Treasury Board Bargaining Resumes November 1

24 October 2016

The five bargaining teams will be back at the table with Treasury Board between November 1 and November 7 to resume negotiations for new collective agreements.

Revised Mandate

Treasury Board has indicated that they have a revised mandate on some of the key issues in this round of bargaining.

Make Good on Your Word Campaign

This comes at a time when PSAC has intensified our public outreach and advertising campaign, Make Good on Your Word, calling on Justin Trudeau to make good on his promise to respect public services and the people who provide them.

“Now is the time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government to make good on their word and come back to the bargaining table with a Liberal mandate,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “After 26 months of negotiations, we want a collective agreement.”

PSAC’s Bargaining Priorities

Healthier workplaces
Strong public services and fair treatment for workers if service delivery changes
Wages that keep up with inflation and the job market

Support Your Bargaining Teams on October 31

On October 31, join with PSAC members across the country to support your bargaining teams and deliver a strong message to Prime Minister Trudeau:

Dump the Conservative bargaining agenda
Start talking to us about real change for a better public service
Make good on your word – Canadians are counting on us

Please contact your local, or the closest PSAC regional office, to find out how you can participate. Check out the PSAC website, Facebook, and Twitter (as well as the CIU website, Facebook, and Twitter) for updates.

We will provide a bargaining update shortly after this round of negotiations. Thank you for your ongoing patience and support!

A version of this article was originally published on the PSAC website.

PSAC Calls On Justin Trudeau to Make Good On His Word

18 October 2016

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is launching a series of radio and print ads today, appealing directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make good on his word to support public service workers.

“Last year, Mr. Trudeau wrote to all public service workers promising to treat them with respect and restore the cuts made by Stephen Harper,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “It has been a year since the election. The tone has changed, but it’s now time for action.”

At the most recent set of negotiations between PSAC and the Treasury Board, it was clear that the Liberal government is still using the Conservatives’ bargaining agenda.

“They came with the same proposals as the previous government and many of our members are still dealing with the problems caused by the Phoenix pay system,” said Benson. “Supporting the people who deliver the vital services Canadians depend on is in everyone’s best interest.”

For more information on the radio and print ads, visit makegoodonyourword.ca.

This article was originally published on the PSAC website.

Harper Conservatives’ desperate appeal to public service workers before election

1 October 2016

This morning, Pierre Poilièvre and other Conservative candidates in Ottawa made an announcement directed towards federal public service workers.

The press conference, along with an open letter from Stephen Harper to the public service, followed campaign announcements regarding the federal public service by the NDP and Liberals earlier this week.

“It is clear the Conservatives are worried,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President, “they know that many public service workers are looking to make different choices this election.”

The Harper Conservatives’ record when it comes to the public service has been devastating as it relates to the elimination of thousands of jobs and the attempt to eliminate sick leave by legislating away bargaining rights.

Silence on the cuts to public services

PSAC’s Vote to the Stop the Cuts campaign has revealed key information about the cuts and their cumulative effect. By 2015–16, these cuts will be more than $14.5 billion a year

Despite this, the announcement today remained silent on these cuts. No mention was also made of closure of service centers across the country, including nine Veterans Affairs offices.

“Many essential public services have been threatened by reckless cuts by the Harper Conservative government, without regard for the safety and welfare of millions of Canadians,” said Benson.

“Our members are on the front lines and see how frustrated Canadians are. Government departments have been stripped bare and workers are struggling to maintain crucial services under very difficult circumstances.”

Sick leave

The government’s proposal on sick leave will force public service workers to choose between going to work sick or losing pay for basic necessities. The latest announcement made no changes to their proposal.

Bargaining rights

The Harper Conservatives made it clear with their last budget implementation act, Bill C-59, that they do not intend to negotiate, but simply impose their go-to-work sick plan.

Public service pensions

The announcement promises that no changes will be made to the pension plans of our members. However, the Conservative government is drafting legislation that will allow for the conversion of pensions from defined benefit plans to target pension plans in other federally-regulated workplaces. Public service employees have every right to be concerned that what the Conservatives want for the federally-regulated private sector could be extended to federal employees.

“Actions speak louder than words. This government has consistently undermined and attacked the public service, not worked cooperatively with them, contrary to what Harper says in his letter,” said Robyn Benson.

PSAC National President Continues to Work Toward Fair and Complete Phoenix Compensation

20 September 2016

For months, we’ve been hearing from many of our members about the difficulties they’ve faced as a result of ongoing problems with the federal government’s pay system. Our members who were not paid accurately or on-time have faced penalties, interest charges and exceptional fees.

