International Trans Day of Visibility is on March 31, 2024. It is an annual celebration of trans and non-binary people.
Rachel Crandell, a transgender activist from Michigan, created the day in 2009 to counterbalance the only day for trans people being Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). It is important to celebrate the living as well as mourning the murdered.
International Trans Day of Visibility, and every day, is a time to celebrate trans and non-binary joy and their lives. Their human rights continue to be under attack with rising hate and anti-trans policies. They also face increased violence, especially racialized trans and non-binary people. We must celebrate their contributions to the community as well as fight discrimination against them.
StatsCan reports that “One in 300 people in Canada aged 15 and older are transgender or non-binary.” While you may not personally know a trans or non-binary person, they are your coworkers, family, friends, and community members. They have also been active in the Labour movement.
Danielle Palmer UNE National Equity Representative for 2SLGBTQ+ People
Last fall, negotiations between the House of Commons and UNE Local 70390 members in the Operational and Postal Services bargaining unit, reached an impasse. PSAC is going to arbitration before the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB).
The arbitration hearings will be taking place virtually on April 2 and 3. The hearings will be public.
This dispute resolution step, part of the long and sometimes arduous negotiation process, is unfolding because of the unwillingness of the employer to accept some fundamental bargaining demands.
“As Canadians, we should be ashamed to see the very halls of democracy treat their workers in this manner,” declared UNE National President Alisha Campbell. “When not even the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of Canada, will play fair with its workers leading to arbitration, what hope do Canadian workers have at gaining better working conditions? Our dedicated members deserve their fundamental bargaining demands to be heard. If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they will get!”
Our members have brought forward the following demands at the bargaining table:
The implementation of a bilingual bonus
Increases of shift premiums similar to the ones various PSAC members receive
The possibility for seasonal House of Commons workers to apply for full-time positions
On top of these bargaining demands, the employer refuses to implement critical issues that PSAC successfully negotiated with Treasury Board last spring, such as:
Economic increase comparable to other bargaining units in the parliamentary precinct
Compensation for Phoenix damages that occurred in 2021
Compensation for the late implementation of the collective agreement
Expanded rights for family-related leave
Additional wage increases that reflect the ones received by other PSAC members who perform similar, sometimes identical tasks as the ones performed by our members
An additional personal day
If you have any questions about the hearing and the current dispute with the House of Commons, please contact your Local executive.
On International Francophonie Day, UNE’s Francophone Committee is calling on UNE members to take a few moments to underscore their pride in belonging to the Francophonie.
International Francophonie Day is the perfect moment to celebrate the solidarity uniting French-speaking workers everywhere.
Despite the recent modernization of the Official Languages Act by the Federal Government—the purpose of which is to increase French usage in government institutions—many indicators are pointing to a decrease in the use of French in the workplace.
This is why, now more than ever, the right to work in French must be placed at the top of the list of concerns for the labour movement.
Unions representing French-speaking workers must put in place all the tools that enhance and promote French, so that it is given all the importance it deserves in every workplace.
UNE’s Francophone Committee wishes you a great International Francophonie Day.
March 8th is recognized as the International Women’s Day. It is a day to celebrate and rejoice in women and girls’ social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. We take this time to raise awareness of progress made towards equality and the challenges that we still face.
We can trace the origins of the International Women’s Day to the early 20th century where we saw reflecting in labour movements across North America and Europe a call for women’s equal participation in society. While the first International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 19, 1911, the United Nation went one step further and recognized 1975 as the International Women’s year. Today, we see March 19th as a day of unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action for women in many countries across the world.
The United Nation’s Motto for this year’s International Women’s Day is: Invest in Women – Accelerate progress. Investing in women is a human rights issue. Investing in women benefits us all.
Women are facing key challenges, still to this day. More and more women have been forced to live in poverty, especially since the pandemic. The evidence is clear, this crisis is gendered. Women’s participation in the workforce fell to its lowest point in thirty years. An estimated 342 million women and girls will be living in poverty by 2030. Women are losing their right to choose in some states in the U.S. How often do we see cutbacks by the government on public spending that negatively impact women and their essential services? Too often. We need to support women the best way we can. We need to allow for more space, safer space, for women to have a voice and allies to amplify that voice.
