Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

On May 1^st, 1886, 80,000 workers took to the streets of Chicago to demand an eight-hour work day. This was at a time when the right to organize and strike did not exist. The peaceful mass meeting at Haymarket Square in Chicago that followed was broken up by armed police, leading to the death of seven police officers, and later, the execution of seven prominent labour leaders. Since then, people all over the world have used May 1st as an opportunity to commemorate the struggle for decent working conditions and to press for social justice and workers’ rights.

• Read more about the Haymarket Affair at wikipedia.org.

In 2008, workers are still fighting to protect their hard-won rights to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike. In the last couple of years alone, we have seen workers’ rights eroded through:

• The defeat of Bill C-257, which would have made it illegal for employers to hire scab labour.
• The Harper government’s dismantling of a hard fought-for universal child care program.
• The removal of the “equality” mandate from Status of Women Canada and the abolishment of the Court Challenges Program, which gave marginalized groups access to the court system to fight for their constitutional rights.
• Continued closed-door negotiations on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America – a pact between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, which is being led by some of the world’s richest corporations, with zero input from working people.

In addition to standing up for people’s rights in the workplace, PSAC is building a movement to fight back and defend Canada’s valuable public services. We believe that the needs of people come first – that the role of government is to protect and promote the social, economic and safety needs of the public, rather than promote profits at any cost.

One hundred and twenty two years after the Haymarket Affair, PSAC celebrates our successes but we remain vigilant against attacks on our rights.

Ottawa - StraightGoods.ca is pleased to announce the addition of a new member to its family of websites: www.PublicValues.ca .

The site is an online magazine presenting news about privatization and the fight to preserve public services, resources, spaces and enterprise. It will be updated frequently. Readers are encouraged to submit ideas and articles.

“The site is in Beta format right now,” Straight Goods says.

“We’re still test-driving it, and we have yet to publish all articles in French on its sister site, Valeurspubliques.ca. As we get rolling, we expect to be publishing in both official languages as simultaneously as possible.

“We are thankful for the support of the partners backing PublicValues.ca. In 2008, they include National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and Ontario Secondary School Teachers (OSSTF). Founding partners include the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).”

Visit publicvalues.ca today and add it to your list of bookmarks!

source: The Ottawa Citizen, Jan 11, pg A1

Fat City is back. And according to a study of federal public service employment trends released yesterday, it’s putting on weight at a rapid rate.

The Statistics Canada study also found that, on average, public servants in this region are younger and more highly trained than those elsewhere in Canada.

The study reported that the number of people who work for the “core public administration” in the national capital region, which includes Ottawa, Gatineau and surrounding areas, grew by a stunning 20 per cent between 1995 and 2006, an additional 12,800 jobs.

By contrast, federal employment in the category fell 5.6 per cent nationally during the same period, shrinking by more than 10,000 to just under 178,000.

The core public administration represents nearly half of all federal employment and includes almost the entire public service other than the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency.

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Source: The Ottawa CitizenThe federal government has been discriminating against a group of federal nurses on the basis of their gender for more than three decades, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled.

The ruling could potentially expose the government to hundreds of millions of dollars of liability for back wages and compensation, according to the lawyer for most of the nurses.

And the principles it endorses could apply to other employee groups as well, said Philippe Dufresne, senior counsel for the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The human rights tribunal found that the nurses, who determine the eligibility of applicants for CPP disability benefits, perform essentially the same core functions as government doctors who are paid about twice as much.

The group of nurses, called medical adjudicators, is 95-percent female, while the doctors’ group, known as medical advisers, is 80-per-cent male.

Under the Canadian Human Rights Act, it is illegal to treat a female-dominated group differently from a male-dominated group when both perform the same or substantially similar work.

