OTTAWA – Anxious to tell management how "dog-tired" they are of waiting for a contract settlement, members of Local 70397 of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) at the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography will show their employer that the time has come for "every dog [to have] his (and her) day".

On Friday, April 6, at noon, they will walk together in front of the Gallery with their canine companions in tow in an attempt to convince Director (and Top Dog) Pierre Théberge, that, just like Mother Hubbard, the workers’ cupboard has been bare long enough. "We deserve to be "thrown a few bones" at the bargaining table, just as senior and middle managers have been receiving all along," notes Anne Jolicoeur, PSAC Bargaining Team member and Gallery employee.

The members are doggedly determined to resume the negotiation process brought to a halt by the employer on March 2, 2001, and have voted strongly in favour of strike action to back up their demands. However, as Local President Jim Prowse maintains, "management will be barking up the wrong tree if they don’t try to improve their last offer. We will not accept wage increases well below the rate of inflation, nor ones substantially lower than those recently granted to our colleagues in a neighbouring national museum without any kind of dogfight with management."

This doggish display will take place at the National Gallery:

Date:        Friday, April 6, 2001

Time:        noon

Location:  In front of the National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Drive
(corner of St. Patrick and Sussex) Ottawa, Ontario

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Spokespersons:
Jim Prowse, President and Bargaining Team member, PSAC Local 70397,(613) 990-1975
Anne Jolicoeur, Bargaining Team member, PSAC Local 70397, (613) 990-7549

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