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Bill C4, division 17 to be repealed

C4Repealed

The president of the Treasury Board, Minister Scott Brison today informed PSAC that the Liberals will be repealing the Harper government’s Bill C4, division 17 that restricted our members’ rights to collective bargaining.

“We recognize this as an attempt to correct some of the harm done by the Conservatives. We are looking forward to further discussions to ensure that this round of bargaining will be conducted in a fair manner,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President.

“PSAC has asserted that Bill C4 is an attack on our members’ fundamental charter rights and not consistent with a free and democratic society.”

“Our members worked tirelessly to lobby members of parliament about the injustices of this Bill. I want to thank them for their continued vigilance,” concluded Benson.

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June 8: Support your bargaining teams!

June8

PSAC and other federal public service unions are calling on all members to help send a message to the new Liberal government by participating in a national action on June 8th.

  • The new Liberal government promised respect for federal public service employees. It said it would do things differently than the former Conservative government. Yet, it has been more than six months since the Liberals were elected and there has been no meaningful progress at any of the federal bargaining tables.
  • Treasury Board negotiators are still pushing the Conservative’s proposal to replace our sick leave with a short term disability plan.
  • They have proposed the same 0.5% per-year wage increase as the Conservative government. This does not reflect the cost of living and fair wage increases.

The Liberals have also failed to restore fair collective bargaining by refusing to repeal the unfair labour laws passed by the Conservatives.

Why is action needed?

PSAC’s bargaining teams have been at the bargaining table with Treasury Board three times since the new government came into power. We are also in bargaining with Parks Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and an important vote is underway at CRA. We need to tell the government to come to the table with new proposals – not recycled Conservative messages. A new government should give itself a new mandate.

The outcome of Treasury Board bargaining will set a pattern for others.  We need to send a message to the Liberal government before bargaining resumes in June that we expect a fair contract.

It’s time for members to send a message!

  • Contact your local union right away to find out what is planned for your workplace on June 8th.
  • Join together with members of all federal unions and show the Liberal government you expect it to live up to its promise of respect.
  • Go to psacunion.ca and sign up to receive more information about June 8th
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Bargaining Team Tables Demands with Canadian Museum for Human Rights

cmhrBargainUpdate

Parties exchange proposals, additional bargaining dates scheduled for next month.

On Wednesday and Thursday our Negotiating Team met with representatives of the Museum to exchange bargaining proposals. The parties’ proposals focused primarily on non-economic matters. We will be tabling wage and other economic proposals later in the process once we receive payroll data from the employer. Our team tabled demands covering key priorities, and made clear to management that a number of issues need to be addressed in this round of negotiations, including:

Protecting our Jobs: Protections against layoff, and additional protections against the contracting out of our work.

Improved Income Security: We have tabled proposals that would provide more stable, permanent employment and protect against precarious work.

Hours of Work: Enhanced rights for workers in context of scheduling, particularly for shift workers and front-line staff.

Staffing: Staffing processes that would ensure fairness and provide preference for internal, qualified candidates for the filing of vacancies.

Parity with Other Museum and Arts-Related Employers: Proposals that would ensure that rights and protections found in other PSAC collective agreements in the federal museum and arts-related sector would apply to workers at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Management also tabled the Museum’s proposals. We are next scheduled to meet the last week of May. If you have questions, or wish to see a copy of our proposals or those of the Museum, contact a member of our Negotiating Team: Travis Tomchuk (Research and Curation), Kendall McLean (Visitor Experience) and Isabelle Masson (Research and Curation). There will be regular updates as things progress.

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Changes to UNE Locals 70044 and 70125 – Global Affairs Canada

ChangesToGAC

Following the restructuring of departments that affected employees who worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canadian International Development Agency, the Union of National Employees received a request from the executives of locals 70044 and 70125 that membership be re-organized according to classification. Membership has historically been based on the two departments but the merger complicated this approach.

After consultation with the local executives and approval by the national executive in January 2016, a new strategy for assigning members to the locals is now in full effect.

The national executive will evaluate the success of the local re-organization in January 2017.

