Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Bargaining Conferences are the opportunity for bargaining unit members, Elected Officers and activists to meet, plan the upcoming round of bargaining, review bargaining demands, identify priorities, develop initial mobilization strategies, and to build awareness of the political context in which the round of bargaining will take place. They also present an important learning opportunity for new activists and an equally-important opportunity for all members in attendance to build solidarity.

There are 3 Regional Bargaining Conferences scheduled for this round of Treasury Board bargaining – the Eastern and Ontario/NCR Conferences, and the Western Bargaining Conference, which will be held in Winnipeg, December 4-5 2010. Members at these conferences will discuss bargaining demands and mobilization strategies, and elect delegates to the National Bargaining Conference, to be held in Ottawa in January.

The PSAC constitution outlines a process under Regulation 15A that provides for increased participation of Regional Women’s Committee, Equity, and Youth members in our Bargaining Conferences. Accordingly, Union activists that fit those criteria are strongly encouraged to submit an application to be considered as a delegate. One member per eligible group, per bargaining unit (PA, TC, SV, EB, and FB), will be selected to attend each Regional Conference.

An online application is available at the national website. Note the deadline for applications is September 17th. If you have any questions or would like more information regarding the upcoming round of TB bargaining, contact your Regional Office.


The collective agreement for the Technical Services Group of Treasury Board is now available on the Treasury Board Website.

The parties have completed the incorporation of negotiated language and the Arbitral Award into a draft agreement. Once the draft agreement is proof-read, the parties will finalize any necessary changes, and then sign the Agreement.

The issues, such as wages, included in the September 24th Arbitral Award are effective on the date of the Award. All other changes included in the Agreement are effective on the date of signing.

The Agreement is expected to be signed before the end of November. Once signed, the Agreement will be posted on the PSAC website.

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.

PSAC acted quickly to hold the government to its commitment and met with Treasury Board on May 19, 2009 to begin the classification review process.

However, given the sheer number of employees and different classifications, the reform process is complex and will take time. The language in our collective agreement with Treasury Board contemplates that the initial stage of reform – a review of the occupational group structure in the PA group – could take up to two years. The process will then move to the other employee groups. Throughout all of this, PSAC will be working with Treasury Board to develop fair and accurate classification standards.

As we move through this process, PSAC will be drawing on the expertise of union members in the workplace, and we expect membership involvement to increase as things unfold.

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Your bargaining team received the arbitral award for the TC group and is deeply disappointed with the results. Your Union’s sidesperson on the arbitration panel has filed a dissenting report stating our objections to the outcome.

This award, along with other outstanding language will become the new collective agreement. Despite the bargaining team’s call for increases reaching beyond the legislated wage restraint, the arbitrator limited the award to four years. The four-year deal expires on June 21, 2011.

Your bargaining team went to arbitration with the hope that we could obtain a market increase for members at the end of the restraint period. We are dismayed that the arbitrator did not hear us and ruled against us.

The union’s arbitration brief made key arguments and presented data on a number of monetary issues that clearly demonstrated compensation gaps, all of which were ignored by the Arbitrator.

The monetary increases were awarded as per the legislated wage restraint:

• 2.3% pay increase on June 21, 2007
• 1.5% pay increase on June 21, 2008
• 1.5% pay increase on June 21, 2009
• 1.5% pay increase on June 21, 2010

We appreciate and recognize the patience that the members have shown throughout this process. The agreement will soon be signed and the new terms and conditions will soon be implemented.

We tried every possible avenue to get the best deal for members and we will continue our fight to get members the remuneration and the conditions of employment they deserve.

Download the following documents (pdf)

• Arbitration award
• The PSAC summary of the decision
• The PSAC sidesperson’s dissent

The arbitration board for the TC collective agreement continues to deliberate. We are still waiting on the arbitration board’s decision. Under the law, the board is supposed to issue their decision as soon as possible. However, the law does not have any specified timelines for when that decision is to be issued.

As soon as any results are released, we will notify members immediately.

A more detailed update on the arbitration process was posted just after the hearings finished.  It better explains the process.

Here are some Q&A’s regarding upcoming changes at Health Canada.

Introduction

A full evaluation of the Public Service Health Program (PSHP) was completed in 2007/08. In light of this review, the Treasury Board Secretariat and Health Canada have agreed that the occupational health service delivery support that Health Canada provides to the federal public service through the PSHP must be adapted to ensure future sustainability for the program.

In order to do this, beginning in 2009, the PSHP is transitioning to a new program model known as the Occupational Health Medical Services model (OHMS). This transition will ensure that deputy heads can rely on Health Canada to provide occupational health support in areas that are best delivered through an internal common service. On the other hand, those services which are available elsewhere and can be delivered at the departmental level will no longer be provided by the PSHP.

While the PSHP will cease to provide some of its current services, the transition to the OHMS model will involve strengthening other services. This will improve the program’s focus on the provision of high quality and timely medical services that respond to the unique occupational health needs of the federal public service. The overriding objective of the PSHP remains excellence in service delivery.

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The end is in sight. We are proceeding to our arbitration hearing in two weeks. We will be in front of the arbitrator from July 6 to July 8.

Throughout this round of bargaining, this employer has not negotiated with us. And as a result, we have applied for arbitration. Even though the employer has ensured that we don’t get a fair arbitration hearing by hiding behind the Expenditure Restraint Act, your bargaining team has decided to proceed to a formal arbitration hearing to get a ruling on our outstanding issues.

We will seek a ruling on all of our issues, even those with an economic impact as our proposals extend beyond 2011, which is the sunset date of the Expenditure Restraint Act.

