PSAC Union Update for the period September 27 - October 8, 1999
The Alliance recognizes the struggle workers at Bell Canada have had to try to achieve pay equity, on hearing the news of a tentative settlement of the complaint. The tentative settlement was made public last week.
"These workers have had to face an employer willing to go to any lengths to avoid
dealing with the issue," according to Nycole Turmel, PSAC acting national president.
"Although their pay equity complaint was referred to a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
years ago, Bell Canada has persisted in using the courts to try to stop the complaint
process. The workers are also facing layoffs and the contracting-out of their jobs."
"It appears the unions at Bell have decided to take advantage of an opportunity to negotiate a settlement and forego the Tribunal process", says Turmel. "The PSAC, on the other hand, is well past that point. Back in 1997, the government tried unsuccessfully to convince Alliance members to settle for 25 cents on the dollar. A year later, a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal confirmed that much more money is owed to current and former federal public service workers in order to achieve pay equity. All that remains now is to work out the details of implementing that decision.
"While meetings have been taking place with Treasury Board, little progress has been made. The Alliance will be writing to Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard shortly urging her again to resolve the outstanding issues from the Tribunal decision as soon as possible. The union is also preparing for the Tribunal to reconvene to deal with these issues and awaiting Justice Evans' decision on the government's appeal.
"The Alliance is determined - more than ever - to do all it takes to make pay equity a reality, once and for all."
It was a long time in the works but on August 27, 28 and 29, the new Government Services Union (GSU) became a reality. The GSU is the result of prolonged merger talks between the Supply and Services Union (SSU) and Union of Public Works Employees (UPWE).
The delegates to the three-day convention elected Mark Brunell as their new president and voted in favour of percentage dues. "The decision to go with percentage dues was accepted by a large majority of the delegates," Brunell said. "As a result of this decision many GSU members will notice a reduction in their union dues in January."
Some of the most significant issues at the convention included finalizing the structure, adopting the three year budget and the approval of a Local president's conference between conventions.
The members of the new GSU executive, which includes President Brunell, are: National Vice-Presidents Jean-Paul Fortin, Bill Dennis and Suzanne Lambert; Atlantic Regional Vice-Presidents Michael Lavery (Nova Scotia), Randy Ford (New Brunswick & PEI), and, Jim Williams (Newfoundland and Labrador); Quebec Regional Vice-Presidents Denis Poirier (Quebec East), Pierre Laberge (Quebec West); National Capital Region Regional Vice-Presidents Nadine Lethbridge, Dan Charron, Wilma Findlay, Alex Sauvé (jurisdictions to be finalized); Ontario Regional Vice-Presidents Don Mahuda (Toronto), Robert Spencer (Southwest Ontario); Western Regional Vice-Presidents Scott Dagg (Alberta & NWT), Valerie Denesiuk (Manitoba & Saskatchewan); Pacific Regional Vice-Presidents Bob Graves (Lower BC mainland including Vancouver), Jack Gale (remainder of BC & Yukon).
All UPWE and SSU Locals have automatically become Locals in the new component. And, any mergers between Locals will be at the discretion of the Local.
Brunell said getting the merger finalized is thanks to the hard work of the Merger Committee which was made up of Bill Dennis, Mark Brunell, Paul Ducey (replaced by Bob Graves upon Paul's election as PSAC REVP), Suzanne Lambert, Alex Sauvé, Alain Seguier, Balwinder Dhaliwal and staff members Bob Kipper and Laura Griffin.
"We've still got a lot of work to do and we will probably experience some growing pains," added Brunell. "But together we will succeed in building a new and stronger union!"
Some 110 delegates to the Agriculture Union Triennial Convention in Halifax from August 25 to 27 elected Yves Ducharme from Quebec as president of the Component. Brother Ducharme takes over from Larry Leng who is retiring.
Delegates representing some 6,500 members of the Component also elected the other members of the Executive and adopted a number of resolutions. In addition to the president, the members of the new Agriculture Union Executive include:
Bob Kingston, first vice-president (British Columbia)
Pani Panickar, second vice-president (Prairies)
Romeo Leblanc, third vice-president (Atlantic)
Marlene O'Neil, fourth vice-president (Eastern Ontario and National Capital Region)
as well as regional vice-presidents:
Debbie Forsythe, Eastern Atlantic
Allan MacRae, Western Atlantic
René Desjardins, Eastern Quebec
Denis Sicard, Western Quebec
Barb Townsend-Batten, Eastern Ontario and Ottawa-Hull
Charles Prest, Western Ontario
Gerry Halabecki, North Western Ontario
Dawn Aisenstat, Manitoba
Ed Haussecker, Northern Saskatchewan
Dave Winsel, Southern Saskatchewan
Jim Koal, Northern Alberta and NWT
Steve Kaytor, Southern Alberta
Ruth McDiarmid, Eastern British Columbia
Bob Jackson, Western British Columbia;
and:
Madeleine David, Director, Public Service Commission
Louise Richard, Director, Department of National Defence.
Convention delegates adopted included a $0.19 Component dues increase per member per month.
Delegates also recommended that a resolution requesting PSAC members to financially support the Association of Public Service Alliance Retirees be discussed at the Alliance Triennial Convention next year. A resolution requesting the improvement of services provided by Sun Life, which is responsible to the federal government for the disability insurance coverage of Public Service employees was also referred to the Alliance Convention. According to the delegates, the government's insurer makes it difficult for workers to claim benefits.
