Treasury Board

Federal public sector unions are joining forces to challenge an unprecedented assault on collective bargaining and workplace health and safety by the Conservative government.The unions have agreed to pool their resources in advance of the next round of collective bargaining with Treasury Board in 2014. In order to defend the rights of their members, the unions will take joint action to challenge the constitutionality of Bill C-4, the legislation containing these dramatic changes, now being rushed through Parliament

By Jim Stanford, Ottawa Citizen November 26, 2013It might seem like ancient history, but it wasn’t long ago that Canadian governments knew how to balance their books — and then some. The collective operating surplus of Canadian governments in 2007 equalled almost $40 billion. Teachers, nurses, and other public servants did their jobs. Tax revenues were more than sufficient to pay for their valuable work (in fact, average tax rates were falling, not rising).

Earlier this year, Treasury Board announced it would be implementing a “pay in arrears” system for federal government employees as part of their Pay Modernization Initiative.Public service employees are paid on a “current” basis. They receive their pay on a Wednesday for the 10 day pay period that ends on that same day. As the pay needs to be processed several days in advance, any changes to an individual’s pay in those last few days (such as leaves or acting pay) is not accounted for immediately, but requires pay adjustments in subsequent paycheques.

After two years and eight months of negotiations, four final offers, petition drives, picketing, a final offer forced vote thrown out by a court challenge, the filing of unfair labour practice complaints and a marathon, round-the-clock 28-hour bargaining session, our Bargaining Team reached an agreement with Treasury Board/CBSA at 11:00 am the morning of Tuesday October 22th, 2013.

(Ottawa) October 29, 2013 – Leaders of the federal public sector unions (the National Joint Council bargaining agents) met yesterday and released the following statement on the government’s proposed changes to federal labour relations legislation:The federal public sector bargaining agents call on the government to withdraw its sweeping and unfair changes to federal labour relations legislation from its omnibus budget implementation act. Instead, the government should engage in real consultation on legislation to improve labour relations.

Pressure from bargaining agents and our members has paid off. Treasury Board President Tony Clement has confirmed in an Oct. 15 meeting with PSAC National President Robyn Benson that “pay modernization” in the federal public service and the implementation of “pay in arrears” will take place with no impact on PSAC members' pay – no member will experience a claw back.The employer had proposed a transition that would have resulted in a loss of 4% off member’s biweekly paycheques in 2014.

Canada’s veterans will be in Ottawa Thursday, October 3rd to talk about why the federal government must not close Veterans Affairs offices they rely on.WATCH THE LAUNCH LIVE at 8:00 am PST on Thursday, October 3 - www.psac.com/webcastThe office in Prince George has already been shut down and the government says that by February, offices in Corner Brook, Charlottetown, Sydney, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Brandon, Saskatoon and Kelowna will be closing their doors to veterans too.

PSAC has asked Treasury Board to provide a definitive answer about their plans to implement pay in arrears and what they intend to do to protect PSAC members from the impact of any changes.The union has continued to discuss the matter with Treasury Board over the summer and we remain positive that the issue can be resolved so that our members do not suffer financial hardship.

The ballots have been counted and a majority of members of the Technical Services (TC) group have voted in favour of the tentative agreement with Treasury Board.  After two years of bargaining, PSAC and Treasury Board finally agreed to the settlement in August. The new Collective Agreement will be retroactive to June 22, 2011, and will expire on June 21, 2014.The TC Bargaining Team would like to thank all TC members for their patience and support during this long and difficult round of bargaining.

Over the last several months we have been subjected to ultimatums, attempts to circumvent the bargaining process, final offers and even a forced vote that was found to be non-compliant with federal labour law. In the meantime, Treasury Board meets with employees of other federal law enforcement agencies and agrees to settlements that address issues and provide for superior compensation. It then tried to keep one of those settlements secret from us.Enough is enough. We are not second-class public servants.