Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

As a socially responsible union, the PSAC recognizes that protection of the environment is of paramount importance. Over the long term, economic growth and employment creation will be impossible unless the environmental destruction of the past is reversed.

• Read all of PSAC Policy 22 - The Environment - at the national website.

As a result the PSAC strives take a positive stand and, where possible, action on specific environmental problems and encourages our members to actively participate in environmental rejuvenation and become involved with civic and provincial groups which are working to combat the pollution of our waters, land and air.

|inline

We’re ready and eager to start bargaining - National bargaining conference reviews bargaining input

PSAC’s Union of Taxation Employees held its national bargaining conference from May 15 to 17 in Ottawa to prepare for the next round of bargaining with the Canada Revenue Agency.

UTE members had until March 31st to submit their suggestions for changes to their collective agreement. Over 400 proposals were submitted for consideration.

The demands package is in the process of being finalized and will be available on the PSAC web site after the union has exchanged demands the employer.

(more…)

Source: The Vancouver Courier, May 11, by Cheryl Rossi-Staff writer

When families who were affected by the Chinese Head Tax celebrate 60 years of citizenship Saturday, they’ll be recognizing how far they’ve come in gaining rights and respect for Chinese people in Canada.

But according to Sid Tan, co-chair of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada, they’ll also highlight problems migrant workers face today as echoes of what their families endured.

“The issues of guest workers, the issues of seasonal and temporary employment, live-in caregivers and domestics, all these issues are not that different from what the early Chinese suffered,” said Tan. “These are people that are good enough to come to Canada and do the dirty and menial work or the work that a lot of Canadians won’t or aren’t willing to do, and they have no rights. There’s something wrong with the picture, and a hundred years ago this is what happened to the Chinese.”

|inline

A key issue: eliminating regional rates of pay

OTTAWA – Bargaining for over 100,000 federal public sector workers is beginning as the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) meets today in Ottawa with the federal government.

According to PSAC National President John Gordon, delegates to the PSAC convention in 2006 adopted a comprehensive policy to defend quality public services. “The union has tabled a number of bargaining demands that are designed to maintain and enhance federal public services in response to a Conservative government whose ideology is one of smaller government and by extension, fewer and less effective services for Canadians.”

PSAC started getting ready for this round of negotiations in the summer of 2006 when it sent out its input call to union Locals and Branches for bargaining proposals. Members participated in two regional bargaining conferences and a national bargaining conference where delegates finalized bargaining demands and chose the members of the negotiating teams.

“The union served notice to bargain at the earliest possible date before the expiry date of each of the five agreements,” says Gordon. “The parties exchanged demands on April 27 and for the first time we’re starting negotiations before any of these agreements expire. We’re ready and eager to negotiate.”

|inline

OTTAWA, May 10 /CNW Telbec/ - An Appeals Officer has ordered Parks Canada to protect its park wardens who are responsible for law enforcement in Canada’s national parks.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the union representing the park wardens, has been fighting this issue since June 2000, when Douglas Martin, one of the wardens, filed a complaint that he was being placed in situations of potential danger on the job without the necessary protective equipment.

“The ruling from Appeals Officer Douglas Malanka has confirmed the original direction from the health and safety officer who investigated the complaint,” says PSAC National Executive Vice-President Patty Ducharme. “Malanka has ordered Parks Canada, after seven years of delay, to finally correct the situation and to protect the wardens from danger.”

|inline

Source: Vancouver Sun, Monday, May 07, 2007

OTTAWA — Parenting by same-sex families is just as good — if not slightly advantageous — for children when compared to heterosexual families, a Justice Department study has concluded.

Commissioned by the then-Liberal federal government in 2003 at the height of the same-sex marriage debate, the academic study was not released until recently when its main author, Prof. Paul Hastings at Concordia University, obtained it by making a request using the Access to Information Act.

Hastings, with the assistance of research students, reached the study’s conclusion after reviewing existing research relating to the impact on children of being raised in different family types.

The report says the strongest conclusion that can be drawn from empirical literature is that the vast majority of studies show that children living with two mothers and children living with a mother and father have the same levels and qualities of social competence.

|inline

source: Vancouver Sun, Friday, May 04, 2007

What is it going to take for the managers at Passport Canada to get their act together? Furious people waiting in endless lines, angry letters and phone calls to Passport Canada staff and to newspapers, and media reports and editorials so far seem to have had little effect.

• Related: Passport Offices - Not enough staff, computers, to meet demand

The lineups continue, as does Passport Canada’s practice of telling people that they’re not going to be seen after they’ve waited hours in the cold and rain. In fact, the agency’s arrogance has reached new heights in the past few weeks.

