Budget Implementation Act – Bill C-59: Call or Email your MP!

Are you upset about the government’s interference in the collective bargaining process and its latest attempt to curb our right to free collective bargaining?

PSAC members in BC rallied on Monday to send a message to the government - legislating any changes to collective agreements is not acceptable!

You can send this same message by taking a few minutes to call or send an email to your Member of Parliament. Tell them that you expect your MP and your government to respect your collective bargaining rights!

You can call MPs at their office in the riding or at their office in Ottawa. Parliament is in recess during the week of May 18 and MPs may be back in their ridings. Phone numbers and email addresses are available on the Parliament of Canada website.

Some facts you can tell your MP

• In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that freedom of association contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the right to free collective bargaining.
• The latest Conservative budget implementation bill (C-59) violates that right. It will allow the government to by-pass the bargaining process and make unilateral changes to the sick leave provisions in its collective agreements with federal public service unions.
• The government is determined to force its employees to choose between getting paid and going to work sick.
• The change that it wants to make will drastically change the current sick leave provisions. But the government has never made a case that this was necessary.
• Both the Parliamentary Budget Officer and Statistics Canada have shown that the government’s claims that sick leave is abused or too costly are wrong.
• The government has not revealed to Canadians just how much more it will cost for a large insurance company to administer the short-term disability plan the government wants to impose. Nor has it explained how the public service will be a healthier place to work when employees are forced to battle it out with the insurance company over their claims.

We want to hear what MPs have to say

If you called your MP, email BraggP@psac.com and let us know

• Who you are and where to reach you
• Which MP you contacted and when
• What commitments if any the MP made
• Anything the MP said that is of interest

If you emailed your MP, send a copy of your email to us at BraggP@psac.com as well as any response you received.

For more information email the BC REVP office at BraggP@psac.com