As a result of this motion, some members have now changed locals. The following is a breakdown of the re-organized locals and the classifications belonging to each:

70044 70125
CR

ED

PM

IS

 AS

DD

EG

GS

GT

LS

The restructuring will result in no changes to members’ local dues.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a member of the local executives:

http://une-sen.org/70044

http://une-sen.org/70125

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Check Your Pay Stubs – Phoenix Pay System Coming Online

Phoenix

After years of development, the federal public service’s Phoenix pay system is now being rolled out for UNE members who are paid through Public Services and Procurement Canada (formerly known as Public Works and Government Services Canada). Like most major service upgrades, members should expect there to be some glitches along the way. However, this is not a small issue; this could directly affect the livelihood of families if problems with the system result in lower or missing financial income.

So what are members to do?

First, check pay stubs and direct deposits. If you notice any problems, there is a process to follow.

The government’s Pay Centre Escalation Process describes who workers should contact in cases where pay is inaccurate or untimely.

  1. Contact your manager to confirm your paperwork was sent to the Pay Centre. If it was not, acquire the paperwork to request a salary advance and follow up with your manager to send the paperwork. It is also important that you advise your human resources department right away.
  2. If the paperwork was sent, call the Pay Centre at 1-855-686-4729 to speak to a compensation advisor.
  3. If the compensation advisor doesn’t follow up within three days or you are unsatisfied with their response, contact the Client Satisfaction Bureau at pwgsc.clientsatisfactionbureau-bureausatisfactionclientele.tpsgc@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
  4. Please share your experiences with us. Did a problem with your pay occur? Did you resolve it yourself? Was the process an ordeal? Send us an email at info@une-sen.org so that we can work together with the employer and make certain our members are being paid.

There is a handy flow chart describing service standards and the problem-resolution process here: http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/remuneration-compensation/paye-centre-pay/service-eng.html#a3

We anticipate each organization will have different approaches to solving issues with the Pay Centre. In addition to following the process provided, we highly encourage you to contact your human resources department.

As your union, we are here to help.

 

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Treasury Board bargaining: new government, old mandate

CBUpdate

Treasury Board bargaining teams met this week for the first time since the election of the new Liberal government.

We brought forward proposals addressing the needs that were identified by the membership and continue to work toward achieving a fair collective agreement.

Given the Liberals’ election promises, we expected this government to bring forward a new bargaining mandate. In fact there was little indication of a change in approach.

We will not trade away sick leave

Treasury Board negotiators tabled a proposal similar to that of the previous Conservative government, that would replace our existing sick leave plan. It takes away existing rights and leaves members worse off. The proposed short term disability plan would fall outside of the collective agreement and allow the government to make unilateral changes any time.

We remain open to improvements on sick leave but we will not negotiate concessions or agree to any proposal that forces members to choose between losing pay or going to work sick.

Fair bargaining and Bill C4

We are pleased to see the government move to repeal Bill C59 (division 20), but there is still another unfair labour law on the books. The unconstitutional changes to labour laws governing the collective bargaining process under C4 remain a key issue.

It is a mystery why the government is not repealing this legislation in light of the clear pronouncements made by the Supreme Court in the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour case. We will continue to move forward with our litigation and take all necessary steps to ensure that there is free and fair collective bargaining for the federal public service.

At the bargaining table, PSAC will continue to focus on measures to improve the delivery and quality of public services and make the federal public service an efficient and healthy place to work. This benefits all Canadians.

  • EB: Our team focused on the issue of class sizes and making sure that our recommendations about the pay study are recognized and followed. For more info: psacunion.ca/eb.
  • FB: We put forward proposals to protect against the elimination of officer positions due to the introduction of technological change. The team also sought to protect compressed work weeks and prevent management from making unilateral changes to schedules. For more info: psacunion.ca/fb.
  • PA: We focused on working conditions in contact centres and the need to implement minimum standards in these workplaces. Our team also emphasized the importance of implementing shift scheduling by seniority. For more info: psacunion.ca/pa.
  • SV: Our ship’s crew subcommittee finalized the proposals that we will bring to the next round of bargaining. For more info:psacunion.ca/sv.
  • TC: Discussions focused on the need to better protect health and safety and to expand the definition of “family,” to remove discriminatory language. The team discussed hours of work, and the need to provide more allowances that recognize the unique and difficult nature of TC members’ work. For more info: psacunion.ca/tc.

