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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                       November 28, 2002

  Treasury Board is looking for a fight
…in both official languages

OTTAWA - Nycole Turmel, the President of Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) called upon the President of the Treasury Board, Lucienne Robillard, to come to the table and talk with the unions before doing away with the bilingual bonus for federal government workers.

“If the Minister has any intention of taking money away from our members, she’d better be ready for a fight,” said Turmel, “Any change to salaries, working conditions or benefits must be discussed with the unions first.  Workers’ basic rights cannot be changed unilaterally by the employer.”

Turmel was responding to a recent speech delivered by the President of the Treasury Board to the Symposium on Language of Work hosted by the Official Languages Committee of the New Brunswick Federal Council. Robillard questioned the effectiveness of the bilingualism bonus and suggested that the money could be used elsewhere.

“The Minister cannot unilaterally change working conditions in the public sector,” Turmel said, “Collective agreements are in place and must be respected. Besides, the bilingual bonus is the one tangible means the government has of recognizing the value of knowing both official languages.”

Turmel added that the PSAC is a strong supporter of the government’s Official Languages program.  The PSAC has always maintained that Canadians are entitled to receive services in the language of their choice and the federal government must keep a structure capable of delivering services in both official languages in place.

Turmel also indicated that her union opposes Robillard’s suggestion of making bilingualism mandatory for all jobs with the federal government.

 “Requiring all potential workers in the federal government to be bilingual upon appointment would deny access to federal government jobs for a large number of Canadians and could be considered a discriminatory  practice based on language.” said Turmel.

She also said that the PSAC supports the system in which employees are given the opportunity to learn the other language in order to meet the requirements of a job.

“The federal government has a duty to provide adequate language training to its employees,” said Turmel. ‘There was a good system in place before, but that system has been eroded by repeated budget cuts.”

The Public Service Alliance of Canada believes strongly that the federal government must reinvest heavily in language training for its work force in order to provide all Canadians with services in the language of their choice.

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For Information :        Nycole Turmel

                                    President, Public Service Alliance of Canada (613) 560-4330

42-281102