Tensions rose a notch at the March 2 and 3 Operational Services (SV group) bargaining session. After more than six months of bargaining and a range of demands from our team, lack of progress at the bargaining table is being met with growing impatience.
We are still waiting for a response from the Treasury Board regarding our wage package. Our wage proposals were submitted in January and a response was expected by March, but the employer is dawdling. Meanwhile, many SV members are experiencing a widening wage gap compared to their private-sector counterparts. The employer can’t keep taking the situation lightly.
Concessions on flexible work schedules
During bargaining, the employer made unfair demands regarding flexible work schedules for SV members. Variable overtime is currently time and three quarters, but the employer wishes to reverse our gains by pushing for time and a half.
This is totally unacceptable and the SV team refuses to make any concessions on this front.
Latest demands
The SV team has finalized its demands, which now include increasing access to professional development by ensuring all members can request it and receive a timely response.
Bargaining toolkit
Stay informed and engaged during this round of negotiations using our Treasury Board bargaining toolkit. Read our conversation starters to help guide your discussions with colleagues on some of our most important bargaining issues and download the bargaining graphics to show your support for the bargaining teams.
It has been 3 months since the beginning of different job actions at the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). The PSAC-UNE members of Local 70153 (Audit Services Group, ASG) are facing tumultuous contract negotiations. Earlier this week, the members of that Local went a step further and decided to go on a general strike for the first time in the history of the OAG.
The group, 75% of whom are women, plays a critical role in ensuring Canada’s federal and territorial governments are accountable to the public. These PSAC-UNE members perform a wide range of tasks within the OAG, from professional development, finance, contracting and procurement to translation and editing of the different audit reports.
Yet, it is also the lowest paid group at the OAG. The workers are asking for fair compensation, but Auditor General Karen Hogan and the Treasury Board, which oversees bargaining at the OAG, keeps rejecting their proposal.
The ongoing key bargaining issues are:
An economic increase of a patterned settlement with the core public administration
The establishment of a designed pay grid similar to what federal public servants get in other departments
The fact that the employer keeps on saying they have no mandate to bargain
A Public Interest Commission (PIC) report was received last year which was favourable to this workforce. A request was made to move their dispute settlement route to binding arbitration. That was denied by their employer, knowing the PIC’s report would be a catalyst for the ASG to achieve a fair and just collective agreement. Our request to meet with Karen Hogan and Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board Secretariat, for the benefit of our members, was also unanswered.
We are calling on Union solidarity and asking for donations to Local 70153 by contacting the UNE Finance department and let them know how much your Local would like to donate. You can contact UNE Finance & Administration Director Georges St-Jean at georges.stjean@une-sen.org.
Individual donations can be sent to: Local 70153 C/o Marie-Ève Tremblay 2071 Landry Street Clarence Creek (ON) K0A 1N0
OAG, get a mandate, and return to the table! UNE proudly represents our 170 members at the OAG and will support them in their fight to get a fair contract.
The Statistics Survey Operations (SSO) bargaining team made progress on several proposals during talks with the employer February 15-17.
There are several key bargaining issues still outstanding, including job security, hours of work, overtime pay, allowances, leave, general economic increases, and market adjustments. Our team is calling on the employer to respect the important work of SSO members by providing fair wage increases and improved terms and conditions.
As always, the team remains firmly committed to achieving wage parity for SSO workers in line with other federal employees in the core public administration.
Our team remains hopeful that we can continue to make meaningful progress during our upcoming sessions. If we hit a stalemate with the employer at the table, our team will file for arbitration. If we are forced to move to arbitration, the union and employer will each appoint a person to represent their interests on an arbitration board, along with an independent third person to act as the chairperson. Each party will make its case to the arbitration board, who will consider the submissions and make decisions about the outstanding demands and issue a report. Those decisions are final and binding and will form part of the new collective agreement.
Our next bargaining session is scheduled from March 1-3.
We must accept that Black History is inextricably intertwined with the history of the world. It may not be accurately depicted in the history books, but it has and always will be reflected in our culture, our daily lives and how we perceive the world. Our experiences have shaped our past and will continue to shape our future. However, the success of our future is dependent on how successful we are in breaking those bonds of the past.