Source: psacunion.com

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OLG Refuses to Withdraw Ultimatum, Shows No Movement at Bargaining Table

OLGRefuses

Ottawa — Workers at the Rideau Carleton Raceway Slots (RCRS) in Ottawa met with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) management on Friday, January 29 for the first time since they were locked out on December 16, 2015. The workers, represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), were hopeful that OLG would show some flexibility at the bargaining table. However, they were quickly disappointed to learn that OLG remains unwilling to change its last position, insisting that the union concede to its demands on wages and pensions—the two key issues in the dispute—before it will negotiate in any meaningful way:

  • Back in December, OLG insisted on freezing wages for the first two years of any new contract, and then providing a 1.75% increase for the third year. Workers had rejected this given that they had not received a raise since 2009, even though the cost of living in Ottawa has increased by about 9% in that period. Moreover, the locked out workers are currently paid around 8% less than workers doing comparable work at other sites, such as OLG Casino Brantford. At Friday’s meeting, however, OLG continued to insist that the total wage increase for the new three year contract will still be 1.75%.
  • Prior to the lockout, OLG insisted that workers agree to the removal of pension language from their current contracts. The workers had rejected this then, but on Friday, OLG continued to insist that workers agree to the complete removal of existing pension language.

“It is reprehensible that OLG would ask to meet with the workers again just to try to force the same substandard contract onto them once more,” said Doug Marshall, President of the Union of National Employees, a component union of the PSAC. “The workers already voted by 96% to reject OLG’s attempts to freeze their wages and remove pension language.”

“I want to be clear with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne: we will bring this battle to Queen’s Park if her government does not end this shameful attack on OLG workers here in Ottawa,” added Larry Rousseau, Regional Executive Vice President of the PSAC in the National Capital Region. “And we will not stop until her government treats these workers with the fairness and respect they deserve.”

OLG management at the RCRS locked out 124 of its workers on December 16. The workers served in a variety of roles, including as parking attendants, housekeepers, slot attendants, slot technicians, cashiers and money room clerks.

 

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February is Black History Month – And Yes, it is still meaningful

BHM

By Hayley Millington

As recently as January 20th, 2016, during a conversation about the 2016 Oscars, U.S. actress Stacy Dash said on Fox News that she wants to eliminate Black History Month (BHM). According to Ms. Dash as she addressed the ongoing outrage over the lack of minority nominees in major categories;

“I think it’s ludicrous,” Dash, 49, said about the response to the lack of diversity surrounding the Oscar nominations. “We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. If we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the [NAACP] Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black.”

Ms. Dash went a step further by saying “there shouldn’t be a Black History Month. We’re Americans, period.”

In 2005, Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman said that having a Black History month was “ridiculous” and that the best way to end racism today is to “stop talking about it”. When questioned as to why, Mr. Freeman stated “You’re going to relegate my history to a month”.

The statements quoted here are a set of widely used, tried and tested propaganda used in America daily. The ideas themselves are used at any given time in discussions with other proponents who would like to remove Black History Month from the calendar with the premise that it hinders us (black folks) more than it helps us in achieving the American dream, not as a black person in America but as an American.

On this side of the border, attitudes towards BHM differ. All Canadians are invited to participate in BHM festivities as the legacy of black Canadians are remembered and celebrated. Canadians take the time to celebrate what Canadian people of colour have brought to the cultural mosaic that is Canada’s multicultural diversity.

It is important to recognize and not lose sight of the fact that Black History Month carries a significance that far outweighs the negativity as it allows people of colour to showcase their past and their present.

So while some to the south of us continue to devalue and misconstrue the importance of Black History Month, my point of view is that it certainly has a role to play in educating Canadians about its historical context and perspective.

For the next 29 days I am engaging my colleagues and friends with a BHM quiz that has been ongoing for the past 13 years in my place of work. When it opens up and creates a space for dialog about black history, the conversation becomes an opportunity to share my experiences openly and proudly with all who are interested.

Hayley Millington is the UNE’s National Equity Representative for Women.

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Register today for the NCR-SE Regional Seminar

RegionalSeminarNCRSE600x375

The NCR – Separate Employer regional seminar is fast approaching and it’s the best place to learn about our union and the many things we do.

Join us February 26-28, 2016 for an event jam-packed with lectures and workshops to help you gain the knowledge and confidence you’ll need to help our members. It’s also a great place to meet active members just like you and forge long-lasting friendships.

During the seminar, youth delegates will elect two of their peers to represent them as delegates to our 2017 convention.

You must register by Friday, January 22, 2016.

 

Visit the events page for more information and register today.