To celebrate this day and the diverse women who have persisted, showed immeasurable strength and leadership, you can wear a OFL 2024 Diversity Grows Our Strength lapel pin or t-shirt to display your solidarity and sisterhood.
Unions, community organizations, activists and the public are invited to take part in the annual March 8 Project by ordering merchandise and any surplus made from the sales will be donated to organizations that help women. In the past, such donations were made to organizations such as the Ontario Equal pay Coalition, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), Hub Club youth camps, the Strawberry Ceremony honouring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Rise up! feminist digital archive, various women’s shelters and Indigenous women’s organizations.
Mireille Jaillet UNE National Equity Representative for Women
Under the leadership of the Union of National Employees (UNE) National President Alisha Campbell and with the support of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Administrator John Gordon and Assistant Administrator Mark Pecek, UNE exits administration.
Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Union and makes history in unionism and the Labour movement in Canada as the PSAC National Board of Directors voted the Union out of Administration.
For the first time in Canadian history a Black and Indigenous woman holds the office of National President of a union and a Black woman is the National Executive Vice President at the same time.
“I’m excited about the path set forward by our delegates at our 2023 UNE Convention when they elected a new National Executive to steer them out of Trusteeship and I am grateful for the support and guidance PSAC has provided us since October 2023” declared UNE National President Alisha Campbell.
UNE is one of fifteen components within PSAC and represents nearly 27,000 workers across the country and in embassies and consulates around the world. For more information, visit the UNE’s website.
UNE is proud to represent Passport Officers and the colossal work they do for Canadians each and every day. When the responsibility of the Passport Program was transferred to former Canada Immigration and Citizenship (CIC), now Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2013, with service delivery to be delivered through the Employment and Social Development Canada’s Service Canada Initiative (ESDC), the employers claimed it was an efficient move to improve service delivery, but it has been anything but for our members. Eleven years on, Passport Officers continue to be lost in the shuffle and their work undervalued.
Shawn Walker, UNE Regional Vice-President, Outside Canada, will visit Passport Offices across the country to connect with members and to better understand their concerns. Shawn has been a member of the Passport Program since 2007. With several years at the national processing service, a brief time at the Certificate of Identity Office, and 9 years as a Passport Officer providing in-person service at the Ottawa regional office, Shawn now works at IRCC for passport. Shawn has been a Local executive of UNE Local 70130 since 2009; he has been a regional officer of PSAC-NCR, and is a graduate of the Union Development Program (UDP).
UNE wants to hear directly from the membership what workplace issues are at the forefront and how your union can help. The visits will take place in the Passport offices. UNE Passport members will also be able to meet and discuss with Shawn and the other UNE elected officers after work hours on the following dates:
Atlantic Visits
February 27: Visit of the St. John’s Passport Office with UNE Regional Vice-President Gail Budgell, Atlantic
February 28: Visit of the Halifax Passport Office with Gail
February 29: Visit of the Fredericton Passport Office with UNE ARVP Elyse Jones, Atlantic
Prairies Visits
March 12: Visit of the Regina’s Passport Office with UNE Regional Vice-President Gloria Pfeifer, Saskatchewan
March 13: Visit of the Saskatoon Passport Office with Gloria
March 14: Visit of the Calgary Passport Offices with Assistant Regional Vice-President Cookie Kerel, Alberta, N.W.T. and Nunavut
March 15: Visit of the Edmonton Passport Office with Cookie
After the first Credentials Committee report, delegates got right back to business with the Finance Committee. The following resolutions were presented, debated and voted on:
FIN 1 – Removal of UNE Local Financial Review or Audit for calendar year end
FIN 2 – Modification to Policy FIN 1
Delegates listened to a fantastic panel monitored by the 2023 Convention Chair Sharon De Sousa on health and safety in the workplace with panelists Uppala Chandresekara, Director of Public Health at Toronto Public Health, Fatima Gardaad, National Coordinator on Anti-Racism and Human Rights at the Canadian Labour Congress, and Andrea Peart, National Health and Safety Officer with the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
It was back to Convention proceedings for the first part of the afternoon with the Bylaws & Constitution Resolutions Committee and the General Resolutions Committee. Four resolutions were debated and voted on:
CS 10 – Relocation of Full Time National President and Vice-President
CS 4 – Increase Number of Allotted Delegates to UNE Triennial Conventions
Amended CS 7 – Structural Review of UNE
GEN 17 – Search the Landfill
GEN 17 was an emergency resolution about launching national Search the Landfill campaign by the UNE Human Rights Committee. As stated in the resolution’s rationale, “[i]ndigenous women and girls are not disposable and deserve dignity, and the families deserve closure.” The resolution passed unanimously.