My bondage began as a little boy in grade 3. In the first history lesson of my life, the first line in our history textbook read… “In 1652, the white man brought civilization to South Africa….”. Thus began my indoctrination. A history lesson that was read by a non-white teacher, from a book written by a white historian to a class full of impressionable, young non-white minds.
After that class I remember thinking to myself that we should be grateful to the white man for saving us from living an uncivilized life in the jungle. I believed that they were the superior race, and we need to be subservient and respect them for what they have given us. This is the mindset that I carried for the next ten years until I had the opportunity to travel overseas and as a teenager interacted with white people for the first time in my life. I realized then that they were not superior human beings. Like us not understanding them, they were also ignorant of our culture, our way of life and most importantly, they were not aware of our level of intelligence. Once we got to truly know each other, the cloud of ignorance that bonded us in hate, began to dissipate. When I returned to South Africa, this enlightening experience inspired me to become actively involved with the student anti-apartheid movement. I believed that we needed to make everyone aware that at the end of the day we are all one people. There is no inferior race on this planet. We all just want to be accepted as equals and to be treated with respect.
A few years later when I returned to live in Canada, I continued to make Canadians aware of the suffering endured by people in other parts of the world and how appreciative we should all be for living in a country that has a “Charter of Rights and Freedoms”, were we all are equal under the law.
However, the more time I spent in the country and the more I became involved in the Canadian society, the more I became aware that some sections of society were treated more equal than others. Thus began my mission in Canada to confront discrimination whenever and wherever I encounter it. Education was a big part of that mission. When confronted with discriminatory behavior, I took the time to make people understand why behavior like that was offensive. I conducted workshops and delivered speeches to high school students, explaining the horrors of genocide, apartheid and slavery. I believe that the earlier we educate people on the indignity and suffering endured by the oppressed in our society, the easier it becomes to promote tolerance and understanding in the long term.
Today, the world that we live in is a much better place than the one that our ancestors lived in. It is because of the sacrifices that they had made to ensure that their descendants can avoid the same pain that they endured. Therefore, I am prepared to make as many sacrifices as needed to ensure that our next generation experiences less hate, discrimination, bigotry, racism, and harassment than we did. Together we can make our world a better place for all.
On Feb 10, 1990, Nelson Mandela was told that he would be released from Prison. His famous words outside his home in Soweto read: “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”
”Practice the vocabulary of Love – unlearn the language of hate and contempt” – Baba
Sam Padayachee UNE National Equity Representative for Racialized Members
Following up on their meeting in December 2021, the Parks Canada team met to prioritize their outstanding issues, including constraining the employer’s right to demand medical certificates, and parity between park wardens and other enforcement officers in the federal public sector.
With seasonal and term employees making up almost half of Parks Canada’s workforce, job security and precarious work remain areas of serious concern, alongside harassment and discrimination, acting pay, Indigenous language allowances, vacation leave, parental leave, workplace accommodation and equity.
The team will meet one more time to finalize their proposals before entering a new round of bargaining March 1, 2022.
Show your support and solidarity for your bargaining team by downloading our electronic bargaining materials. Use your group’s video background during your virtual work meetings, update your profile photo with the social media frame, and print a poster for your work area.
To ensure that you receive all the latest updates about Parks Canada bargaining as we negotiate your next contract, verify that your contact information is up to date via the member portal.
As Canada continues to navigate the pandemic, the federal government should be a leader when it comes to offering better work-life balance to workers with remote work and the right to disconnect. But Treasury Board made it clear that they don’t recognize the need when the Common Issues bargaining table January 31 to February 3.
The pandemic has radically changed the way our members work. We continued to serve Canadians, whether we were working from home or in the workplace and proved that it’s time to rethink the future of work. The results of PSAC’s bargaining survey of federal public service employees showed three out of four respondents have been mostly working remotely since the pandemic started. Another 90 per cent of respondents want to continue working remotely after the pandemic.
PSAC’s proposal for remote work would give employees the opportunity to voluntarily participate in remote work – or not — based on their unique and individual circumstances. It also outlines the process for requesting a remote work agreement, makes sure workers are properly equipped for remote work, and ensures their requests are not unreasonably denied.