Compensation: The committee tasked to deal with Phoenix-related compensation, co-chaired by PSAC National President Robyn Benson and the Secretary of the Treasury Board, meets today to further discuss optimizing the compensation process, and the right to grieve inaccurate and/or untimely pay if necessary.

PSAC continues to advocate to make the compensation process as fair as possible. The Treasury Board’s offer to compensate public service workers for Phoenix-related losses came in the wake of PSAC demands and a court application filed by PSAC and several other public service unions.

Following today’s meeting, we will provide a comprehensive update on the compensation system for our members. The claim form for compensation can be found here.

Minister Foote faces heated questioning: The Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada appeared before a Parliamentary Committee yesterday, where she faced pointed questions about her handling of the Phoenix debacle. Watch her testimony, and that of other witnesses, here.

This article was originally published on the PSAC website.

Treasury Board Bargaining: Liberal Government Still Using Conservative Agenda at Bargaining Table

19 September 2016

When PSAC returned to the bargaining table with Treasury Board on Tuesday, we expected to hear the Liberal agenda. Instead, this government continued to push the Conservative agenda in negotiations.

“Under the Liberals, Treasury Board has had five meetings with us, and almost a year, to improve their offer to reflect Prime Minister Trudeau’s promise to show respect for the public service,” said Robyn Benson, National President of PSAC. “We are frustrated and disappointed that we did not see the movement we expected this week. We are close to the end of the road.”

Despite their commitment to “sunny ways,” the government continues to send all the wrong signals at the bargaining table, and in regard to the flawed Phoenix pay system. This week, at the Unfair Labour Practice hearing, a government witness laid blame for the Phoenix pay system debacle on the impacted employees themselves, rather than taking responsibility.

No future bargaining dates are planned at this time and we will be preparing our next steps. PSAC remains open to negotiations, but only if the employer will make substantive changes to their offer. “After 26 months of negotiations, we want a collective agreement,” said Benson. “But our members deserve better than what we continue to see from the Liberals.”

For more information on the issues raised at individual Treasury Board tables, visit the pages for EB, FB, PA, SV and TC bargaining.

PA Bargaining: No Movement from the Employer

19 September 2016

The PA bargaining team has done everything possible to try and negotiate an agreement with Treasury Board. But the employer came to the bargaining table once again without a mandate to negotiate with us on any of our major issues. It was the 11th bargaining session in this round, spanning 26 months since the parties first exchanged bargaining demands in July 2014.

Our bargaining team represents approximately 70,000 members – the single largest bargaining unit in Canada. We have tried repeatedly to involve our Treasury Board counterpart in serious discussions about high priority items identified by our membership, including updating the antiquated classification standards, minimum standards of work for call centres, work-life balance, and appropriate compensation, among other issues.

Two years, no contract: The employer told us last week that they could not respond to our general economic proposals, saying they have not completed their “comparative pay study,” despite the fact that members have been working without a contract for more than two years.

In the one move of any significance last week, Treasury Board did provide a counter-proposal on the Memorandum of Understanding on Occupational Group Structure and classification reform tabled by the union in July 2014. We are reviewing that document.

In addition, Treasury Board did formally withdraw its intention to limit retroactive pay to one year. Our bargaining team reviewed outstanding issues and tabled language to renew the Joint Learning Program.

Liberal government, Conservative agenda: Despite their commitment to “sunny ways,” the government continues to send all the wrong signals at the bargaining table, and in regard to the flawed Phoenix pay system.

Given that our employer is unwilling to make any significant movement on our demands, we have unfortunately reached the end of the road. We cannot set any further bargaining dates when Treasury Board is not taking members’ priorities seriously.

See the PSAC website for information regarding bargaining proposals.

FB Bargaining Update: Wages and Hours of Work Dominate Discussions

16 September 2016

Our FB Bargaining Team spent this past week in negotiations with Treasury Board/CBSA.

Wages: In bargaining we re-iterated our position with respect to compensation. CBSA is a law enforcement agency and employees should be compensated accordingly.

Astonishingly, the government asked about whether there are recruitment and retention problems at CBSA. With CBSA at the table on management’s side, we pointed out that recruitment and retention problems are such that CBSA has created YouTube recruitment videos and are asking officers to handout recruitment pamphlets to the public at POE’s and visit colleges to promote CBSA.

We made it clear that CBSA should be advocating for appropriate wages and working conditions for its staff, and that we have no interest in a settlement that doesn’t address the lack of parity between CBSA workers and those at other federal law enforcement agencies. We expect a response when we meet next.

