23 August 2004

Huge public sector strike looming

The following article is excerpted from the 22 August 2004 edition of “globeandmail.com”. Customs Inspectors are not permitted to go on strike, but can engage in information pickets; it is possible that their union will be in a strike position by the beginning of October. We will keep members appraised of this situation as it progresses.

Pension cheques could be delayed, border inspections slowed and picket lines set up around the country if more than 130,000 federal public servants follow through on threats to walk off the job as early as September.

Prime Minister Paul Martin and the vast majority of employees represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada are on a collision course in contract negotiations.
Neither side shows much willingness to budge.

Already, 4,800 Parks Canada workers have been off the job for more than a week.

And the next outbreak of job action could involve 24,000 taxation workers at Canada Revenue Agency, who may be in a legal strike position by Labour Day.

Both sides at the tax agency expect a conciliator's report this week that could bring them back to the bargaining table.

If that fails, Revenue workers will be in a legal strike position one week after the conciliator's report is released.

The timing for political Ottawa is particularly critical.

Mr. Martin's Liberals barely won power in June, re-elected with only a minority government, yet they don't appear at all anxious to keep labour peace by quietly settling with their largest union.

Instead, the federal government seems ready for a nasty dispute that some say seems designed to save millions in public sector salaries for use instead on the prime minister's main political agenda items: increased spending on health and cities.

“The government wants to take a fairly hard line in this round of bargaining,” said Gene Swimmer, a labour economist at Ottawa's Carleton University.

“That's the political strategy...that it might be viewed positively [to] take a tough stand with their public employees to show Martin can be tight with public funds, to distinguish himself from the previous group in power,” under former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Mr. Martin's government has made belt-tightening within some parts of Ottawa's budget a top priority.

For months, Treasury Board has spearheaded a massive program review to find savings within existing budgets for new spending priorities.

On the labour front, it dramatically upped the ante recently by refusing to endorse a precedent-setting contract that would give mostly clerical workers in the Auditor-General's office raises of about 4.5 per cent in a two-year deal.

That has sent a harsh signal to workers that they're in for very tough time, says Mr. Swimmer.

Workers are ready for the fight to gain better wages and protection for whistle-blowers, says Nycole Turmel, president of the 155,000-member public service alliance.

“At all government agencies, there will be minimum services nearly everywhere. We'll set up picket lines, information sessions” around the country, warns Ms. Turmel.
“At most federal departments, there will be some problems.”

Six groups within the alliance — including a massive unit representing clerical and professional staff — will be in a legal strike position before the end of September, says Ms. Turmel.

That includes tax office employees and workers at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency along with the parks staff, she says.

Demands vary between segments of the union, but workers on average want wage hikes of about four per cent in each of a three-year deal, says Ms. Turmel.

Treasury Board, which is the official employer for most federal bureaucrats, has offered average increases of only about 1.75 per cent, 1.25 per cent and 1.25 per cent over a three-year contract retroactive to mid-2003, according to the alliance.

Treasury Board is refusing to comment on the labour situation….

Ottawa's offer is below the national average for wage settlemen