Treasury Board refused PSAC’s proposal, arguing it’s unnecessary given their Directive on Telework. But the government’s policy, which came into effect in April 2020, is already out of date two years into the pandemic and leaves far too much up to the discretion of individual managers which could lead to discrimination against some workers.
Remote work has become a part of everyday life for most workers and is widely supported by the majority of Canadians. It’s time for the government to look to the future by enshrining it into our collective agreements.
The right to disconnect
That’s why PSAC is also fighting for the right to disconnect. The increase in remote work has blurred the lines between work life and private life. We need to ensure employees aren’t subject to unreasonable expectations outside of work hours with clear language in our contracts.
Smartphones and other technology shouldn’t be used by employers to force employees to work longer hours, but that’s exactly what’s happening. One out of five respondents in PSAC’s survey said they felt they were expected to look at emails or work outside of their scheduled working hours at least a few times a week.
Our proposal is clear — employees should be under no obligation to answer calls or emails outside of normal working hours, or be disciplined for exercising their rights, unless they are on standby.
It’s not complicated, but the employer doesn’t want to acknowledge that our members have the right to disconnect. We will keep on fighting because workers shouldn’t feel tethered to their work by having to check their emails and work phones after hours.
Wages and new submissions
Despite having received our wage position last December, Treasury Board once again came to the table empty handed. They weren’t even prepared to discuss our general economic increase proposal. We expect the employer to provide a full response to our proposal for fair wages that reflects the rising cost of living when we meet in March.
PSAC also submitted new memorandums of understanding. These MOUs aim to ensure continued financial support for the Joint Learning Program, establish an ongoing Child Care Joint Union-Management Committee, and recognize Treasury Board’s commitment to address issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace in collaboration with PSAC.
Next steps
The next bargaining dates for the Common Issues team, March 29–31, 2022, will be a critical moment in our negotiations.
We know firsthand the impact rising inflation is having on our families, and we should expect to mobilize and take action if the employer doesn’t come to the table with an offer that keeps up with skyrocketing prices.
With over 165,000 members in bargaining with the government this year, we have a lot of power at the table. We can leverage our strength in numbers to improve our working lives and push the government to lead by example, making life better for all workers.
Get involved
Register now for our upcoming national panel discussion on remote work and work-life balance to learn more about this important issue. At the end of the panel, you will have the chance to take part in a digital action with members across the country to support the fight for remote work and improved work-life balance.
You can also continue to show your support by using our virtual bargaining materials:
In February 2008, Senator Donald Oliver, the first Black man appointed to the Senate, introduced the Motion to Recognize Contributions of Black Canadians and February as Black History Month.
Black History Month exists to remind us of all the rich contributions made within our society by people of African descent, and of their ongoing struggle for equity and social justice. This is a time to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse nation we know today. It is also an opportunity for all Canadians, including our younger generations, to be reminded and to learn about the experiences and contributions of Black Canadians in our society, and the vital role this community has played throughout our shared history.
From abolitionists to war heroes, to sports celebrities and inventors, we celebrate the distinguished Black Canadians who have helped to make Canada a rich multicultural land. During this month I encourage UNE members to make the effort to educate themselves about some of some of these achievements. In doing so, you will become aware of how Black culture has influenced our lifestyles today…. from the poetry and music that we listen to, the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear and to advancement made in Science and Innovations.
We can no longer choose to ignore such a rich history that has had such a profound influence on all our lives today. There are many organizations and educational resources across the country devoted to the promotion and awareness of Black Canadian history.
Sam Padayachee National Equity Representative for Racialized Members
The Operational Services (SV) bargaining team put forward fair and reasonable wage proposals in talks with the employer January 18-20, and PSAC expects Treasury Board to provide their response to our wage package in March.
Many SV members are experiencing a widening wage gap compared to their private-sector counterparts that is affecting the morale of members and risks impacting the services they deliver to Canadians. And with the cost of living and inflation increasing, it is critical that wages are addressed this round of bargaining.