Hours of Work – Shift Work and Compressed Work Weeks: This past week, we discussed our proposals to enhance rights and protections for shift workers, including the elimination of potential ‘6 and 2’ schedules being implemented by management. We are also raised our demand for fairer rules with respect to employees having the opportunity to relocate to different ports. With respect to day workers, we again reiterated our proposals to introduce protections against management unilaterally revoking compressed work weeks.

Sick Leave: Our position on the employer’s Short Term Disability Plan remains unchanged but we continue to seek either a renewal or improvements to the current sick leave regime.

We indicated to management that we are ready to meet again and are expecting answers from them on key issues that we’ve raised in this round of bargaining, including our proposals on telework and enhancement of protections for front-line officers in the context of firearm recertification and control defence tactics training.

For more information concerning FB negotiations and our next scheduled bargaining dates, be sure visit the FB Group bargaining section on the PSAC website.

Download the PDF version of this update (bilingual document).

Court dates scheduled for sick leave injunction

21 August 2016

PSAC’s request to the courts to stop the government from implementing its new sick leave plan will go before the court in October.

After consulting with the parties, the Ontario Superior Court has set out a timetable for both sides to present their arguments. The parties will exchange documents in September and October, with a court hearing to be held on October 29.

The court also said that if the government intends to implement the changes before the October hearing, it must give 5 days’ notice.

“We’re pleased that the court is moving as quickly as possible to hear our injunction motion”, said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President.

“We’re also pleased to see the court direct the government to provide advance notice if they intend to proceed with changes to current sick leave provisions before our motion is heard. This will give the court the opportunity to move up the hearing date if necessary. The Conservatives last budget implementation act was a direct assault on our members’ constitutional right to free collective bargaining and it needs to stop,” said Benson.

On August 10, the union filed a notice of motion with the Ontario Superior Court requesting an injunction against the sections of the 2015 budget legislation that allow Treasury Board to take sick leave provisions out of the collective bargaining process. That request was to ensure that no unilateral changes are made by the government while we are going ahead with our challenge to the legislation.

To stay up to date on this case and other important topics, sign up for PSAC email news.

Meeting Between CBSA and CIU Presidents

17 August 2016

On August 16, CIU National President Jean-Pierre Fortin met with CBSA President Linda Lizotte-MacPherson and Vice-President, HR, Jean-Stéphen Piché. It was a productive meeting and many subjects were broached.

Regarding Collective Bargaining, Brother Fortin emphasized the importance of FB members’ CA being in line with those of other law enforcement officers. Not only do we need to catch up, we need to ensure steps are taken so that we remain at parity once we get there. The National President also spoke of our demands (25 and out; meal periods; salary and other working conditions) and reminded CBSA that when a fair collective agreement is reached, it can demonstrate to members the employer’s genuine appreciation of their work.

Brother Fortin also raised the safety concerns our members have with the implementation of new technologies. For instance, those that relate to Primary Inspection Kiosks, Telephone Reporting Centres and Remote Traveller Processing. Ms. Lizotte-MacPherson and Mr. Piché were attentive to CIU’s concerns.

On another note, CIU and CBSA agreed that overall, the Duty to Accommodate project has been successful. CBSA looks forward to a similarly positive outcome with the Mobility Working Group. Mental Health was also discussed. Ms. Lizotte-MacPherson highlighted the importance of promoting the well-being of members and of developing the competencies of managers to deal with difficult situations.

Brother Fortin will provide more details to NBoD members at the next National Board meeting in September.

PSAC seeks court order to protect sick leave in Treasury Board agreements

13 August 2016

PSAC has asked for a court order to stop the government from going ahead with their plans to remove sick leave provisions from collective agreements in the federal public service.

On August 10, the union filed a notice of motion with the Ontario Superior Court requesting an injunction against the sections of Bill C-59 (the 2015 budget implementation act) that allow Treasury Board to take sick leave provisions out of the collective bargaining process.

“Protecting our members’ rights is a top priority,” said PSAC national president Robyn Benson. “While the government is in a caretaker position until after the election, we are doing everything we can to ensure that they don’t proceed with their plans to gut our members’ sick leave protection.”

We have asked the Court to have our motion heard before the election takes place. The Professional Institute of the Public Service (PIPSC) has filed the same motion that also includes most of the other federal public service unions. We are working with them and asking the Court for a joint hearing.

PSAC is arguing that this is a serious issue and one that will cause irreparable harm because it involves substantial interference in our right to bargain collectively. C-59 not only gives Treasury Board the right to invalidate parts of existing collective agreements, it also undermines future bargaining.

In June, PSAC asked the Court to declare that the sick leave provisions of Bill C-59 are in direct violation of our members’ right to free collective bargaining under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to declare them invalid. However, it is expected that the Court will not being to hear the case until mid-2016.

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