Category: Collective Bargaining

The Federal Court will hold a full hearing to review PSAC’s application to quash the federal government’s decision to force federal public service workers back into ill-equipped offices three days a week beginning September 9.  

This is an important victory for workers and unions who have been pushing back against the government’s unilateral decision announced in May that has had sweeping impacts on federal workers and led to mass protests, legal challenges and a wave of individual grievances. 

“The Federal Court’s decision to hear our case is an important win for federal workers fighting for a fair and transparent approach to telework,” said PSAC National President Sharon DeSousa. “Remote work is the future of work, and we won’t let the government off the hook for breaking their commitments and ignoring the voices of federal public service workers.” 

The government attempted to have the case thrown out or delayed by the Court until existing legal challenges – including several policy grievances and unfair labour practice complaints disputing the mandate – are heard by a federal board. 

But the Federal Court judge ruled that Treasury Board failed to deliver the “knock-out punch” to the grounds for PSAC’s application to warrant dismissal. 

The hearing will be a major step for unions and workers looking for transparency around its decision to bring workers back into the office three days a week, as the government will now need to make their case and present their reasoning for making the decision to bring workers back to the office. 

Although this does not mean that the Federal Court endorses PSAC’s position, it will allow us to fully argue our case in court. This is part of PSAC’s broader effort to demonstrate that telework is the way of the future and hold the government accountable for its misguided mandate. 

What members can do 

This is just one of several ways PSAC is continuing the fight for fair telework. Members can take action by: 

• Filing an individual grievance on remote work;  
• Signing our petition; 
• Answering our brief mobilization survey;  
• Getting involved with your local.  

This fall, PSAC will be launching a national joint telework campaign alongside other unions. But to win this fight, we will need the support of members from coast to coast to coast organizing and making noise in their workplaces. Together, we will show the government, decision-makers and the public that #RemoteWorks. 

Calling all UNE members in the National Capital Region! 

Location: Les Terrasses de la Chaudière

Date: Thursday, August 8, 2024

Time: 12:00 – 13:00 ET

Please aim to arrive to the rally 15 minutes early if possible (11:45) and feel free to bring your UNE, PSAC and other union-related flags. Please also distribute this notice as widely as possible.

Following brief speeches at 12:00 at the main entrance of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière, we will be operating an information picket, passing out RT(N)O buttons and leaflets about the negative effects of return to office.

The goal is to broaden the discussion, and everyone is welcome. We would like to cover as many doors as possible to hand out buttons and literature.

Context: On May 1, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat mandated that all federal public service employees must be at the physical work site a minimum of 3 days per week, starting in September 2024. This generic policy continues to lack nuance in terms of an individual’s work realities and ignores the widely used technological innovations already in place.

Like many public service employees across Canada, members of PSAC-NCR successfully demonstrated their ability to conduct their duties remotely throughout the pandemic. We’ve seen how federal public service employees continue to deliver for Canadians with a hybrid work arrangement.

Numerous studies have proven the benefits of working remotely, including a more dynamic workforce, less time wasted commuting to the work site, a safer work environment and a smaller carbon footprint with fewer cars on the road.

Studies also show that many employees are more productive at home without office distractions and regularly work more hours because they have greater flexibility.

Since 2022, PSAC-NCR along with the PSAC National, the individual Components of PSAC, and our ally unions in the public service (CAPE, PIPSC, and ACFO, amongst many others) have strongly opposed the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s uniform approach to mandating employee presence at work site.

At this rally, we will show our dissatisfaction with the unexplained, uncosted and unplanned return to office. Detrimental effects include offices that often fail to meet safety requirements on air quality, mould, rodent and insect infestation. In addition, the employer has burdened tax payers and public service employees (who also pay taxes nationally, provincially and locally) with the cost to reinvigorate the downtown cores of Ottawa and Gatineau, as well as their transit systems. We say this is unacceptable!

PSAC-NCR is willing to have a discussion of rejuvenation of the city, but there must be a reason for it. Further enriching landlords and business owners while city services continue to collapse under the stress of underfunding are not the solution.

We hope to see you on the August 8 at Les Terrasses de la Chaudière !

After an exceedingly lengthy delay, the bargaining agent received on Wednesday the arbitration award from the Labour Board for our contract dispute with the House of Commons.

