OTTAWA - Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) National President Nycole Turmel today warned the federal government that a Task Force on Public Sector Reform that does not include front-line workers and their representatives is doomed to fail.

"Public sector workers need immediate change and not still more task forces and advisory committees," said Turmel in a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister and the President of the Treasury Board.

Turmel made it clear that a task force is unnecessary and will further delay the reforms that are needed to ensure a vibrant public sector that properly classifies and compensates public sector workers.

"As the President of the Treasury Board has said many times over the past month, the time for review is over, what is needed is action," according to Turmel. "While the federal government keeps reviewing the situation, PSAC members live with the problems every day. They want immediate solutions that will make it easier to deliver services to Canadians and to improve their working lives.

"Why is the government proceeding with its misguided Task Force? If there was a need for research on the problems that plague the federal public sector, that need has been filled. The First Report of the Fryer Committee outlined the problems and provided the government with an indication as to how legislation should be changed. Further initiatives, including the Fryer Committee Final Report and the Task Force headed by Deputy Minister Ranald Quail are unnecessary and undesirable.

"The PSAC calls on the federal government to abandon further examination and to sit down with federal unions and draft legislative parameters that meet the needs of Canadian taxpayers and federal government workers.

"However, if the government proceeds with the Quail Task Force, it must ensure full involvement of public sector workers and not rely once again on external experts."

The PSAC represents 135,000 federal public service workers.

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For information:  Nycole Turmel, PSAC national president, (613) 560-4330

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