In case you missed it – SSO National Bargaining Conference

SSOBargaining

The collective agreements for SSO regional office interviewers and field survey interviewers expired November 30, 2014 and PSAC served notice to bargain on March 31st, 2015. In preparation for bargaining, PSAC will hold a national Bargaining Conference in Ottawa. The Conference provides and important opportunity to discuss bargaining demands and strategy for the coming round of negotiations.

Key Details about the Conference

Date: January 9-10, 2016

1 delegate per local for locals with fewer than 50 members.
2 delegates per local for locals with 50 or more members.
3 delegates per local for locals with 100 or more members.

For a copy of the callout letter, please click here. Notwithstanding this letter, the following applies:

The list of delegates’ names and contact information must be received by the UNE National Office no later than November 19, 2015. Please send your list by email to Emily.Gault-Due@une-sen.org.

For a copy of the callout letter, please click here. Notwithstanding this letter, the following applies:

Delegates to the bargaining conference must be elected at a Local meeting, held in accordance with UNE bylaws and policies. Because of the short notice that was received for the conference, I realize that it may be difficult to provide the required 30 days’ notice to members. Therefore, on an exceptional basis, Locals must provide members at least 21 days’ notice of the meeting.

There is also a separate process for equity members to apply individually. For more information, please click here. http://psacunion.ca/psac-equity-activists-women-and-young-workers

Thank you for your cooperation.

Doug Marshall
National President

2015/10/202015/12/03

Harper Stopped

After ten years of cuts to government services, lies about security and climate change, disrespect to indigenous people and deception to Canadians on so many other levels, voters stormed the polls and finally put a stop to Stephen Harper and his conservative regime. Canada has voted to stop the cuts.

“It has been obvious to our members and it became obvious to Canadians during this election that parliament was broken, ruled by a secretive and dishonest government,” said UNE national president Doug Marshall. “We hope to work with the incoming government to establish positive labour relations and hold the Liberals to the promises they outlined in their party’s platform.”

Some of those promises we will watch closely include:

Restoring a public service where employees are respected and valued
Increasing taxes for our country’s highest earners
Increasing the funding for needed infrastructure projects
Establishing an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women
Repealing various anti-worker and anti-union laws

The Union of National Employees is prepared to work with the new government in order to achieve positive change for Canadians and a strong and effective public service.

2015/10/202015/10/28

Canadians voted for change

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PSAC calls on new Parliament to restore public services and repair relations with federal public service employees

OTTAWA –Canadians rejected the Harper Conservatives and voted for change on October 19 and that is good news for Canada, says the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

“The new Liberal government has a strong mandate for change,” said PSAC National President Robyn Benson. “That change needs to include restoring public services and building a positive relationship with the federal public service. We call on the Liberals to practice a new kind of politics and to work collaboratively with the NDP and other progressives in Parliament to put Canada back together again.”

Before and during the election, the PSAC carried out a public information campaign to convince Canadians to vote to stop the cuts made by the previous Conservative government. A poll carried out just before polling day found that a large percentage of Canadians believed the cuts would affect the election outcome.

“We know from our own campaign work that voters were fed up with the Harper Conservatives’ attacks on the public service. As the largest public service union, we look forward to sitting down with the new government as soon as possible to discuss how to repair the damage done including how to improve labour relations in the federal public service,” said Benson.

The Harper Conservative government passed successive omnibus bills in its last four years fundamentally changing collective bargaining laws, as well as health and safety protections for federal workers. During the campaign the Liberal Party of Canada promised to restore the bargaining rights of federal government employees and to repeal the anti-union legislation passed by the Conservatives.

“We call on the new government to act on these promises without delay,” concluded Benson.

PSAC is calling on the new Parliament to:

Restore and strengthen federal public services, including the re-opening of Veterans Affairs offices closed by the Conservatives in 2014.
Repeal the parts of budget implementation bills (C-4, C-10, C-59) that changed labour laws, imposed wage reductions, took away pay equity rights, weakened workplace health and safety protections, and gave the Government the unilateral right to remove the sick leave provisions in negotiated collective agreements.
Restore the right of unions to represent members with respect to pay equity claims.
Repeal Bill C-525, which makes it harder for workers in the federal sector to organize, and Bill C-377, which is both unconstitutional and a violation of privacy rights.

Source: www.psacunion.ca

2015/10/082015/10/28

Vote for a government that will protect health and safety

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Six years ago, PSAC and UNE commissioned the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) to prepare a thorough report on health and safety in the federal jurisdiction. At the UNE Health and safety conference held in the fall of that year, we invited additional health and safety officers so that that they could be interviewed by the CCPA. In 2010, the CCPA published a devastating report on the poor state of health and safety and the problems and pressures faced by the shrinking number of health and safety officers.