Canada was the first government in the world to have enshrined a statutory protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the Canadian Human Rights Charter in 1982. However, as an employer, this same government has not shown the same eagerness to change its employees' workplace.
Michael Lynk, law professor at the University of Western Ontario, said that the various federal government departments and agencies have not followed the path shown by the Canadian government in terms of reasonable accommodation. Mr. Lynk is an expert in human rights issues and the notion of the duty to accommodate, which determines the requirements employers must meet in order to adapt the workplace of their employees with disabilities. "Some departments have been slow in implementing the provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Charter. As in the private sector, some departments reacted readily, while others even challenged in the courts the provision of the Act which forces them to adapt the workplace to the needs of their employees with disabilities," Lynk told the Access '99 participants.
Mr. Lynk spoke to some 60 participants at the PSAC Access '99 Conference. This conference, held in Montreal from October 1 to 3, was aiming at enabling these workers to establish networks and acquire knowledge and skills on disability issues. The purpose was also to give these union members the opportunity to develop strategies to promote their issues within their union.
Participants debated issues such as employment equity, disability insurance plans, their place within the union structure, and many others. In addition to Michael Lynk's presentation, John Rae, of the National Federation of the Blind, underlined the progress made in the last few years on the adaptation of workers with disabilities.
The Minister has appointed Jacques Lessard as Conciliation Officer and conciliation meetings are scheduled for October 6, 7 and 8, 1999.
Negotiations reached an impasse on September 8. Although many non-monetary issues were resolved during negotiations the Employer continues to stonewall the Union on monetary issues.
On September 13, the Alliance served Notice of Dispute (pursuant to section 71 of the Canada Labour Code (CLC)) to the Minister advising that the parties had reached an impasse. Because the First Level Supervisors are the first group at ADM that is completely under the new provisions of the CLC, the Minister can do one of the following: appoint a conciliation officer or commissioner or a board or just turn the parties loose to deal with a strike or lock-out. If the Minister appoints a Conciliation Officer, the officer will have only 60 days from appointment to bring the parties to an agreement or report out.
The Statistical Survey Operations bargaining committee met Sept 21 to 24 in Ottawa to finalize the package of demands that will be presented at the negotiating table. The bargaining committee elected a four-person negotiating team consisting of Laura Anderson, Vancouver, Trudy Hisson, Toronto, Lucie Michaud, Sturgeon Falls, and Barbara Willman, Edmonton. Robert Aube, Montreal, is the alternate. There is a strong desire on the part of the team to meet with the employer and to begin negotiations before the expiry of the contract on November 30, 1999.
On certain occasions, Treasury Board reclassified positions which were vacant. After an employee got the position and discovered that it had been reclassified, he or she would grieve the new classification. Before the Murphy amendment, Treasury Board would take the position that the grievance was invalid as the person did not occupy the position at the time the classification action was taken.
Treasury Board justified its position by stating Paragraph IV.A.2 at page 6 of the Treasury Board Classification Grievance procedure. This paragraph reads as follows:
"A classification grievance must be accepted as long as the grievor was occupying the subject position at the time the classification decision was rendered, and, provided the grievance has been submitted within the time limits."
As a result of the settlement in the Murphy Adjudication, the above paragraph has been, and is hereafter deleted from the classification grievance procedure.
The grievance procedure still contains paragraph I C.1
at page 1, which might be used by Treasury Board. It reads as follows:
"A classification grievance must be submitted at the final level of the grievance process, where the grievance relates to classification. An employee shall present a grievance no later than on the 25th day after the day on which the employee is notified orally or in writing or, where the employee is not so notified, after the day on which he or she first becomes aware of an action or circumstance affecting the classification of the position he or she occupies. An employee has the right to be informed of all actions or circumstances affecting the classification of his or her position."
The deletion of paragraph IV A.2 at page 6 implies that once employees become aware of the classification decision upon entering a new position they have the right to grieve. However, the employer might try to argue the opposite, and somehow use the content of paragraph I C.1 (page 1).
The Grievance and Arbitration section of the PSAC feels that the deletion of paragraph IV.A.2 should resolve this problem. We will await Treasury Board's approach to this issue as a result of the amendment and file grievances under section 21 or 23, as appropriate, if the problem persists.
A "foolhardy" decision by the Warden of the Edmonton Institution to suspend armed escort of maximum-security inmates has aroused the ire of the union representing federal Correctional Officers.
Lynn Ray, National President of the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE), is demanding that Correctional Service Canada (CSC), enforce orders that require armed Correctional Officers to accompany these dangerous offenders when they are transported to and from a maximum-security facility.
The issue first came to light last month, when the Warden of Edmonton Institution insisted that unarmed Officers escort an inmate with a history of violence, unstable behaviour and escape to a community hospital. The USGE maintains that both the Warden and the CSC's Regional Deputy Commissioner are disregarding a standing order requiring armed Correctional Officers to accompany inmates on security or medical escorts.
"As a maximum-security facility, the Edmonton Institution houses the most dangerous inmates across the Prairie region," said Ray. "These are high-risk prisoners that are most likely to be involved in escape attempts and to re-offend if at large. Increasing numbers are gang members with friends on the outside eager to assist in an escape, however violent. Seen in this light, the Warden's decision is reckless and foolhardy. It places both Correctional Officers and the public at dramatically increased risk. I am calling on CSC Commissioner Ole Instrup to intercede and enforce the Standing Order requiring armed escorts."