Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

On Tuesday, the strike made front page news in the Vancouver 24 Hours daily and Sharon Tieman, Local President, was quoted. Canada Post changed its strategy and picketers adapted theirs accordingly while morale remained high. On Wednesday morning at 8AM, PSAC members were joined en masse by approximately 300 Sisters and Brothers from CUPW, who “took a walk around the block”. Our members were hugely appreciative of this gesture and applauded them all the way. UPCE National President Richard DesLauriers is in Vancouver and also joined the picket line along with CUPW Local 864 President Robert Mulvin.

In Victoria, on Tuesday, really strong lines again received excellent support from the CUPW Executive who joined the picket. A unionized trades worker refused to cross the line to fix some issues inside the facility and told us he would return when the strike was over. There was support from a UVAE member as well. On Wednesday the weather remained cooperative while music and food was provided by the CUPW Local and enjoyed by one and all. As in Vancouver, large numbers of CUPW members walked the line in their show of support.

Read more some photos taken November 19 & video taken November 18 in Vancouver, click the thumbnails for a larger version …

Continue reading ‘PSAC / UPCE strike at Canada Post: Days Two & Three’

As its first priority, the PSAC has always been committed to protecting and enhancing the employment and economic security of its members.

While we regret Treasury Board’s statement of November 18, 2008 and implications of the Throne Speech, we understand them and are moving quickly to protect our members in this time of economic uncertainty.

PSAC President John Gordon has called PSAC Treasury Negotiating Teams to Ottawa and has had discussions with senior Treasury Board officials.

In the interest of protecting its membership’s rights, the PSAC will not be making any further comment at this time.

FORT LANGLEY, BC - Workers at Parks Canada and their supporters are calling on people who are participating in the 150th anniversary celebrations to consider respect for heritage workers as an important part of preserving and protecting the world’s natural and cultural heritage.

“Workers built, operate and maintain historic and heritage sites such as Fort Langley,” says the Regional Vice-President BC of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Kay Sinclair. “It only makes sense then that respect for heritage includes respect for heritage workers.”

Bearing the slogan, “Respect for workers is respect for heritage,” Parks Canada workers and their supporters will host a reception for members of the interested public and employees who work in and around Fort Langley. They hope to raise awareness about the important role of heritage workers and the need to ensure that governments committed to world heritage maintain the proper working conditions for workers to do their critical jobs.

Continue reading ‘News release: Parks Canada workers in Fort Langley raise importance of their role to world heritage’

SFU Speaking of the World presents PAKISTAN’S DEMOCRACY, Constraints and Opportunities in post-Musharraf era, a discussion with Dr. Mohammad Waseem, Former Fellow of St Anthony’s College Oxford is currently a Professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan.

In this free public forum, Dr. Waseem will examine Pakistan’s current situation by exploring the constraints and opportunities in the post-Musharraf era and its implications for the international community.

Continue reading ‘Upcoming: Pakistan’s Democracy - Forum’

Over 80 members PSAC members, accompanied by music, set up picket lines early Monday morning at the Canada Post main depot in Vancouver to protest against the corporation’s efforts to impose a new short term disability system that was clearly rejected by almost 9 out of 10 of those employees.

In Victoria, members picketed at the mail processing plant on Glanford Avenue. Both picket lines recieved strong support from fellow CUPW Union members, spirits were high, and the weather was very cooperative. Visit the national website for a strike bulletin from coast to coast to coast.

Here are some photos from Vancouver (click on the thumbnails for a larger version) and a video from Victoria …

Continue reading ‘PSAC / UPCE strike at Canada Post: Day One’

You’re Invited!

Welcome to Douglas Day festivities. This is the 150th anniversary of Governor James Douglas proclaiming the territory a British colony and he did it right here in Fort Langley.

• When: Wednesday November 19, 2008, 4PM to 8PM
• Where: Best Western Langley Inn, 5978 Glover Road Langley, British Columbia

Parks Canada employees working for Canadian Heritage work daily at Fort Langley to ensure these types of heritage events and sites are celebrated. We wish to invite you to celebrate Canadian heritage and meet the people who protect, preserve and communicate the significance of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage sites for the enrichment of visitors from around the world. More than 4,000 Parks Canada workers take on these very important tasks.