So, this year, one year after the recent changes to the law, PSAC and UNE again asked the CCPA to produce a report that would update its 2010 report. That report was released in late September. And what were the findings?

In 10 years, the number of health and safety inspectors on the job has dropped by over 50%.
From 151 inspectors in 2005, the numbers show no more than 67 working as of April, 2015. This far lower than the number claimed by the government.
Between 2002 and 2013, 684 employees died as a result of workplace injury.
There were nearly 21,000 disabling injuries in the federally regulated sector in 2012 alone.

John Anderson, the researcher who conducted the study, summarized things this way:

“The overall situation is a recipe for both potential dangerous occupational health and safety issues and injuries. Inspection is absent or so highly limited it cannot create the safe workplace environment that is surely everybody’s goal and wish.”

The study also included several recommendations, including:

Repealing the 2013 changes to the Canada Labour Code and increasing staffing levels for health and safety officers;
Conducting regular field inspections, particularly in high-risk workplaces;
Improving data collecting and making it more transparent;
Developing a strategy for workplace safety on First Nations reserves;
Reinstating fire inspectors, whose jobs had been eliminated from the federal Labour Program just a couple of years ago; and
Covering all Parliament Hill employees under federal health and safety regulation.

We will continue the fight for health and safety. Keeping workers safe has a direct impact on the safety of the Canadian public. The services we provide need to be health and safety regulated.

With just days to go before the federal election, we want to remind you to

Vote for a government that will protect health and safety.
Vote for a government that will protect labour and human rights.
Vote for a government that will support public services – not self-service or no-service.
Vote for a government that will respect Canadians.

2015/10/02

Liberal youth job creation‎ will lead to unfair working conditions

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The Liberal party’s promise to promote and protect Canada’s national parks falls short of what is needed particularly because it encompasses a proposal to create 5,000 youth jobs at the expense of secure and stable employment at Parks Canada.

The Liberals have indicated that they will address staff shortages by hiring young workers as guides, interpreters and in other positions at Parks Canada instead of creating regular employment opportunities.

“We are concerned that this approach will lead to unfair working conditions for younger workers, and it does not constitute real and meaningful reinvestment in our national parks,” said Doug Marshall, president of the Union of National Employees, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Students who are employed by Parks Canada are paid separate and inferior wages under the Federal Student Work Experience Program. In the name of gaining work experience they are paid less than the workers they replace yet they perform the same work as regular employees.

Job creation is not about trading one type of job for another. Good jobs for young workers should not be created at the expense of workers already employed.

PSAC calls on the Liberal Party to create good jobs for young workers that are stable, paid a fair rate and provide career opportunities but not at the expense of the current workforce at Parks Canada.

2015/10/012015/10/06

October 4th Sisters in Spirit Vigils: A movement for social change

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This is an invitation to celebrate, honour and support Indigenous women, girls and their families on October 4^thby attending or holding a Sisters in Spirit Vigil.

A Sisters in Spirit Vigil can take many forms – from a moment of silence to a rally to a community feast. All that is important is that you take some time on or around October 4^th to mark the day.

Look for Sisters in Spirit vigils on-line at nwac.ca. The Native Women’s Association of Canada asks us to read the Public Statement, found on their website, to supporters at each vigil.

Several labour unions and the aboriginal community have combined their efforts to hold a Sisters in Spirit Vigil at 5:00-6:30 pm, at city hall in Vancouver. See our Facebook event for more details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/922030871180085/

We demand a national inquiry into the violence faced by Indigenous women and girls. Please stand with us.

For other event locations, please visit http://www.nwac.ca/policy-areas/violence-prevention-and-safety/sisters-in-spirit/october-4th-vigils/

All our relations,

Genevieve, Sandra & Ruby

Supporters of UNE Aboriginal Equity

2015/09/302015/10/01

CCPA Study Tells Canadians What the Union Has Been Saying All Along About Health & Safety

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A new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives entitled Waiting to Happen: Why we need major changes to the health and safety regime in federally regulated workplaces reveals that the health and safety of over a million workers in the federal government and other federally-regulated workplaces is at risk.

“This study confirms that our members – and the Canadians to whom they provide services – are at risk,” said UNE President Doug Marshall. “There are several recommendations, including repealing the 2013 changes to the Canadian Labour Code that the government snuck into their omnibus bill C-4. These are changes that need to happen and on October 19^th, we need to make sure the government we elect will follow the recommendations in order to improve the health and safety of workers and the well-being of Canadians.”