The all-candidates debate took place in the second part of the afternoon to allow delegates to discover the respective candidates’ platforms for tomorrow’s national elections.
Now that Statistics Services Operations (SSO) members have formally signed a new collective bargaining agreementthat is officially in effect as of the March 13 signing, we invite SSO members to attend townhall meetings to learn more about what is new in the agreement.
You will have the opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns at these meetings.
PSAC national negotiator Hassan Husseini will provide more information about specific new provisions included in the new agreement and update you on what to expect for the next round of negotiations that will begin by the end of this year.
Please ensure that your contact information is up to date to receive all the latest bargaining updates as we gear up for the next round of negotiations.
More than 155,000 PSAC members working for Treasury Board and the Canada Revenue Agency will begin strike action on April 19 if a deal cannot be reached by 9 p.m. ET April 18 – setting the stage for one of the largest strikes in Canada’s history.
“We’ve made some progress at each of our four bargaining tables over the past two weeks, but we’re still too far apart on several key issues, including wages that keep up with the cost of living, job security and remote work language,” said Chris Aylward, PSAC National President.
“We’re committed to remaining at the table until a fair deal is reached for all our members – both for our 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency members who resume negotiations today, and our 120,000 Treasury Board members still at the table.”
PSAC members have been without a contract since negotiations with the federal government began in June 2021, and last week, voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action.
“These workers – like all workers – deserve fair wages and decent working conditions. Despite some progress at the bargaining table, our members are frustrated that while negotiations drag on, they continue to fall behind,” said Aylward.
“We’ve already been at the table for nearly two years, and these workers can’t wait any longer. That’s why we’re setting a clock on this round of bargaining.”
With so many federal public service workers potentially on strike as of April 19, Canadians can expect to see slowdowns or a complete shutdown of services nationwide, including a complete halt of the tax season, disruptions to employment insurance, immigration and passport applications; interruptions to supply chains and international trade at ports, harbours, and airports; and slowdowns at the border with administrative staff on strike.
Over the past two weeks our bargaining teams have been back at the table with the assistance of third-party mediators to secure a fair contract for workers.
This is a critical time in the bargaining process, and it’s encouraging that talks are continuing into the weekend. PSAC will be holding a press conference on Monday, April 17 at 9 a.m. ET to provide an update on the status of negotiations with Treasury Board and Canada Revenue Agency on behalf of more than 155,000 federal government workers.
Members can watch the livestream of the press conference on our PSAC national Facebook page, and we’ll continue to keep you up to date on the status of negotiations on our website, social media, and by email.
Our priority remains to secure a fair contract for PSAC members that addresses our key issues, including decent wages that prevent workers from falling further behind, a more inclusive federal public service, remote work enshrined in our collective agreements, and good secure jobs.
More than 155,000 PSAC members across Treasury Board and Canada Revenue Agency are now in a legal strike position. A strike by PSAC’s federal public service workers would be the largest strike against a single employer in Canada’s history.
This is the government’s last opportunity to show workers the respect they deserve. Workers can’t wait, and we’re ready to take strike action.
Check your email regularly for more information about strike pay, PSAC’s picket line finder, and other strike-related information in the coming days as we prepare for potential strike action.