Consider, for example, The Vancouver Sun’s attempts to find out merely who’s in charge of the Vancouver office. Calls to the offices of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day failed to yield an answer.

Letters and phone calls to Passport Canada CEO Gerald Cossette went unreturned, which suggests he has no interest in serving the public or taking responsibility for the mess he’s created. And Ottawa-based Passport Canada representative Fabian Lengelle told a reporter that he wasn’t sure whether he should release the name of the person in charge in Vancouver. Now that’s hardly the right attitude for a government agency that’s supposed to be serving the public.

|inline

This round of bargaining with the Parks Canada Agency began in the summer of 2006, with a call to Local members for bargaining input. A comprehensive Program of Demands package was sent to all Local Executives. The bargaining input you forwarded to your Component was reviewed, reduced to wage demands and 30 non-wage proposals and sent to the union’s national bargaining conference held in February. At this conference, members elected your negotiating team and debated and decided upon the bargaining proposals that would be presented to the Agency.

The demands are a result of broad-based input and debate by members and we thank you for your participation in the process.

Read more and download the demands package at the national website.

The deadline for PSAC scholarships is July 16th.

The PSAC Scholarship Program is offering the following 15 scholarships to PSAC members and their children:

• one $4,000 PSAC - Groulx National Scholarship;
• one $4,000 PSAC - Coughlin National Scholarship;
• two $3,000 PSAC - Groulx National Scholarships;
• two $3,000 PSAC - Coughlin National Scholarships;
• one $2,000 J.R. (Joe) Power National Scholarship;
• one $1,000 PSAC National Scholarship;
• seven $1,000 PSAC Regional Scholarships; – one for each of the seven regions (Atlantic, Quebec, National Capital Region, Ontario, Prairies, British Columbia, and the North).

Scholarships are available for the children and dependants of PSAC members. As well, three out of the seven $1,000 PSAC Regional Scholarships may be awarded to PSAC members (if applications are received) who are returning to university, college or a recognized institute of higher learning on a full-time basis.

PSAC members (as parents of applicants or as applicants) must be in good standing as of March 31st of the current year.

Visit the national website for more information and an application form.

PSAC has counted the votes cast in the representation vote that has taken place among our members at Service Canada. The vote was to determine which PSAC Component would represent all PSAC Service Canada members at the workplace level.

• View John Gordon’s video message to Service Canada members: High-resolution | Low-resolution

The vote has resulted in the Canada Employment and Immigration Union earning the right to represent you at the workplace level. Here are the vote totals.

• Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) – 3,774 (62.9%)
• National Health and Welfare Union (NHWU) – 2,226 (37.1%)
• Spoiled – 36
• Total votes cast – 6,036

PSAC National President John Gordon will be meeting with the National Presidents of both Components in order to ensure there is a smooth transition process. A key part of the process will be to ensure that there is no disruption of service to members, particularly in the representation of members’ grievances. Another part of the process will be to give voice to the members being transferred from NHWU to CEIU.

|inline

Negotiations between the Public Service Alliance of Canada and MDS Nordion Inc. are scheduled to commence on April 25, 2007. The parties have agreed to meet April 25 to 27 and May 8 to 11, 2007.

Approximately 40 PSAC members work at MDS Nordion Inc. in Vancouver. Nordion produces medical isotopes for worldwide distribution. The collective agreement expired March 31, 2007.

Kent Spencer, The Province, Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Canadians should brace themselves for long passport waits “for months” to come, says a spokeswoman for the workers who process passport applications.

“There is no end in sight,” Kay Sinclair, Vancouver-based vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said yesterday.

“I’m told the situation could last for months. Employees could be asked to work all summer to keep up with demand.”

A backlog of applications has developed since the U.S. required all passengers arriving in the U.S. by air to carry passports starting Jan. 23.

About 2,000 PSAC members have been working overtime on weeknights and weekends to process applications, said Sinclair. Printers are running 24 hours a day.

“The job is really stressful,” she said. “Sometimes the public have taken out their frustrations. There’s pressure in terms of [not] taking breaks and holidays.”

|inline

April 18th, VICTORIA – Opposition Leader Carole James today introduced the Minimum Wage Fairness Act, 2007 to lift B.C.’s minimum wage to $10 per hour. The Bill also proposes to index future increases to protect workers and give certainty to employers. Also included in the legislative package is a full percentage point reduction in the small business tax rate to help that sector manage rising costs.

After a six year freeze, it’s time the government of British Columbia gave our province’s lowest paid workers a raise.

• More information and a petition at www.bcfed.com.

The Minimum Wage Fairness Act will raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour and implements a system to index increases in future years so B.C.’s lowest paid workers never have to face a six year freeze again.