Highlights of the new agreement include wage increases and a pensionable lump sum payment as part of the award. The compensation won by the union in arbitration greatly exceeds the House of Commons’ offer in negotiations.

The employer has ninety days from the date of award to pay out back pay.

Other improvements include:

• Weekend premium must now be paid on all hours worked on a weekend, including overtime hours.
• Expanded access to Family-Related Responsibility Leave.
• Employees can now carry-over more vacation leave per year.

In addition, the House must under certain circumstances pay each employee additional compensation if the employer does not pay retro payment within 90 days of the issuance of the award.

The House of Commons, in negotiations and in arbitration, proposed to limit members’ ability to take leave for medical and dental appointments. They also proposed to shorten shift change notice. With the decision, we have protected our ability to access leave for all medical and dental appointments, and we have protected the notice period for shift changes.

If you have any questions, please contact a member of the Bargaining Team: Gilles Lavigne, Claude Boilard, Charles Joanisse and Ktrishia Letendre.

Unifor and the Public Service Alliance of Canada sent a joint letter to the Canadian Safety Nuclear Commission (CNSC) today, expressing their concerns about Best Theratronics using unqualified managers and non-union workers as scab labour to handle safety-sensitive equipment at its Kanata, Ont. facility, including those containing radioactive material.

“It’s clear that Best Theratronics is willing to cut corners by using unqualified scabs and creating a dangerous work environment,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.

“This is why we need anti-scab legislation to be put in place in every jurisdiction in Canada – to stop employers from engaging in these kinds of unsafe tactics.”

More than 50 members of Unifor Local 1541 and PSAC-UNE Local 70369 are on strike at Best Theratronics. Unifor members went on strike May 1, 2024, after the company proposed a two-year contract with zero wage increases, while PSAC members followed shortly after on May 10 with no monetary offer from the employer.

“The idea that scab labour could be receiving, offloading and handling radioactive material is alarming,” said Alex Silas, National Executive Vice-President of PSAC. “The use of replacement workers when it comes to hazardous materials sounds like a lesson I thought we learned in the 20^th century.”

Best Theratronics develops and manufactures external beam therapy units, self-contained blood irradiators, and cyclotrons for hospitals, medical and research facilities.

The company’s owner Krishnan Suthanthiran recently emailed workers, saying the company will use contractors to complete work.

It is especially concerning that the company is using mangers and non-union personnel at the facility during the strike as scab labour who may be untrained and uncertified to do the work safely.

On May 22, a truck was observed delivering live material to the facility at approximately 8:30 p.m. There was one car in the parking lot at the time, raising questions about how the receiving and offloading of live material is being done.

Unifor recommends a new inspection be scheduled to ensure Best Theratronics – whose facility near Ottawa operates under a Class 1B license for the use of Cobalt 60, Cesium 137, and cyclotrons – is fulfilling its obligations under the CNSC.

“Seeing the lengths this company will go to skirt around a fair deal is mind-boggling,” said Unifor Local 1541 President Steve LaBelle. “We’re talking about unqualified scabs handling hazardous materials like it’s no big deal. We need to keep jobs in Canada being done by workers who are properly qualified and trained.”

As well, the facility is licensed under Class II Nuclear Facilities, Prescribed Equipment License and Nuclear Substances and Radiation Devices for conducting work on medical equipment sold in Canada.

Unifor members work in the Skilled Trades as certified machinists, welders, sheet metal workers, machining process specialists, calibrators, electronic technicians, electrical and mechanical inspectors at the facility while PSAC members work as design specialists, production planners and production controllers, expert technicians and many other key positions which are crucial to the drafting, manufacturing and delivery of Atomic Energy-based machines produced by Best Theratronics Limited.

“We like the work we do, and that’s why we’re concerned that the owner may be putting the company and the non-unionized workers inside at risk,” said PSAC Local 70369 President Jeff Gulis. “During the pandemic last time we accepted concessions because we wanted the company to get through difficult times, but now it’s time for us to catch up to similar jobs in our sector, where people down the street are making 24-26% more than we are. We just want a fair deal and to get back to work.”

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is one of Canada’s largest unions, representing nearly 245,000 workers in every province and territory in Canada. UNE is a component union of PSAC representing more than 27,000 members working in 73 different workplaces in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

It was a windy morning, and UNE flags were floating high at the rally in support of the UNE members of Local 70369 on strike!