The study reveals some disturbing numbers about health and safety in workplaces:

In 10 years the number of health and safety inspectors on the job has dropped by over 50 per cent.
From 151 inspectors in 2005, figures obtained by PSAC show no more than 67 working as of April, 2015.
Between 2002 and 2013, 684 employees died as a result of workplace injury.
There were nearly 21,000 disabling injuries in the federally regulated sector in 2012 alone.

The study concludes with several recommendations to restore and improve the health and safety regulation of businesses and employers under federal jurisdiction, including:

Repealing the 2013 changes to the Canada Labour Code and increasing inspector staffing levels;
Conducting regular field inspections, particularly in high-risk workplaces;
Improving data collecting and making it more transparent;
Developing a strategy for workplace safety on First Nations reserves;
Reinstating fire inspectors; and
Covering all Parliament Hill employees under federal health and safety regulation.

Click here to download and share a copy of the full CCPA report: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/waiting-happen

With files from www.psacunion.ca

2015/09/292015/10/01

Honouring our heroes

Last Sunday, hundreds gathered on Parliament Hill to pay their respect to the men and women of law enforcement who lost their lives during the course of duty.

The memorial serves as an opportunity to say thanks to the countless police and peace officers who regularly put their lives at risk in the name of public safety.

In our national parks, that responsibility falls on park wardens.

“Our national parks are breathtaking places,” said Eddie Kennedy, national advisor on Parks Canada. “But they come with their share of hazards. Our visitors owe a great debt to the wardens who keep our parks safe.”

Kennedy was in Ottawa last Sunday to represent our union during the ceremony and was accompanied by UNE national president Doug Marshall and national vice-president Kevin King.

Each year, the Union of National Employees and the Parks Canada Enforcement Branch collaborate to send park wardens to represent their comrades during the memorial. This year, the participants were David Pemberton, Jay Leopkey, Jonathan Jansen, Lucas Burnside, Michael Misskey, Nathan Byington, Patrick Latreille and Sharon Woods.

The Union of National Employees wishes to recognize all our brave park wardens for their important public service.

2015/09/282015/09/28

PSAC launches second phase of Vote to Stop the Cuts campaign

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The Public Service Alliance of Canada is today launching the second phase of its Vote to Stop the Cuts campaign.

The campaign provides key information about the Harper Conservatives’ cuts to public services and encourages Canadians to take this into account when voting on October 19^th.

Vote to Stop the Cuts phase two will include a new video encouraging Canadians to vote on October 19, transit and newspaper ads as well as web and social media content.

Since coming into power, the Harper Conservatives have cut more than $14.5 billion a year from public services.

Phase 1 of the Vote to Stop the Cuts campaign garnered widespread media attention as well as engagement on social media. The first campaign video was viewed over 4.1 million times across social media platforms, the campaign content was liked, shared or commented on 226,000 times on Facebook and the campaign website received 436,000 hits.

“We believe our message is resonating with Canadians as we provide facts about the many essential public services that have been threatened by the reckless cuts made by the Harper Conservative government, without regard for the safety and welfare of millions of Canadians,” said Robyn Benson, National President of PSAC.

“Our members are on the front lines and see how frustrated Canadians are – waiting weeks to receive Employment Insurance cheques, or finding they can’t qualify. They are trying to ensure that Canada’s food is safe, that veterans are cared for and that our borders are secure,” said Benson. “But government departments have been stripped bare and workers are struggling to maintain crucial services under very difficult circumstances,” concluded Benson.

For more information on the campaign, visit votetostopthecuts.ca.

2015/09/24

Voting 101 – It’s easy and more important than ever!

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As October 19^th draws closer, the Union of National Employees wants to remind you that your vote in the upcoming election will make a difference.

The Harper Government’s Fair Elections Act makes it more difficult to vote, but we all know that election day is around the corner and the tools you will find on the Elections Canada website make it easier than ever.

Make sure you are registered to vote.

This is the first step in your vote preparation and you can do it online right now. Head over to https://ereg.elections.ca/CWelcome.aspx?lang=e and click Start. The process takes less than a couple of minutes and will ensure you are registered to vote. At the end, the system will tell you where to go to vote.

Vote on or before October 19^th.

There are many ways to vote – You can vote today or on October 19^th. Check out this link for more details: http://www.elections.ca/content2.aspx?section=vote&document=index&lang=e

While we are bombarded with pre-election news and storylines, the most important thing to remember is to not be overwhelmed – and remember – Your Vote = Your Future.

Together, we can elect a government that respects all Canadians.