Author Archives: Pierre St-Jacques

Bargaining and Phoenix: PSAC launches ad campaign targeting Trudeau and new Minister

As more than 140,000 PSAC members are still without new contracts or fair compensation for the Phoenix pay system disaster, PSAC has launched an ad campaign targeting the Prime Minister and new Treasury Board president, Jean-Yves Duclos.

“In their first four years, the Liberal government failed Canada’s public service workers,” said Chris Aylward, PSAC national president. “With a new minority Parliament and a new Minister, we’re sending Justin Trudeau a clear mandate: deliver a fair contract for our members and fair compensation for this ongoing Phoenix nightmare.”

The government’s continued negligence is forcing PSAC members to ramp up their workplace action, leading to a potential strike. In its mandate letter to the government, PSAC is urging the Liberals to ensure the stability of the federal government for all Canadians by moving quickly to resolve these issues.

The ad campaign will feature online, radio and print ads across the country. Ads will begin rolling out today. Members can send the mandate letter to Trudeau and the Minister at hereforcanada.ca.

“Our members continue to show up to work every day to serve Canadians – despite all the problems they’ve endured because of Phoenix. They deserve better, and they are ready to fight for what they’re owed,” added Aylward.

“In the recent election, Trudeau promised to “build a stronger public service” – well, this is his opportunity to do that.”

The first of several Public Interest Committee hearings set up to mediate a deal between PSAC bargaining units and Treasury Board begins December 4.

Take action at hereforcanada.ca

Print ad: English | French

The original version of this article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Occupational Group Structure: an update on the classification process

The Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, part of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, has been working to modernize several classification groups in the core public service. This work is intended to align classification groups, many of which are decades old, with the work of today’s public service. PSAC is ensuring that consultation takes place and that our members are kept informed throughout the process.

Classification is necessary to determine the relative value of one job in relation to other jobs in the public service, for the purposes of pay. Classification systems must operate without sexual bias and be capable of measuring the relative value of all jobs in the same establishment.

Classification Standards must assess skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, to ensure compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Your current rights will be protected regardless of the outcome of this process. This means no one will suffer a reduction in salary due to their classification potentially being converted to a lower wage level. You will be guaranteed to remain at your current salary (this is enshrined in the collective agreement as Salary Protection Status). This protection will apply until the position is vacated. In addition, as wages for your new classification exceed your current salary, your pay will be increased to the new classification levels.

Finally, the policy grievance we filed against Treasury Board for contravention of the timelines for the implementation of the Occupational Group Reform is proceeding with hearing dates planned for December. Stay tuned for updates!

Treasury Board says implementation date of the new job evaluation standards is between 2020 to 2022.
The Computer Systems (CS) group will change to a new occupational group called Information Technology (IT)
The Program and Administrative Services (PA) group will be restructured to *five new sub-groups:
- 1. PA-PVO (Program and Service Operations) = CR, AS, PM-01, PM-02, AS-01 and AS-02
- 2. PA-EAA (Executive Administrative Assistant) = AS, CR and ST largely excluded
- 3. PA-PDM (Program Development and Administration) = AS-03 to AS-07, PM-03 to PM-07
- 4. PA-RHB (Rehabilitation and Reintegration) = WP
- 5. PA-CMN (Communications) = IS

*The mapping of actual positions to sub-groups has not taken place yet. Updates will be provided once the mapping exercise is underway.

A new Comptrollership (CT) group will be created to bring together work in the areas of financial management, as well as external and internal audit.

The original version of this article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Public Interest Commission (PIC) dates for PSAC government units

The Labour Board has announced Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearing dates for PSAC’s bargaining units representing federal government workers. See the following page for more information on the PIC, and for a list of hearing dates for each unit as well as the number of members affected. Note that the FB unit is still in talks, and is not at the PIC stage.

Fighting misinformation: A message from your National Executive

Sisters & Brothers,

As you may know, the CSN (Confédération des syndicats nationaux), a union mostly active at the provincial level within Quebec, has been meeting with CIU members for some time in an attempt to raid the FB membership. Most recently, we know that CSN reps were in Branches such as Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, and Vancouver.

This is the same union that tried to raid the FB membership at the end of the last round of FB bargaining in 2018. While we know that CIU members will stand united, we take the CSN’s presence in our midst seriously. Raiding can have a negative impact on bargaining. Any sign of division within our ranks can jeopardize our leverage with the Employer and our chances of success at the bargaining table.

It should come as no surprise that CSN will say anything and everything to convince members to sign up, going as far as to circulate misinformation. In the next few days, we will be communicating with all FB members to set the record straight on issues such as:

CIU’s autonomy. Contrary to spurious claims, FB members would not be more autonomous under CSN. CIU manages its own affairs: We speak directly to the Employer (union-management relations), we take our lead from delegates attending our conventions, and we elect our own representatives.
Union dues. CSN’s union dues are approximately 2% of real wages – that’s $700 more per year in dues at the FB-03 level.
Fighting for the membership. Unlike other unions – including CSN – CIU and PSAC have not accepted the government’s offer on damages for the Phoenix Pay System. While the CSN settled for a me-too clause, we continue to fight for a better deal.

As mentioned above, keep an eye out for further communications from CIU in the weeks to come. In the meantime, if you have any questions about your union or regarding claims made by others, feel free to reach out and talk to your Branch President.

In solidarity,
The CIU National Executive

The CIU National Board of Directors supports our bargaining teams!

Today, in Ottawa, members (and observers) of the CIU National Board of Directors sent a clear message of support to our PSAC-CIU FB and Treasury Board bargaining teams. Despite the bargaining process being at a stand still due to the federal elections, we are proud of the work accomplished by our Brothers and Sisters who sit at the bargaining tables. We know that they’ll continue to hold the employer’s feet to the fire and push for a fair deal!