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OTTAWA – Canadian workers have finally won new legal protection for their wages and their pension contributions when their employer goes bankrupt. Bill C-12, a series of amendments to existing insolvency and wage protection laws, was approved by the Senate last night and received Royal Assent today. This was accomplished after an intensive three-year campaign by the Canadian Labour Congress and its affiliated unions to change bankruptcy laws that unfairly put workers last line to get paid.

To print the English PDF version, please click here.

The Court submitted its decision on our pension surplus litigation today, rejecting all of our claims.

Justice Panet dismissed our claims on the Employer’s breach of trust, fiduciary duty and the obligations to plan members. In his judgment, he found that Bill C-78 (the amending legislation), authorizes the Employer (the government) to essentially steal the more than $30 billion pension surplus and found that our members cannot claim discrimination under the Canadian Charter.

• Ottawa Citizen: Judge rules public service workers aren’t entitled to $30-billion pension surplus

The judge’s findings seem to rest solely on the basis that our pension plans are legislated plans. We are deeply disturbed that because these pensions are established by legislation, the workers who have contributed to the surplus are barred from having access to that surplus.

We will be studying the Court’s decision in detail in the next few days, and, in consultation with our lawyers, we will determine the best way to proceed. Watch our web site for updates and more details on the Court decision.

by Murray Dobbin, The Tyee, November 1 2007

Taxes are the price of a civilized society. Support them.

So here we go again, another round of huge tax cuts as the country continues down the road to a neo-con dystopia. Over the next five years the revenue that pays for the things Canadians say they want will drop by $60 billion. There are cuts to the GST, to personal income taxes and corporate taxes — with the latter dropping by 2012 to 15 per cent (from 21 per cent today), an outrageous corporate giveaway, giving us third world status in the “attract investment” race to the bottom.

• More: PSAC news release - Tax cuts a sell out.

It is the continuation of a 20 years process of diminishing the country — a conscious plan implemented by three prime ministers from both the Liberal and Conservative parties. Between 1984 and 2006 the federal government, which is supposed to be looking after the interests of the country, has voluntarily given up over $250 billion in revenue — an amount that would have made a huge difference in the quality of life of Canada. We can now add $60 billion more. Provincial governments are equally culpable.

It’s not hard to list the things we could now be enjoying as a country had those cuts not been made, especially taking into account the annual revenue we would have: a national child care program, a national pharmacare program, a home care program, social housing, radical cuts in tuition fees, and the elimination of this country’s staggering infrastructure deficit, estimated to be between $60 billion and $120 billion.

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Negotiations between the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Prince Rupert Airport Authority resumed October 30 and 31, 2007. Although progress was being made at the table, the employer informed the Union late on October 31st that since, in their opinion, they thought the parties were too far apart, there was no point in responding to the Union’s latest counter proposal. Instead, they announced that the parties would need to go to conciliation.

Some of the outstanding issues include benefits and wages. This was the third collective bargaining session between the parties for the renewal of the collective agreement that expired November 30, 2006.

source: The Ottawa Citizen, Nov 5 2007

High stress levels, work-life balance main reasons for escalation, PSAC says

The incidence of disability claims by federal public servants is at a 37-year-high, with women bearing a disproportionate share of the burden, according to federal government figures presented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

In a presentation this week to a group of PSAC local officers, James Infantino, a PSAC pensions and disability insurance officer, singled out high job stress levels and problems with work-life balance as key reasons for the escalating claims.

“The federal government is a cesspool right now,” he said in an interview. “The stress levels are inconceivable, actually.”

The high rate of depression in the public service was pointed out in a major federal study of public service compensation that was posted without fanfare on Treasury Board’s website in July.

The study, commissioned in 2004 by former Treasury Board president Reg Alcock, made no attempt to explain why more public servants are unable to work because of psychological problems.

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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo boasted of her country’s recent economic growth. However, a Philippine labour activist, during a visit to PSAC on October 11, explained that this growth has occurred amid a continuing increase in human and trade union rights violations.

• Send an email to the Canadian & Philippine governments, demand justice and human rights now!

“Human rights violations under the Arroyo regime has surpassed the record under the Marcos dictatorship,” says Arnel Salvador, the deputy executive director of the Workers Assistance Center (WAC) in Cavite province, Philippines.

Salvador’s one-month tour in Canada seeks to raise awareness among and gain support from Canadians, particularly the labour movement, for the Filipino workers’ struggles against the spate of labour repression and human rights violations under the Arroyo regime.

From the time Arroyo assumed power on January 20, 2001 until June 30, 2006, more than 60 leaders, members, organizers and supporters of trade unions and workers organizations have been killed. They are among the more than 800 victims of political killings of progressive activists and critics of the Arroyo regime. Aside from killings, other trade union violations include assaults on the picketline, illegal arrests and detentions, grave threats, intimidations, abductions and harassment. According to the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), an independent workers research institute in the Philippines, there were 982 cases of trade union and human rights violations victimizing 77,028 workers from 2001 to 2006.

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MDS Nordion and the Public Service Alliance of Canada reached a tentative agreement on October 4, 2007. The three (3) year agreement was ratified by the membership on October 11, 2007.

Some of the highlights of the agreement include:

• Effective April 1, 2007, an economic increase of 4.25% plus an additional 0.75% for the V9 and V10 classifications
• Effective April 1, 2008, an economic increase of 3% plus an additional step to be added to the top of the existing salary grid (with a 3% increase)
• Effective April 1, 2009, an economic increase of 3%
• Improvements to the Vacation, Bereavement and Illness in the Family Leaves
• Improvements to the Group Insurance Plans

Over 40 PSAC members work at MDS Nordion in Vancouver. Nordion produces medical isotopes for worldwide distribution. The revised collective agreement has an expiry date of March 31, 2010.

The second day back at the table with CRA was devoted completely to essential sub-committee work. It was the first day since your bargaining team started this round of negotiations with the Agency that we have not had face-to-face sessions involving the complete teams on both sides.

At this critical stage in our bargaining, all the decisions your team will be making are important ones and we are taking the time we need to make the right decisions for our members.

Your team will be meeting with the employer’s team on Wednesday afternoon. At that time, all the sub-committees will be reporting back to the main table.

Watch for more bulletins coming out this week.

VANCOUVER - The Musqueam First Nation must be consulted before the federal government sells two multimillion-dollar buildings in downtown Vancouver, the Federal Court of Canada said in an order released Friday.

Justice Frederick Gibson issued an interlocutory injunction that prohibits the federal government from “transferring, selling or otherwise disposing of the properties” pending a formal hearing on the matter.

The buildings are located in an area the Musqueam band claims as part of its traditional territory. Lawyer Jim Reynolds, acting for the Musqueam, said the order was granted and the judge’s written reasons would follow later.

The Musqueam action began with an announcement earlier this year that the federal government intended to dispose of nine federal buildings across Canada, including the Sinclair Centre and another buildings on Burrard Street.

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PSAC member Be Gomes and the Terrace District Labour council successfully lobbies Terrace City Council to support the $10 minimum wage campaign.

source: The Terrace Standard.

TO ENSURE a healthy local economy and people’s survival, B.C.’S minimum wage must be raised to $10 an hour, according to a representative of the local labour council.

“Terrace is a perfect example,” Kitimat-Terrace & District Labour Council spokesperson Be Gomes says. Gomes attributes various job vacancies around town to potential workers not bothering to apply because of low wages.

“People can not afford to live off $8 an hour,” she said.

B.C.’s general minimum wage is $8 an hour though employees with little or no are categorized differently. The minimum wage for their first 500 hours of work is $6 an hour.

Gomes said many workers are also exhausted just trying to make ends meet. Her own daughter works two jobs a day for a total of 13.5 hours and is taking a year off school to save money. She was initially excited to be making money but quickly realized the minimum wage didn’t go far, Gomes said.