Proud tradesworkers and public safety workers, SV members are the backbone of our public service, and they are proud to serve Canadians. Throughout the pandemic, SV members didn’t have the option of working from home. They showed up every day to work, and without them, core services we rely on would have been impacted.
Fair wages are crucial to hire and keep highly trained public service workers. Otherwise, we risk losing the talent Canada needs to deliver the programs and services Canadians depend on.
The SV group presented key improvements, including:
Close wage gaps: More than ever, SV members need fair wages. To eliminate persisting wage gaps, PSAC has proposed a range of reasonable market adjustments based on a new labour market compensation comparability survey commissioned by PSAC in 2021. The survey’s results confirm a significant gap between compensation for SV positions and comparable jobs outside the federal public service.
Existing allowances: Some allowances are currently not available to all members who should be receiving it. PSAC proposes to expand the eligibility of allowances such as the dirty work and HVAC technician allowances to make them available to all members who perform these duties.
New allowances:PSAC proposes new allowances to help address the difficult working conditions in which SV members work, including extensive periods spent at sea, as well as during helicopter operations.
The SV bargaining team returns to the table March 1-3, 2022.
Show your support
Meet your SV bargaining team and learn why they got involved in this round of negotiations. Show support by downloading and using the virtual background for all your work meetings and swap out your social media profile picture:
Panelists will be discussing PSAC’s fight for equity in the workplace during this round of bargaining with Treasury Board, the impacts winning these demands would have, and why it is important that we all mobilize to support our bargaining teams to win big.
To ensure that you receive all the latest updates as we negotiate your next contract, verify that your contact information is up to date via the member portal.
The Statistics Survey Operations (SSO) bargaining team made progress during negotiations in December, even though the employer did not bring outstanding proposals to the table. The team was disappointed that the employer did not table their monetary proposals, which would have enabled the parties to move through this round of bargaining more quickly and arrive at a long overdue agreement.
However, positive movement on several issues was an encouraging sign and the employer has committed to bringing all outstanding monetary items to the table in mid-February.
The SSO bargaining team continues to push for significant improvements in working conditions and work hours, including:
Wage parity with the core public service
An allowance to fully cover personal expenses when working remotely
Better job security, and a fair and transparent process around the assignment of work hours
Improved maternity and parental leave benefits
Improved shift premiums for evenings and weekends
Improvements to sick leave, family leave, vacation leave and compassionate care leave
A detailed update on the state of bargaining will be shared with PSAC members at upcoming info sessions. More information to come on the dates and times of these local meetings.
A decision is expected by late January 2022 on PSAC’s policy grievances defending the use of 699 leave for federal public service workers during the pandemic.
PSAC presented its case against Treasury Board for restricting the use of 699 leave for members who were unable to work because of child care, elder care, disability, or other issues brought on by COVID-19 at Federal Public Service Labour Relations Board hearings throughout the summer and fall.
Discriminatory leave policy
The grievances challenge the policy for forcing members to exhaust all other available paid leave—including vacation, sick, or family leave—before they can access 699 leave for COVID-19-related reasons.
At the hearing, PSAC argued that the employer’s 699 leave policy violates members’ collective agreements and could lead to discriminatory outcomes for groups who are disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.
Next steps and individual grievances
The Board chairperson intends to deliver a decision by the end of January 2022.
PSAC continues to fight to ensure all PSAC members – especially those most impacted by COVID-19 – have the support they need to get through the pandemic.
Temporary changes to 699 leave
As of December 20 2021, Treasury Board has put in place temporary changes to make it easier for federal public service workers with caregiving responsibilities to access 699 leave during the pandemic.
Treasury Board also clarified their language around the use of vacation leave in relation to 699 leave. These are key issues PSAC raised during policy grievance hearings, and it’s encouraging to see the government proactively implement these changes before a decision is delivered by the labour board.
If you need leave related to COVID-19, you should continue to request 699 leave. If your request is denied or you are forced to take other types of leave, reach out immediately to your PSAC regional office or your component labour relations officer to discuss whether you should file an individual or group grievance.
Members employed by Treasury Board and PSAC-UTE members are also eligible for paid 698 leave to attend COVID-19 vaccination appointments.