Please join us in celebrating their contribution to Canadian Heritage and the 150th Anniversary festivities. We hope to see you there.

As you may have heard, members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) who are employed at Canada Post and are members of Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE) Component walked out on strike across the country earlier today. They are facing an intransigent employer who is asking for significant concessions to their benefits which we have achieved in earlier rounds of negotiations.

Your PSAC Sisters and Brothers are in a fight for a fair and equitable collective agreement and need your support to achieve it.

Please contact your Regional Office to find out how you can support these striking workers. Members can join in solidarity on picket lines at the mail processing plant on Glanford Avenue in Victoria and in downtown Vancouver at the main depot on Georgia Street. The latest news and updates will be available here at the regional website.

Collectively, with your help, we will achieve a successful settlement.

Strength & In Solidarity, Kay Sinclair, Regional Executive Vice-President, BC

OTTAWA –Canada Post has chosen to launch a media campaign rather than bargain directly and in good faith with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), says the union that represents 2,400 striking Canada Post employees.

“Canada Post has not had a face to face meeting with the PSAC bargaining team since November 7,” says John Gordon, PSAC National President. “The PSAC bargaining team is fully able and willing to negotiate a collective agreement, but they need to be provided with sufficient opportunity to do so”.

Canada Post, on the eve of a strike, knowing full well that the PSAC bargaining team was not immediately available,chose to provide a single copy of a last minute offer to a mediator yesterday evening.

Shortly after, a press release detailing the offer was posted on the CPC web site.

“This is simply another example of CPC’s blatant disregard for its employees and the requirement to bargain fairly” said Mr. Gordon.

Continue reading ‘News Release: Union to Canada Post — bargain at the table, don’t negotiate through the media’

Parties Remain Apart on Several Fundamental Issues.

This past week our FB bargaining team met with Treasury Board/CBSA in negotiations for a first FB contract. The parties continued discussions regarding critical operational issues such as hours of work, Doubling Up, Alternative Working Arrangements/Telework, respect for workers’ seniority and the Arming Initiative. Our team reiterated to management the vital importance of ensuring that we have a voice in the hours that we work, the need for there to be protections in place around Alternative Working Arrangements for Trade Compliance Officers and other workers that have traditionally performed work duties off-site, and Doubling Up language for BSO’s, Inland Enforcement and other FB workers.

The parties also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Arming Initiative. As we have stated from the outset of negotiations, there must be language in our contract providing protections in the context of the implementation of firearms. CBSA/Treasury Board’s refusal to date to include language in our collective agreement over this fundamental change in working conditions for thousands of workers in the FB bargaining unit has been a serious stumbling block in negotiations.

Continue reading ‘Treasury Board bargaining update: FB Team Discusses Operational Issues’

Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) set up picket lines early this morning at the Canada Post mail processing plants in Victoria and Vancouver to protest against the corporation’s efforts to impose a new short term disability system that was clearly rejected by almost 9 out of 10 of those employees.

“Our members voted 88% in favour of strike action because they don’t want the new short term disability system,” said PSAC National President, John Gordon. “They just want to protect the sick leaves and family leaves they have acquired in the past,” he added.

The collective agreement between PSAC and Canada Post expired on August 31, 2008. The union served the employer a notice to bargain on May 1, 2008, and the negotiations began on June 4, 2008.

In defence of the strike, Gordon explained that members have considered the strike option only because they have been pushed to the wall.

Continue reading ‘News Release: Canada Post workers commence strike action’

Ottawa – Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) served a 72 hour strike notice yesterday to Canada Post Corporation to protest against the corporation’s efforts to impose a new short term disability system that was clearly rejected by almost 9 out of 10 of those employees.

“Our members voted 88% in favour of strike action because they don’t want the new short term disability system,” said PSAC National President, John Gordon. “They just want to protect the sick leaves and family leaves they have acquired in the past,” he added.

The strike will begin on Monday November 17 if negotiations remain at an impasse. The collective agreement between PSAC and Canada Post expired on August 31, 2008. The union served the employer a notice to bargain on May 1, 2008, and the negotiations began on June 4, 2008.

Continue reading ‘News Release: Union serves strike notice to Canada Post’

Dear Member,

The bargaining team was hopeful that a return to the bargaining table November 6 and 7 would result in a tentative agreement. On November 6 we tabled a proposal that contained new compromises in an effort to reach a collective agreement.

CPC responded with a third offer that was virtually unchanged from their October 30 proposals.

On Job Security – article 28.01, CPC again confirmed that they are not prepared to continue the past practice whereby all current employees receive full job security at the date of contract signing. This refusal leaves anyone with less than 5 years of service with no surplus protection and even more vulnerable to layoffs.

Continue reading ‘Canada Post bargaining: Strike alert’

posted on behalf of Nick Humphreys, BC Regional Council

Please take a moment to visit the Victoria Labour Council’s (VLC) new website and forward the link to anyone in the Southern Vancouver Island area who may be interested.

The site is a work in progress and hopefully will soon become the website of choice for union members in Victoria to learn about labour issues and events.  The VLC was founded over 100 years ago and is one of the oldest labour organizations in BC.

Continue reading ‘Victoria Labour Council launches new website’

by Samantha Sinanan, Steward, CIU (CEUDA) Local 20040

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) held their 25th Constitutional Convention this May in Toronto. The Convention was well attended by over 1700 delegates as well as guests and observers. One unsettling statistic, however, was the fact that out of the 1700 plus delegates, only about 60 were aged thirty and under. One can look at the bright side, and congratulate unions for doubling youth representation from the last Convention, yet the fact remains that in 10-15 years when the bulk of current activists retire, the movement will look much different.

If this chronic under-representation continues, there won’t be much of a movement left. In an era of increasing corporate globalization, privatization and contracting out, it is more important than ever to ensure that the labour movement in this country stays strong. Furthermore, young workers face some of the poorest working conditions in Canada and across the world. Youth involvement in labour activism is mutually beneficial; young people and unions need each other.

Continue reading ‘Unions Need Young People … and Young People Need Unions’

Since the employer continues to keep silent on all of the union’s monetary demands at the PA table, your team believes there is no option but to ask for the intervention of a third party.

The union will now ask for the assistance of a mediator in a process that has stagnated.

We’ve been attempting to negotiate with this employer for 19 months, and all we have managed to achieve is a return to the same agreement we had in the spring of 2007. In other words, the employer has dropped all of their concessions, but there has been no movement forward.

We came to the bargaining table with a mandate from the membership to improve a variety of articles in the collective agreement. In addition to a decent wage increase, we are seeking various allowances for members whose pay have fallen behind their market comparators, better vacation leave, a new classisafication standard for the PA group and improvements to union leave. It’s not just about a percentage increase, yet the employer’s current offer hasn’t improved.

Continue reading ‘Treasury Board bargaining: Only movement from PA Table: Bargaining to Mediation’

OTTAWA — Canada Post is resorting to unfair labour practices in its contract talks with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE), the union charges.

“Canada Post has issued misleading statements to its employees and is disregarding provisions of the Canada Labour Code,” says John Gordon, President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. PSAC is the bargaining agent representing the members of the component UPCE.

The misleading statements identified by Gordon appear in internal communications issued by the employer about a new short-term disability system that the corporation is trying to impose on its employees in order to replace existing sick leave and family leave provisions in the collective agreement.

On its internal website, which is accessible to all Canada Post employees, the employer indicates that changes to the sick leave and family leave provisions in the collective agreement will come into effect on January 1, 2010. This statement ignores the fact that these changes have not yet been negotiated with the union.

Canada Post’s proposed changes are highly controversial. Union members provided their bargaining team with an 88% strike mandate, largely based on their opposition to these leave proposals.

Continue reading ‘News release: Canada Post charged with unfair labour practices’