Bargaining

Earlier this week, Bob Jackson, PSAC Regional Executive VP for BC, was joined by our National President Robyn Benson and Irene Lanzinger, President of the BC Federation of Labour, on a telephone town hall with PSAC members in BC to discuss the federal election. We have summarized some of the questions from PSAC members and the answers from Bob, Robyn, and Irene for members that may have been unable to take part.

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.

The employer began our meeting earlier this week chastising your negotiating team for the size of your bargaining package.  They went on to tell us that the current collective agreement was a “mature” document and all that was needed was a little modification. Further, they were not anticipating such a detailed package.  They then requested that we take another look at our package with a view to reducing the number of proposals. 

I’ve just read to the end of National Post View: The unions’ blame-Harper strategy hoping desperately that the editorialist would give me a way out of our current conundrum. I left the page disappointed and confused. Because frankly I’m not sure what the National Post wants us to do.

Kamloops – Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, including federal government workers from Service Canada, Corrections Canada, RCMP civilian staff, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Environment Canada are gathering in Riverside Park to meet with candidates in the upcoming federal election to hear from them about their party’s plan for federal public services.

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. 

Following the last unsuccessful round of mediation, the CRA commissioner decided to take the unusual step of communicating with us in an effort to explain their severance proposal yet again.

Musqueam Territory – Vancouver, British Columbia – Yesterday, representatives from the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) celebrated the ratification of their collective agreements after two years of negotiations. These agreements were reached on March 27, 2015 and May 28, 2015, respectively, and mark a historic milestone for the three parties as the first collective agreements of their kind in Canada.

The Conservative government has been working steadily to undermine and eliminate workplace rights in the federal government. It’s time for a change.