On this page, you will see a link to our arbitration brief. This document lays out all of our remaining outstanding issues and it details the rationale for each proposal. There are nine issues that we are bringing to arbitration (article reference in brackets):

1. Travel Status Leave – captive time (34.09)
2. Injury on Duty Leave (41)
3. Education Leave (54)
4. Dangerous Goods Allowance (62)
5. Hours of Work for Marine Search and Rescue Coordinators (App. D)
6. Call-back pay for Hospital Technologists in Manitoba (New Appendix)
7. Hazardous Substances Handling Allowance (New)
8. Pre-retirement Leave (New)
9. Wages (App A)

Download the arbitration brief at the national website (pdf)

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 Public Service Labour Relations Board has announced that the TC Table Arbitration will take place on July 6 to 8, 2009. The panel will be chaired by arbitrator David Starkman. The union representative will be James Wolfgang and the employer will be represented by Jock Climie.

The three days scheduled will begin with the panel attempting to mediate the items in dispute prior to the formal presentation on the remaining outstanding issues. In recent arbitrations, this process has assisted the parties to settle some issues by reducing the number of outstanding issues that the Arbitration Board has had to rule on.

Appointments to the Arbitration Board for the TC Bargaining Unit have been announced.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada has been notified that David Starkman has been appointed chairperson for the TC Arbitration Board.

Jim Wolfgang will represent the Union’s interests on the Arbitration Board. Jock Climie will represent the Employer.

No dates have been established yet for hearings. More information will be published as it becomes available.

The SV agreement has been signed. The provisions in the new collective agreement are now in effect, and the employer has 150 days to implement the new rates of pay and issue cheques for retroactive pay reflecting the wage increases going back to August 5, 2007.

The four-year collective agreement, which expires on August 4, 2011, finally gets rid of regional rates of pay and will begin a national pay grid on August 5, 2009, for the GL, GS and HS groups. The agreement provides for across-the-board annual wage increases of 2.3 per cent for the first year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three years. It includes a new annex on apprenticeships that outlines a commitment to train to the highest possible standards and provides for salary protection while members are in an apprenticeship program. The agreement also strengthens the Workforce Adjustment provisions and requires the government to review the use of contractors and consultants in order to avoid layoffs.

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.

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.

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

The four-year collective agreement, which expires on June 20, 2011, provides for across-the-board annual wage increases of 2.3 per cent for the first year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three years. The agreement also secured a commitment from the employer to begin work on an occupational group and classification review that we anticipate will result in the development of new classification standards to better reflect the kinds of work our members perform. 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.

OTTAWA – Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working for Treasury Board have accepted new collective agreements that contain no concessions for four bargaining units representing more than 100,000 workers.

With these agreements, PSAC achieved some significant breakthroughs:

• The establishment of national rates of pay for members of the Operational Services (SV) group. This concludes a 41-year battle to remove regional rates of pay for trades people in the federal public service.
• Occupational group and classification review that we anticipate will result in the development of new classification standards to better reflect the kinds of work our members perform for the Program and Administration Services (PA), Operational Services (SV), Technical Services (TC), Border Services (FB), and Education and Library Science (EB) bargaining units. The review work will begin with the PA group within six months following the signing of the new collective agreement.
• Members in the Border Services (FB) group have also won an agreement that reflects the nature of the professional services they provide and compensates them accordingly.
• The agreements also contain language that requires the government to review the use of contractors and consultants in order to avoid layoffs through strengthened workforce adjustment appendix provisions.

The four-year collective agreements, which expire in 2011, provide for across-the-board annual wage increases of 2.3 per cent for the first year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three years.
“Our union is proud of achieving these agreements which contain some significant gains and no concessions,” says PSAC national president John Gordon. “We were able to make these breakthroughs because of the 18 months of hard work put in by our bargaining teams and the collective actions of our members, especially under a challenging bargaining environment.”

The Technical Services (TC) group was unable to conclude a tentative agreement and is proceeding to arbitration, with full support of the PSAC.

“A clear majority of our members have voted to accept the tentative agreements,” says Gordon. “We see this as a vote of confidence for the bargaining teams and the union. We will now be focusing our attention on ensuring that the occupational group and classification review reflects the workplace and needs of our members.”

The PSAC has completed the application for the establishment of an arbitration board on behalf of the TC bargaining unit. As the party requesting arbitration, the PSAC must specify details regarding the impasse reached. The details include listing the dates the parties met to negotiate, the list of signed articles and the list of outstanding issues.

Now that the request for arbitration is in the hands of the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB), the Board will forward it to the employer. Treasury Board had seven (7) days to respond in writing to request any other term or condition to be included in an arbitral award if it is not included in the union’s request for arbitration. This portion of the process, as well as the Union’s agreements that the employer’s issues were appropriate for Arbitration has been completed.

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updated: January 5

A ratification vote is scheduled for members of the PA, SV, EB and FB groups. Here are the dates and locations as well as the ratification kits …

• PA Ratification kit (pdf)
• EB Ratification kit (pdf)
• SV Ratification kit (pdf)
• FB Ratification kit (pdf)
• See here for french versions

Read more for the vote times and locations … (more…)

Summary of key elements of PSAC’s tentative agreements with Treasury Board.

Information on the proposed settlements for members of Border Services (FB), Program and Administration Services (PA), Operational Services (SV), and Education and Library Science (EB) groups is currently available at the national website.

Information specific to all members of the DD, EG, GT, PI, PY, and TI pay groups.

I am pleased to inform you that the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Treasury Board have reached tentative agreements for more than 100,000 members in the main bargaining units governed by the Public Service Labour Relations Act.

The membership should be proud of the work of their bargaining teams, who worked very hard over the weekend to reach these tentative agreements.

I am proud to say that these tentative agreements contain some gains, and no concessions.

We feel this is an accomplishment, given the challenging bargaining environment we are now in.

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