Your Regional Team invites you to participate in the Quebec Regional Seminar scheduled to take place at the Delta Trois-Rivières September 9-11, 2022.
UNE Regional Seminars are packed with presentations, workshops and training that will give you the knowledge and tools to help your members. They are also a great place to meet other activists and forge long-lasting friendships.
UNE will fund two (2) participants and an additional (1) youth participant per Local:
The Local President or designate;
A member who has not previously attended a seminar should be given priority
A youth member (age 35 or younger as of December 31, 2023).
Locals should also encourage the participation of equity members and may send additional members at the Local’s expense.
Participants will be expected to arrive for on-site registration at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening, September 9, 2022. Accommodations will be arranged for delegates to spend two nights at the hHotel for the Friday and Saturday night of the Seminar as activities are scheduled to take place into the evenings. The Seminar ends on Sunday, September 11 at 12:00p.m.
You must apply by Friday, August 5, 2022. Unfortunately, we will not consider late applications.
The UNE 2022 Local Presidents’ Conference is just a few short months away! This event will bring presidents from every UNE Local to Gatineau, QC, August 11-14 for our first in-person event in over two years. Participants will attend educational sessions, hear from guest speakers and network with other union activists.
While this conference is geared toward Local President training, there will be a secondary theme of health and safety as our members have had to navigate both mental and physical challenges in workplaces and at home during the pandemic.
Your Local’s participation is very important. If you are unable to attend, we encourage you to designate another member of your Local Executive to attend the Conference, with preference given to your Local’s Health & Safety Representative.
Locals may also send observers at the Local’s expense.
If you are unable to register, please contact Suzanne Boucher at 613-560-4359 or at events@une-sen.org.
We look forward to meeting once again, in person, for the first time in over two years. But times have changed, and provincial health regulations have been extremely fluid. Participants will be expected to follow regulations put in place at the event venue and public travel hubs such as airports and railway stations.
As per PSAC’s current COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Guidelines, participants must attest to being fully vaccinated during online registration and have their proof of vaccination verified at the Conference.
Again, this is our first in-person event in over two years. The state of the pandemic is constantly evolving and regulations could change. We appreciate your understanding and patience while we navigate this together.
There will be more information circulated as the Conference date approaches, but don’t hesitate to check the UNE website for the latest updates.
In Solidarity,
Kevin King National President Union of National Employees
Amethyst Women’s Addiction Centre Best Theratronics Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Canada Council for the Arts Canadian Museum for Human Rights Canadian Museum of History Canadian Museum of Nature Canada Science and Technology Corporation CMHC Granville Island, B.C. House of Commons Jeunesse j’écoute Library of Parliament Kids Help Phone Mohawk Council of Akwesasne National Battlefields Commission Nordion (Canada) Inc. Office of the Auditor General Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp c.o.b OLGG Slots at Rideau Carleton Raceway Parks Canada SeedChange (formerly known as Unitarian Service Committee of Canada) Senate of Canada – Operational Group SSHRC Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Treasury Board
Why is it important that you sign your card? Click here to view and print 10 reasons. You’ll make our union stronger and have more voice in how we fight for your rights.
If you are a UNE member whose workplace is not on the list above, you can still contact us and we’ll send you a physical membership card.
Treasury Board continues to stall on negotiations following the latest round of Education and Library Science (EB) bargaining on March 8-10, 2022.
The EB group includes over 1,090 members responsible for education, education support and library services.
Bargaining is moving at a crawl, thanks to the employer’s stalling tactics. While PSAC has tabled all of our demands along with a comprehensive wage proposal, the employer remains closed to negotiating on nearly all of our priorities. Treasury Board also continues to put forward concessions on scheduling and shifts under the guise of “improving flexibility.”
Market adjustments
In addition to PSAC’s demands on wage increases to meet rising inflation and skyrocketing costs of living, PSAC also previously tabled wage adjustments based on market comparators. The employer says their research does not support the wage adjustments that PSAC tabled in January. PSAC’s bargaining team has requested these findings in addition to a counter-wage offer.
Show your support
Meet your bargaining team, learn why they got involved in this round of negotiations and show your support with our bargaining graphics:
Please be sure to keep your contact information up to date with the member portal to receive all the latest updates as we negotiate your next contract.