Gomes solicited the Terrace city council’s support for a minimum wage increase Sept. 10.

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source: The Vancouver Sun

OTTAWA — Such fast-food outlets as Tim Hortons, Pizza Pizza and Subway are quietly popping up on military bases across the country in sole-source deals that “hand them a captive market,” says the Union of National Defence Employees.

It wants to challenge the legality of replacing base restaurants, canteens and cafeterias operated by the Canadian Forces Exchange System — known as CANEX — with food outlets and franchises without seeking bids from other suppliers.

“What bothers us is these private sector companies are selling on Crown property to provide services to a captive market, the military troops and their families, without being publicly tendered. It raises the question of how many small businesses would love to put in a bid for such a captive market,” said UNDE President John MacLennan who intends to ask Auditor-General Sheila Fraser investigate.

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The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been in the works for two decades. It calls for world-wide measures to address the widespread hardship, poverty, and human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples around the world.

• Sign the online petition
• Write to Harper urging the Government of Canada to stop opposing the UN Declaration.

The Declaration was adopted by the newly formed UN Human Rights Council in June 2006. But the Declaration has not yet been adopted by the UN General Assembly. Canada supported the Declaration in the past, but is now among a handful of states pressing for further negotiations … despite the fact that 20 years of negotiations have already taken place.

Such negotiations will only delay - and quite possibly weaken - a human rights instrument critical to the survival and well-being of some of the world’s most impoverished, marginalized and frequently victimized peoples.

PSAC has joined the list of over 22,000 organizations and individuals who are pushing for the immediate adoption of the UN Declaration.

$10 minimum wage critical as BC’s economic boom bypasses provinces’ working families and key region

BC’s current economic boom is bypassing working families, according to a Labour Day analysis prepared by the B.C. Federation of Labour, forcing them to work longer hours just to stand still while corporate profits rise and CEOs take home massive pay increases.

• Sign the minimum wage petition @ bcfed.com
• Download a copy of the report (pdf)

“A $10 minimum wage would help nearly 250,000 working people who are at or below the poverty line,” says B.C. Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair. “Despite positive economic news, most British Columbians are not seeing their incomes improve and some regions are actually experiencing declining employment. BC has a very high level of people living in poverty. To them, this is not the ‘best place on earth’ as provincial propaganda suggests.”

The Federation issued a review of the provincial economy to support its call for a $10 minimum wage - which has been frozen by the Campbell Liberals at $8 per hour since 2001. The increase would bring 246,000 British Columbians up to the poverty line with particular benefits for women and younger workers, who make up a large share of BC’s low-paid workforce.

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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?”

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To the editor,

RE: Mental leaves in PS Soar (The Ottawa Citizen, July 31, 2007 - read the article at canada.com )

To suggest that mental health absences in the Public Service are soaring is more than a stretch. More troubling is the possibility that your article will discourage workers suffering from depression from seeking the help they need.

Mental health is a growing issue for the global workforce, not just federal public sector workers. According to the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health:

“Depression is the leading source of disability in the world and as a percentage of the burden of disease, it is growing faster in the global population than cardiovascular disorders yet it remains under researched, under diagnosed and under treated.”

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PS unions scoff at idea to end right to strike; Federal workers dismiss call for dispute-solving alternative

No way.

That sums up the response of the largest public service union to a federal study that calls for a new collective bargaining system for government workers that removes their right to strike.

“It’s a non-starter,” Patty Ducharme, national executive vice-president of the 150,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada, said yesterday. “Quite honestly, I think it’s a non-starter for the government as well.”

The reaction was similar, though less emphatic, from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). “The stars would have to be perfectly aligned for us to consider something like that,” said Johanne Bray, PIPSC’s manager of policy and national representational activities.

The wide-ranging study, known as the Lahey report after its lead author, senior bureaucrat James Lahey, questions whether the current conciliation/strike model is appropriate for public servants.

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