| Welcome to the PSAC e-mail news for the period of June
23-July 11, 2003.
Acrobat format
In this issue:
Solidarity in action
Employees of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
(OPC) took to the streets to protect the integrity of their institution
and experienced union solidarity firsthand.
These members of the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE)
were demanding that their boss, George Radwanski, step aside during
the investigation into his actions. Other PSAC members joined in,
along with PSAC national office staff.
Doug Marshall, Regional USGE Vice-President for Ottawa, who is
also an employee of the OPC, sent a letter to the PSAC national
office to convey his appreciation: "Our members were very pleased
that the USGE national president was there to speak on this issue
to which they are very committed. It was a rewarding experience
for the local and the members. It is helpful to know that we are
not alone in this fight."
Doug Marshall being interviewed for television
via satellite.
Supreme Court rules against Bell Canada
PSAC/UPCE members at Canada Post can breathe a little easier now
that the Supreme Court of Canada has rejected an attempt by another
employer to put their pay equity case - and many current human rights
cases - in jeopardy.
Like many of the PSAC's long-standing complaints, the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers' Union of Canada (CEP) has been pursuing
pay equity on behalf of telephone operators at Bell Canada for 13
years. Rather than implementing pay equity, Bell Canada has been
spending time and money on a variety of technical legal objections.
On June 26, the Supreme Court issued its decision rejecting Bell
Canada's arguments. Bell claimed that it could not get a fair hearing
from the Human Rights Tribunal hearing the pay equity case because
these Tribunals were not judicially independent and could not be
impartial. If the Court had supported Bell's claims, all human rights
cases before Tribunals would have been affected.
The Court's ruling came one day before the Tribunal hearings into
the pay equity complaint against Canada Post were scheduled to conclude.
According to PSAC Regional Vice-President Patty Ducharme, "This
case is yet another example of why proactive federal pay equity
legislation is urgently needed. While we applaud the Supreme Court's
decision, PSAC will continue to fight for a proactive pay equity
law."
Federal public service workers with disabilities
Have you ever had any difficulty in getting your manager to alter
your job functions or modify your work environment to enable you
to function on an even keel with others? In other words, do you
need workplace accommodation? If so, you're not alone. In 2002,
nearly half of the complaints received by the Canadian Human Rights
Commission were disability-related complaints. In order to help
persons with disabilities play a role in changing the corporate
culture of the federal public service so that everyone feels valued
and respected, it is important to explore the actual experiences
of federal public service workers with disabilities.
This is the first learning exercise of its kind in the Canadian
federal public service and is scheduled to take place between July
and September 2003. The project will focus on the following objectives:
(1) to learn from the perspective of employees with disabilities
whether or not the duty to accommodate persons with disabilities
in the Canadian federal public service actually accomplishes what
it sets out to do; (2) to understand how managers are enabled or
constrained in their efforts to reasonably accommodate employees
with disabilities and (3) to offer insights to management for improvements
in the provision of workplace accommodation which will be founded
on the actual experiences of employees with disabilities.
Your experiences are important and necessary for the provision
of useful and meaningful insights on how to change the way the duty
to accommodate is perceived and handled in the federal public service.
Please consider contributing your story. You may leave a message
on a 24-hour answering service at 1-866-590-3300 (no charge)
or e-mail jlpdev@nbnet.nb.ca
as to how and when you can be reached. This learning project is
sponsored by the PSAC-TBS Joint Learning program and supported by
the National Committee of Federal Public Servants with Disabilities
(NCFPSD).
Public Service Integrity Office
Three representatives of the newly created Public Service Integrity
Office made a presentation at the last meeting of the National Board
of Directors. The representatives were Dr. Edward Keyserlingk, Public
Service Integrity Officer, Pierre Martel, Director, and Jean-Daniel
Bélanger, Senior Counsel/Investigator.
They explained that the mandate of the Public Service Integrity
Officer is to act as a neutral entity on matters of internal disclosure
of wrongdoing. The officer is there to help employees who believe
that their issue cannot be disclosed within their own department
or who raised their disclosure issue(s) in good faith through the
departmental mechanism, but believe that the matter was not appropriately
handled.
The Office is a policy-based entity and up to now it has played
a more reactive role. However, the officers intend to play a more
proactive role in the future to address systemic problems that need
to be resolved.
The NBoD reacted very positively to the presentation.