In North America, the Francophonie is a historical and geographic fact. More than 14 million speakers contribute to the vitality and visibility of the French language. In Canada, more than a quarter of the population considers itself to be Francophone, a reality that was recognized when Parliament adopted the Official Languages Act at the end of the 1960s.
It is therefore normal that institutions from the government or other sectors reflect this reality by recognizing the rights of individuals and communities to receive services and communications in the language of their choice, and by making federal institutions a place of work that is conducive to the use of both official languages in regions that have been designated as bilingual. However, beyond laws that have been adopted, the everyday reality is quite different. Even though the Official Languages Act has made French one of two official languages in Canada, its minority status causes it to be constantly threatened.
To wit, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages is forecasting that it will end the current year with five times more complaints than the annual average. In addition, according to a recent survey conducted by the Office of the Commissioner, close to half of federal public servants feel uncomfortable in using French at work, and this in the administrative regions where bilingualism is required. Many Francophone employees don’t feel like they can use the official language of their choice at work, and a good number of them experience organizational difficulties in working in French, especially in a context where the English language predominates.
There are many examples that illustrate how the use of French is threatened in federal institutions. The Francophone Committee therefore believes that the union movement, especially the one representing the federal public service, must be exemplary regarding the respect of linguistic rights of activists. It is therefore normal for structures within unions to ensure the respect of the right of members to advocate in French.
It would be fitting and essential that PSAC create a national Francophone Committee, which would have the same mandate as the one of SEN, as promised during PSAC’s last Convention held in 2018. The existence of UNE’s Francophone Committee is still totally pertinent, and its members are still, ten years after its creation, advocating for the respect and promotion of the French language within UNE.
The UNE’s Francophone Committee wishes you a great International Francophonie Day!
When Tristan Drozdiak received $15,000 in lump sum payments in 2018 compensating him for two years of underpayments, he assumed he could leave his Phoenix nightmare behind him. But four years later, his future is anything but certain after receiving a letter claiming he now owes $3,000 in overpayments.
“Receiving a bill was a massive surprise for me,” said Tristan. “I thought my situation had been resolved for four years. Then I find out, out of the blue, that it’s not resolved and it’s as complicated as ever.”
The ongoing pay issues forced Tristan and his now fiancée, Teri, to put off buying a home back in 2016. Now, as they plan their future together, Tristan has an uneasy feeling that his Phoenix issues may never be resolved.
“We already waited to buy a house, and now we’re planning for a wedding and maybe kids. But who’s to say I’m not going to get contacted in another four years? It feels like there’s a sword hanging over my head and I shouldn’t have to deal with that stress.”
“It feels like there’s a sword hanging over my head and I shouldn’t have to deal with that stress.”
Tristan began his public service career in 2013 and moved into his current role as an interpreter with Parks Canada in Edmonton in 2015. For two years between 2016 and 2018, the PSAC-UNE member was underpaid by $7 per hour on each pay, and at one point was overpaid $3,000 in one month.
Although his field unit tried to support him, they didn’t have answers, and it took more than a year of back and forth with the Pay Centre before he got confirmation that the system had been updated to indicate there was a problem. Meanwhile, Tristan created a spreadsheet to try to keep track of what was happening but found it too frustrating and complicated to manage.
“It was very difficult to track what the heck happened between 2016 and 2018,” said Tristan. “In addition to everything else, there were little mistakes that happened constantly on my paycheques that to this day I’m not sure how to untangle.”
In the summer of 2018, two lump sum payments appeared in his bank account. However, he never received an explanation or breakdown of the payments and couldn’t understand how the numbers were determined. To complicate matters, he also received the retroactive pay he was owed after the new Parks Canada collective agreement went into effect on May 31, 2018.
“I appreciate the constant advocacy from PSAC — it makes me feel like someone’s actually in our corner.”
When he received a letter from the government earlier this year claiming he owed $3,000 in overpayments, he turned to PSAC for support to escalate his case and get to the bottom of his pay issues. PSAC has helped more than 10,000 members fix their Phoenix issues, whether it was with their pay, pension, health care benefits, or severance.
“I appreciate the constant advocacy from PSAC,” said Tristan. “Just the fact that you are pushing and not letting things slide makes me feel like someone’s actually in our corner.”
If you have a pay issue you haven’t been able to resolve with the Pay Centre and would like our Phoenix team to escalate your case, reach out to us and select the Phoenix problem you’re experiencing from the dropdown menu.
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
