museums

2012/02/16

PSAC Members at CSTMC – United for a fair contract

PSAC Members at CSTMC - United for a fair contract

Our members employed by Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation want better job security. They also want protections against their work being contracted out. Canada Post, the Museum of Nature and the National Arts Centre have agreed to superior protections for PSAC members – but the CSTMC won’t budge.

We are determined to achieve better protections for our members’ jobs; they deserve nothing less.

Because the parties are deadlocked, the bargaining team has applied to the Labour Board for third-party mediation. Conciliation (or mediation) is not arbitration; in this case, a third party is assigned by the Labour Board and works with both parties to come to an agreement. The conciliator doesn’t have the power to impose a decision.

For more information, download this bilingual poster from the PSAC. Better yet, print some off and share them with your members!

The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation oversees the Canada Agriculture Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

2012/01/10

Help save our museums!

Our members gathered outside the Canada Museum of Science and Technology on Thursday and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum on Friday to fight back against cuts to public services. Just two weeks before Christmas, the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation decided to lay off 17 employees.

UNE National President Doug Marshall had a message for the corporation: “We need to keep the craziness in the crazy kitchen and out of management and out of the federal government!” Marshall was of course referring to the Canada Science and Technology Museum’s most popular exhibit; a kitchen in which visitors experience spatial distortion.

There are signs that the craziness may have escaped the kitchen. The corporation says budget pressures were the reason for the layoffs. Nonetheless, 15 senior management positions were kept (one senior manager for every 13 employees) and their annual bonuses were paid out.

“When you destroy quality public services, you’re destroying Canada,” said Larry Rousseau, PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President for the National Capital Region. “That is what this institution has always represented for me, for my family and for people throughout Ottawa and Canada.”

The UNE Separate Employers regional team also came to show their support and reach out to museum patrons. Museum workers distributed factsheets explaining how these cuts will negatively impact future exhibits and the preservation of artifacts, among other services.

“We just want to do our job and take care of our great collection, not only for the people here today, but for future generations,” said a museum employee. “We want people to bring their kids and have their kids come back with their children – and experience the same great collection we’ve always had.”

What you can do: Contact Denise Amyot, President and CEO of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, at damyot@technomuses.ca or at 613-993-0775 or on Twitter at @damyot. Urge her to respect both the Canada Museums Act and our collective agreement.

2011/06/15

Fighting with Heart for the Arts

June 15, 2011 – National Component members at the National Gallery of Canada came out to show support for their bargaining team. Local 70397 has been bargaining since last year – so far, the employer is still insisting on wage concessions. This government’s history of cutting funding for the arts has made it clear that they are not a friend of the arts. The National Component supports its members in the arts and culture sector and will continue to fight on their behalf.

If you have a moment, write to your Member of Parliament. Let them know arts and culture are important to you and that you won’t stand for reduced access to Canadian culture.

Many photos of the rally can be seen on the National Component’s Flickr site!