Point of clarification
The article on Sylvana Chiasson and her several weeks of paid
leave resonated with a lot of readers who would like to be extended
the same entitlement. We must, however, clarify a point. The decision
made regarding Sister Chiasson's case is the result of a local agreement
and was not precedent-setting. If the decision had been made by
an adjudicator, other PSAC members would be able to use it to support
their own claims under similar circumstances. It does not apply
in this case. Members who leave the public service and return later
can have their service count toward paid leave, subject to certain
conditions. To find out more about this, click
here.
Treasury Board ordered to stop discriminatory
practice on marriage leave
Following an order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, Treasury
Board has instructed federal public service managers to grant up
to five days leave with pay to employees in same-sex relationships
when they apply for marriage leave.
The Treasury Board bulletin, dated June 10, 2003, was circulated
about two weeks after complaints due to be heard by the Tribunal
in late May were settled and a consent order followed in favour
of three federal government employees, two of whom are PSAC members.
Management had denied the three applications for marriage leave.
They charged that management's denial was discrimination based on
sexual orientation and challenged the denial both through the grievance
process and by filing complaints with the Canadian Human Rights
Commission. The members' grievances and complaints were supported
by the PSAC and their Component, the Union of Taxation Employees,
from the outset. Similar denials of leave to several other PSAC
members remain the subject of outstanding grievances filed with
the Public Service Staff Relations Board, as well as human rights
complaints. It is hoped that the Treasury Board bulletin will prompt
a quick resolution of these cases.
The Tribunal Order included granting the complainants annual leave
credits that was denied to them in their application for marriage
leave and $5,000 each for pain and suffering. The Tribunal also
gave Treasury Board six months from the date of the order to do
away with the discriminatory practice in their application of marriage
leave. The Treasury Board also mentioned that it will try to set
up talks with unions representing federal public employees on how
to implement the Tribunal Order.
The PSAC considers this a milestone victory. The union has a long
history of pushing for full recognition of the rights of same-sex
couples during negotiations with Treasury Board and federal agencies.
This history is reflected in a Convention resolution that sets up
a vision of collective bargaining that is committed to ensuring
that all members achieve workplaces that are barrier-free and without
discrimination and harassment.
New members
Seventy cleaners at Canadian Forces Base in Petawawa cast their
ballots on June 2, 2003 and voted in favour of joining the Public
Service Alliance of Canada. AT CFB Borden, one hundred cleaners who work for the
same employer have already voted in favour of joining PSAC. They
will start bargaining for a first contract in July 2003.
Union activists from both bases are now exploring
the possibility of coordinating their bargaining.
Photo:
Last row: Angèle Cadieux, Helen Logan, Bob King
Third row: Claudette Côté, Robyn Morgan, Lynda Blackmore
Second row: Mary Rediker, Mary Chamberlain
Front: Evelyn Tomaso
Local Development in Shediac
On May 23, 2003, the Executive and Shop Stewards of GSU Local
60018 from the Superannuation Directorate in Shediac, New Brunswick
participated in a retreat at the Moncton Regional Office as part
of the PSAC's Local Development program initiative.
Regional Representative, Anna Goguen, conducted workshops on how
to run annual general meetings efficiently, as well as on classification
and the recruitment of active members within the Local. Several
ideas and projects emanated from these discussions. Exercises were
done in order to: determine the strengths and weaknesses of the
local, work towards recruiting new shop steward, ensure the continuity
of the work already in progress by the local, advise members on
classification grievances and how to get more members involved in
union activities, etc.
It was a productive session and the Executive was very pleased
with the outcome. They set themselves some short-term goals, which
will undoubtedly pave the road for their long- term objective goals.
This executive is devoted, hard-working and committed to their membership.
Retired and unionized
You can now retire and retain several benefits of union membership
by joining the Association of Public Service Alliance Retirees (APSAR).
That's right. With APSAR, you can still participate in the fight
to protect and improve working conditions while continuing to receive
representation services you had as a member of the Public Service
Alliance of Canada.
Through APSAR, you are kept informed about all issues that affect
retirees and can continue to enjoy discounts on products and services
to which you were entitled as a PSAC member.
To join APSAR before you retire, contact your local president
or the APSAR national office at (613) 567-0385 or by email at apsar@psac-afpc.com
Erratum
In the previous Union Update, we wrote that, in 1982, the
Assembly of First Nation, then known as National Indian Brotherhood,
declared June 21 as Aboriginal Solidarity Day. As Brother Tony Nicholas
has pointed out, the AFN called for the declaration in 1982; in
1996, Governor General Roméo LeBlanc declared June 21 as
National Aboriginal Day.
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