of our agreements and we are working hard to find out which bargaining units will be impacted.

We will keep you up to date on this issue as more information becomes available. Members are encouraged to email their MP and the Prime Minister and tell them not to roll back fairly negotiated wage increases. Not only is this unfair � it violates Canadian law.

OTTAWA, Jan. 28� – The 166,000 member Public Service Alliance of Canada says the 2009 federal budget infringes on workers’ and women’s rights,� threatening public services at a time when Canadians need them the� most.

“This budget fails working people and threatens to undermine the public services that Canadians rely on during a financial crisis of this scale,” says John Gordon, PSAC National President. “Cutting taxes will do little to create jobs or help unemployed Canadians. Working people expected more of this budget – and we expect more of our federal government.”

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OTTAWA � The 2,100 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) working at Canada Post have accepted the final offer tabled by their employer early morning on December 21, 2008.

PSAC members, who have been on strike since Nov. 17, had voted on December 13 and 14 to reject employer�s previous offer to replace employee sick leave and family-related leave with the employer’s poorly designed Short Term Disability Plan . This latest offer contains improvements to the short-term disability plan.

Highlights of the final offer made by Canada Post are: salary increases of 2.5% in 2008 and 2009 and 2.75% in 2010 and 2011 for a four-year contract and a $500 signing bonus.

The previous collective agreement between UPCE/PSAC and Canada Post expired on August 31, 2008, and negotiations began on June 4, 2008.

PSAC members at Canada Post provide customer service and perform administrative, financial, technical and professional duties.

OTTAWA � Canada Post is misleading employees and the public about a ratification vote on the corporation�s last offer, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). The union maintains that Canada Post made false allegations about the vote in a message posted to employees on the corporation�s website yesterday.

�Canada Post�s complaint is completely without merit and nothing but a shameful abuse of the taxpayer-funded processes of the Canada Industrial Relations Board,� says John Gordon, National President of PSAC, representing the 2,100 administrative and technical employees who have been on strike for 29 days. �More than two out of every three workers who voted rejected the employer�s last offer. Our members came out in droves to send their employer a message that they won�t back down until their sick leave and family-related leave is protected.�

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