Not Backing Down

During negotiations with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, federal government negotiators tabled a proposal that would gut the sick leave provisions for employees of the federal public service.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report on August 14 that confirms PSAC’s assertion that the government is making reckless cuts to public services.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a new report today, concluding that it costs almost nothing extra to pay sick leave to federal civil servants. This is because most departments don't have policies in place to backfill for sick leave. 

When Yvonne Hein heard about Tony Clement's plan to take away accumulated sick leave benefits from federal public service workers, the PSAC/Agriculture Union member decided to let her MP know exactly how she felt about it. She wrote the following letter to Shelley Glover, Member of Parliament for Saint Boniface in Winnipeg. She has yet to receive a response.

On Wednesday, the Winnipeg Sun published an op-ed ("Sick of union entitlement") that called the attacks on PSAC members' sick leave "common sense".Prairies REVP Marianne Hladun had her own thoughts on the subject and sent the following response to the paper. Her letter was published on July 15, 2014.

PSAC filed an unfair labour practice complaint on Monday, July 7th in response to Treasury Board’s efforts to claw back sick leave benefits from employees.

We will be hosting two webinars on sick leave and collective bargaining for members who live outside the regional office areas or were unable to attend one of the multi-local meetings held across the region in May and June.All members from all employers are invited to attend and provide feedback in the ongoing fight back and share ideas for what we can do together to combat concessions and cuts to public services.    

Stephen Harper isn’t exactly a proponent of organized labour. He’s also not a big fan of strong public services or the public service workers that provide them. His government’s attacks on public services and union members across this country have been relentless.But PSAC members are fighting back. Last week members across the region took it upon themselves to counter the anti-labour rhetoric by submitting letters to the editor of their local newspapers.

Marianne Hladun submitted the following letter regarding National Public Service Week to the Winnipeg Free Press.

PSAC is calling on our members to boycott National Public Service Week for the third year. It’s important that we do not participate in events that claim to “honour” workers while simultaneously slashing jobs and forcing us into bargaining.