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The PSAC local at Best Theratronics is on strike as of 6:30 a.m. Friday. The 12-member unit will be joining Unifor 1514 members who have been on strike since May 1 against the same employer.

PSAC-UNE 70369 members voted unanimously to take strike action should the offer on the table not drastically improve.

The employees have not seen a wage increase since June 2022, where for that same year, their wages were 24-26% behind direct comparators who work at BWXT and Nordion, which also has members represented by PSAC.

“It’s been clear that this employer just isn’t showing up to the bargaining table with a serious mandate to bargain,” said Alex Silas, Regional Executive Vice-President of PSAC in the National Capital Region. “Whether that’s bargaining with our members at local 70369 or the Unifor local 1514, that both groups have had to resort to strike votes to try to achieve any movement at the table speaks volumes.”

PSAC-UNE 70369 has been in bargaining since May 2023 and their collective agreement expired in March that same year. The bargaining team tabled monetary demands and wages in September and the employer has refused to put anything further on the bargaining table with the stipulation that they do not have a monetary mandate from the sole owner of the company.

PSAC filed for conciliation in February and in March conciliation took place. The employer asked for more time to secure a new monetary mandate and had nothing new to offer at conciliation.

“We were optimistic that things could change in conciliation, but the employer seemed to show up unprepared,” said Alisha Kang, National President of UNE. “Since then, the employer has been crying poor all while sending confusing emails to the workplace that can only be perceived as intimidation.”

On April 22, PSAC hosted a rally with Unifor, BWXT and Nordion workers who are located nearby and helped strengthen the sectoral visibility and solidarity between atomic energy workers in Kanata.

On May 1, Unifor 1514 went out on strike, with PSAC-UNE 70369 members joining to show their solidarity during breaks.

Today, with blatant disregard for the wellbeing of its workers, the government announced that come September, federal public service workers will be required to be in-office a minimum of three days per week.

PSAC members are incredibly frustrated and angered by this announcement. In every corner of the country, we have seen how the current in-office requirements aren’t being consistently or equitably managed by most departments.

We hear time and time again from workers obligated to report to offices where instead of conducting in-person work, they spend all day on virtual meetings with colleagues across the country.

In many offices our members are regularly forced to camp out in cafeterias or cram into awkward hallway meetings because of a shortage of available workspaces, and these problems will only continue to pile up.

Despite this, Treasury Board confirmed on a call today with bargaining agents that they are planning to proceed with reducing 50% of existing government office space. Their decision is not just a misstep; it’s a failure by Canada’s largest employer to adapt, innovate, and truly lead in the face of change to the way work is done.

As recently as last week, PSAC and other unions specifically requested an update at the National Joint Council about the allegations that there may be a change to the policy. Treasury Board officials blatantly misled unions, denying any upcoming announcements about telework.

In addition, as part of PSAC’s agreement in the last round of negotiations, Treasury Board was obligated to consult with the union with the purpose of reviewing the outdated Directive on Telework. However, at no point during those discussions was there any indication of an increase to in-office attendance.

This decision has not only broken the trust between PSAC members and their employer, but very concretely, it violates the collective bargaining rights of thousands of workers.

Telework is currently a critical issue at the table for the FB group, currently holding strike votes across the country for more than 9,000 members at Canada Border Services Agency. Any changes to their terms and conditions of work while bargaining directly undermines their collective bargaining rights.

In response, PSAC will be filing an unfair labour practice complaint and examining additional legal options.

PSAC will be updating members and taking further action in the coming days. 

There will be a lunchtime union rally April 22 from 12 – 1 p.m. to show our support for our bargaining team and to chat about questions you may have about bargaining, next steps, strike votes, and more.  

When: April 22, 12 – 1 p.m. 
Where: 413 March Rd, Kanata, ON K2K 0E4.  

We will have food and refreshments so you can attend and get something to eat during your lunch break. 

As the employer continues to stall at the bargaining table, it’s important we start mobilizing and taking action now to show that we’re serious about our demands and want to get a fair deal.  

Are we allowed to rally on our lunch breaks? 

Yes! Members have the right to be kept informed during non-work time, before or after shifts and during paid and unpaid breaks and lunch periods. This means members have the right to participate in rallies and other union actions during your breaks as well as before or after work. 

Hope to see you there!