Bargaining

Together, we can save sick leave. The Conservative government wants to strip away sick leave rights and is thinking of contracting out the management of the sick leave system. We say that unless this government wants to talk about improving what we already have, we aren’t interested.

The PSAC has taken the first step in its legal challenge against Bill C-4, the legislation that has gutted the collective bargaining rights of federal public service workers.On March 24, 2014 the union filed its constitutional challenge to Bill C-4 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The challenge focuses on the following key areas:

We have come to a tentative agreement with Treasury Board on changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP). Discussions were held under threat by the Government to introduce legislation to make changes to the Plan.

Re: Strike at Port of VancouverAs you will have heard, the Provincial government is threatening to force striking truckers (members of Unifor) back to work through the implementation of legislation.  Working with Unifor we are organizing a rally to oppose the governments’ action.  Please encourage as many members, staff and supporters to participate in this rally.

We encourage you to communicate with your members in person and by using home email addresses. Unfortunately, the long-standing practice of dropping union flyers on people’s desks at work has become trickier.

After two years of negotiations, long hours at the bargaining table on February 5 and 6 finally resulted in a tentative agreement with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

PSAC’s Treasury Board Bargaining conference closed on a determined note Sunday, as more than 300 union members committed to defending workplace rights and benefits in the next round of bargaining. Only days after the government introduced a federal budget calling for even more cuts to crucial programs, participants pledged to stand up for public sector workers and the services they provide.

Cheers to Crystal Warner, President of PSAC/CEIU Local 20974 (Immigration and Refugee Board), for this report from the Canadian Labour Congress Winter School.I was able to attend week three of CLC Winter School this year to learn about the collective bargaining (CB) process. As an overview of the course itself, we students spent three days learning about the CB process, and the last two days applying it. We were blessed with two amazing instructors who were Joey Hartman and Dan Klassen – both union and community activists in BC.

After more than 27 months at the bargaining table, a tentative agreement has finally been reached with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.The deal came after two days of hard bargaining, during which PSAC’s CFIA members joined demonstrations at workplaces across the country in a massive show of support for their bargaining team."Our members have been amazing, both in terms of their ongoing support, and the feedback they have provided to the team," said Bob Kingston, President of Agriculture Union.

PSAC president Robyn Benson is calling on Minister Tony Clement to stop misleading Canadians about sick leave in the public sector.The call comes in the wake of today’s release of a report on sick leave by the Parliamentary Budget Officer called the Fiscal Analysis of Sick Leave in the Federal Public Service. In summary: