News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 9, 2010
Human rights museum staff in Winnipeg joins PSAC
WINNIPEG, MB – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is welcoming new members at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, after a successful three month campaign to secure workers’ rights.
The Canadian Industrial Relations Board granted PSAC certification on December 7, 2010 to represent all non-managerial museum employees after a three month card-signing campaign led by volunteers and PSAC prairie region organizer Véronique Allard.
Armando Perla, a researcher at the museum, was one of a group of staff who approached PSAC to organize a union.
"We work for a human rights museum," he said. “In the Museum's exhibits, we are featuring the workers’ movements that have taken place throughout history and we needed the union to make it a reality within the museum today. The union will make the museum a better museum.”
"This is a great coup for PSAC," said PSAC national president John Gordon. "We are pleased to be able to help staff at the first new national museum in many years, and the first located outside of the national capital region, gain the respect and recognition at work that they deserve."
Next steps for the local include choosing an executive, setting up bylaws and bargaining a first collective agreement.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada represents 172,000 workers across the country and more than 25,000 in the prairie region, the majority of who are in the federal public sector.
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