Dear workers

Federal public servants may have been casting their minds back Thursday to an incident in May 2012. Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt was walking through the corridors of Pearson International Airport in Toronto when a commotion arose around her.

Members of the union representing Air Canada workers had spotted her and staged a sarcastic slow clap as she passed by. They were angry the minister had legislated them back to work.

Three Air Canada groundworkers were suspended for the stunt. Other workers staged a wildcat strike, and dozens of flights were delayed or cancelled.

It was at that moment that Stephen Harper’s Conservative government — and Raitt in particular — became the bastion of union-busting in the eyes of labour groups across the country.

Why would federal workers be reminded of that day?

Because Stephen Harper posted an open letter this week extolling the civil service and busting “misinformation” that his government was going to implement a crackdown on benefits.

Some things may have proved comforting. For example, he insists he’s not planning any more tricks with pensions.

“Since 2012, the Government has not proposed any other changes to the public service pension plan nor are any contemplated. We will not be moving away from the current defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan, target benefit plan, or any other shared-risk model.”

That should prove quite a relief, considering most other private-sector pensions abandoned defined benefit plans years ago, leaving pensioners at the mercy of the markets.

But Harper has not shown much love for public servants over the years.

The gagging and tethering of government scientists has been a particular sore point. Even on the campaign trail, he’s been taking potshots at bureaucrats over who should handle the public purse.

Worst of all, Harper’s letter offers no consolation on one of the main sticking points of current negotiations: sick leave.

“The Conservatives want to scrap the existing sick leave regime and replace it with a new short-term disability plan,” the Ottawa Citizen explained Thursday. “The government proposes reducing the number of annual sick days a year from 15 to six and abolish much of the 15 million days of banked unused sick leave.”

It may be a Cadillac plan now, but unions fear Harper plans to turn into a Ford Pinto — even threatening to legislate changes if necessary.

And if you’re wondering what’s inspired the sweet talk to this one sector right now, you need only look at the polls. Here’s the Citizen’s take: “With Conservatives facing tough challenges in a number of Ottawa-area constituencies — including John Baird’s former riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, the Tories put on a full-court press Thursday to try to solidify the support of voters in the National Capital Region and combat recent announcements from the NDP and Liberals about their commitments to the public service.”

You can bet it’s going to be a tough sell.