Last month PSAC received notice to bargain from Treasury Board – the parties are discussing potential timetables for bargaining.
FB team preparing for coming round of bargaining
Author Archives: Admin Staff
CIU’s National President meets with Public Safety Minister
On May 13th, 2014, CIU’s National President, Jean-Pierre Fortin, met with Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney. The meeting provided him with an opportunity to raise some of the major issues the CIU is facing. Continue reading
CIU leadership and PSAC legal counsel meet with CBSA
Over the last several weeks CBSA has been attempting to undermine the legal rights of CIU/PSAC members in the FB bargaining unit.
It is our position that CBSA’s communications concerning the arming of officers misinformed employees of their rights under both our contract and federal law. Continue reading
Federal Court of Appeal rules CBSA discriminated against PSAC member Fiona Johnstone by failing to accommodate her family obligations
PSAC is pleased to report that the Federal Court of Appeal has today unanimously upheld the groundbreaking decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The decision found the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) discriminated against PSAC member, Fiona Johnstone by failing to accommodate her family obligations.
Ms Johnstone worked as a Border Services Officer at CBSA, requiring a fixed-shift schedule to arrange for child care. The employer refused to consider her request, given its view that it had no obligation under the Canadian Human Rights Act to accommodate her personal choices around childcare.
PSAC supported Ms Johnstone throughout this lengthy human rights and Federal Court battle.
In upholding the decision of the Tribunal, the Court of Appeal rejected the narrow approach to family status accommodation argued by the government. The Court confirmed that human rights legislation is to be interpreted in a broad and liberal manner and that family status includes child care and other legal family obligations.
The Court emphasized that there should be no hierarchy of rights, such that the test for family status accommodation was more difficult to meet than the other grounds of discrimination. Instead, employers are required to conduct a case-by-case analysis with a view to accommodating the particular needs of individual employees.
PSAC wishes to congratulate Fiona on yet another win in this long legal saga which advances the law for all Canadian workers.
The PSAC is particularly pleased that this is a meaningful victory for all working families in Canada.
Any changes in sick leave must be negotiated
Recently CBSA sent an email notice to employees at CBSA promoting a “Workplace Wellness and Productivity Strategy for federal government employees”. This notice promoted a new employer strategy for managing sick leave and long-term disability across the federal public service, but it failed to mention one very important fact: this new strategy has not been negotiated with our union.
PSAC and CIU have not agreed to the employer’s strategy. The current sick leave and disability systems remain in place. No changes have been made to our collective agreement.
Any modification to the current sick leave system must be negotiated with our union. Changes cannot be unilaterally imposed by the employer – no matter how badly they may wish to do so. And the national leadership of both PSAC and CIU have stated that we will be fighting to defend our sick leave provisions in the coming round of bargaining.
Negotiations have yet to begin between PSAC and Treasury Board. CBSA is once again spreading misinformation. We are consulting our legal counsel to determine if additional legal action may be taken against CBSA for this latest communication.