By providing this lift and indexing future increases, B.C.’s lowest paid workers get much needed support and employers get the certainty they need to plan for the future.

|inline

Relatives, unions decry declining standards.

Did Amarjit Kaur Bal, Sarabjit Kaur Sidhu and Sukhwinder Kaur Punia die in vain? The results from a meeting held March 15 in downtown Vancouver may determine the answer to that question.

• B.C. Fed submits recommendations to improve working conditions & safety of BC farmworkers
• Read a history of BC farmworkers

Family members of farmworkers killed in the roll-over accident of an overloaded labour contractor’s van last week and leaders of the B.C. labour movement met on the morning of March 15 with Minister of Labour Olga Ilich and Minister of Agriculture Pat Bell in Vancouver. They presented a comprehensive list of 30 proposals to remedy safety and employment standards abuses in B.C. fields and greenhouses. The submission to the ministers also calls on the government to strike down a controversial memorandum signed by the BC Liberals and the province’s large agricultural organizations, which critics say has paved the way for lax enforcement of safety and employment standards protections in the industry.

Read more at thetyee.ca.

forwarded by PSAC member, Anne-Marie Sleeman

VICTORIA - The Province is launching an enhanced WorkAble Solutions website that will directly connect British Columbians with disabilities who are looking for work to employers that have jobs available,Employment and Income Assistance Minister Claude Richmond announced today.

“Many people with disabilities find it difficult to secure employment that matches their skills and abilities. At the same time the demand for skilled workers is great,” said Richmond. “This site provides an excellent meeting place to bring together qualified job seekers with disabilities with employers who have positions that need to be filled.”

|inline

GLISA (Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association) North America has had another step in its evolution by announcing the launch of its website.

“The website, www.glisa-na.org is a vital tool in promoting the organization and providing to our member clubs and associations and partners a venue to share news, best practices, and a calendar of event;, it’s their reliable link to us and ours to them” stated Greg Larocque, President of GLISA North America. “Our website will allow us to continue to grow as an organization, in terms of members, depth, and scope and in terms of what features and benefits we can provide our members”.

|inline

OTTAWA - The Chretien government had already secretly used up much of the $30-billion surplus in the pension plans of its employees by the time it sat down with unions to negotiate a new pension deal and refused to share the windfall.

• National website: Pension trial begins Feb 26th.

Lawyers for the 18 unions and pensioner groups that are fighting the government to get the surplus back told an Ontario Superior Court judge Monday the government had already ’scooped’ the surplus in the pension plans of Canada’s public servants, military and RCMP before Bill C-78 - the legislation that allowed the government to claim the surplus and book it against the debt - was passed in 1999.

|inline

I want to start by thanking you for providing me with an opportunity to participate in your pre-budget consultation.

I do so on behalf of more than 160,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union representing the vast majority of Canadian workers employed by the federal government and its various departments and agencies.

In this short statement, I want to make a case for renewal of public services, public service delivery and public infrastructure.

• Have your say on the budget!

But first, I want to make a couple of comments on the revenue side of the equation.  From my perspective there is both good news and bad news on the fiscal front since your government was elected a little over a year ago. I believe that your decision to reduce revenue by almost $5 billion by cutting the GST was a mistake. On the other side of the coin, I would like to commend you for taking action last fall on the income trust file because failure to act would have continued and increased the leakage from the tax system putting even further pressure on your governments ability to deliver service to Canadians.

Clearly, budgets are about priorities. And in looking forward to your 2007 budget, I can’t help but look at the past and your government’s September 25, 2006 announcement of a 1 billion dollar reduction in government expenditures.

Not all cuts are created equally, and I would urge you to take a second look at the 2006 cuts that undermine equally and use your budget to, in the words of the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality “Put Equality Back on Track”.

That means restoring operational funding for Status of Women Canada, and restoring funding for the Court Challenges program and the Law Reform Commission.

It means putting literacy back on the priority list, and investing more resources, not less to level the playing field for aboriginal peoples.

|inline

OTTAWA — Kenyan-born Mohamed Khandwalla is living in a frustrating limbo in Toronto, despite being armed with a master’s degree in pharmacy from Britain, fresh credentials as a registered pharmacist in Canada and the love of a good woman.

Khandwalla says his wait to get permanent residency in Canada, which he expected would be about six months, has stretched to a year, and could last another 10 months or so based on what the local immigration office is telling him.

The 29-year-old says the waiting is getting him down because he is barred from working or travelling outside Canada while his application is pending.

“Trust me, it’s a problem, it’s very sad,” said Khandwalla, an only child whose father has not seen him since he married his Canadian bride in November 2005.

|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