Federal unions file complaints over increase to office time

Several federal public ser‐ vice unions are putting to‐ gether formal complaints arguing that by mandating federal public servants re‐ turn to offices at least three days a week in Sep‐ tember, the federal govern‐ ment is undermining col‐ lective agreements.

The government directed all public servants, with few exceptions, to be in the office three days a week starting Sept. 9.

That's an increase from the current rules that, broad‐ ly and varying by depart‐ ment, require these workers in the office either two or three days a week. These benchmarks can sometimes be averaged over a month rather than a given week.

The Treasury Board said it updated the policy to "maxi‐ mize the benefits of presence in the workplace and to bring greater fairness and consis‐ tency to the application of hybrid work."

Radio-Canada obtained a copy of the Public Service Al‐ liance of Canada (PSAC) com‐ plaints to the Federal Public

Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.

Dated Tuesday, it's not clear whether the two com‐ plaints about the Treasury Board of Canada - one di‐ rectly about the board and a slightly different one about a bargaining group's dealings with the Canada Border Ser‐ vices Agency (CBSA) - have been officially filed.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), the Association of Canadian Financial Officers (ACFO) and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) also indi‐ cated Wednesday they're fil‐ ing complaints.

WATCH | Federal union fights change to remote work:

The crux of PSAC's legal complaint, on top of ongoing concerns about work-life bal‐ ance, is that the deals that ended strikes last spring "re‐ quire] managers to assess re‐ mote work requests individu‐ ally, not by group."

Then last week, despite work being done to form a consultation committee, the government unilaterally changed the rule, it con‐ tends.

"Had there been any proper consultation, the gov‐ ernment would have under‐ stood the challenges our members face every day: in‐ adequate meeting spaces, in‐ sufficient workspaces and the absurdity of travelling to an unassigned workplace on‐ ly to attend virtual meetings all day," added Sean O'Reilly, PIPSC vice-president.

'Summer of discontent'

Both PSAC complaints allege the Treasury Board didn't bargain in good faith and is undermining the union's rep‐ utation.

The CBSA complaint adds that the government seems to have broken the Labour Relations Act by changing the rule while working on a new deal. The former deal expired in 2022.

PSAC wants the current two-to-three day plan main‐ tained. The union's national president, Chris Aylward, promised Wednesday there would be a "summer of dis‐ content" if that doesn't happen, saying he's encour‐ aging members to file their own individual grievances.

CAPE president Nathan Prier said he wants manda‐ tory time in office scrapped entirely.

"We believe last week's announcement … was not about improving productivity but about political gains," he said, nodding to the fact some politicians and busi‐ ness leaders want workers back in central Ottawa.

Tanya King is one worker hoping she won't have to spend more time in the of‐ fice.

"I'm worried that they will try to paint us all with the same brush and they're not going to consider individual‐ ized accommodations," she said.

King, who works for Public Services and Procurement Canada, is autistic and trans‐ gender. She said she has ex‐ perienced harassment and microaggressions in the of‐ fice.

After she received medical instruction to work from home full-time, she re‐ quested the government ap‐ prove a full-time remote working arrangement.

She's currently working from home five days a week while her application is under review and worries the change might jeopardize her request.

King also thinks more time in the office might hurt workers' productivity. She said capacity issues could lead employees to waste time they could spend tack‐ ling their caseloads searching for an open and functional workspace.

"I think as public servants we've proven largely that we work really well remotely," said King.

Anand's office, for its part, said "workplaces can accom‐ modate this transition."

Government has final say: minister

The minister told reporters outside a meeting Wednes‐ day the government has ju‐ risdiction to do this.

"A hybrid work environ‐ ment is not within the collec‐ tive agreements," Anand said. "It is something that, at the time of the negotiations, the Government of Canada retained prerogative over to determine the scope of the hybrid environment."

While Anand didn't stay to elaborate, a letter on a "shared understanding" on telework exists separately from the collective agreement on websites for both the federal government and the union.

Gilles LeVasseur, a parttime law professor at the University of Ottawa, said he doesn't think the govern‐ ment will back down on the change to three days a week.

Legal action could lead the government to imple‐ ment more accommodations for workers or address issues such as workspace and park‐ ing availability, he said.