PSAC convention: ‘Beat back’ the Tories
Union calls on its members to defeat Conservatives in upcoming election
The largest union representing workers in Canada’s non-partisan public service is appealing to its members to defeat the Conservatives in the upcoming election as part of a sweeping emergency resolution to “beat back” the government’s attack on collective bargaining rights and sick leave benefits.
More than 700 delegates are gathered in Quebec City this week for the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s triennial convention.
The dominant issue will be an emergency resolution drafted after the government booked a onetime $900-million savings in last week’s budget to replace public servants existing sick leave benefits with a new short-term disability plan even though contract negotiations are still underway.
“It is time to get every PSAC member to vote to rid Canada of the Conservatives once and for all,” PSAC president Robyn Benson said in an opening speech to the delegates. “Never has political action been more important. We’ve had enough of the attack on labour rights and on equality groups.”
PSAC is the most political and militant of the 17 federal unions and has crossed the line for some public servants, such as when several of its locals endorsed separatist candidates in the 2006 election.
But this is the first time the union’s national leadership has pointedly told members to help defeat the government.
Federal employees must carefully balance their obligations as public servants — to be loyal and politically impartial — with their constitutional right to participate in political activities.
Benson, who is seeking a second uncontested term as PSAC’s president, said she has never told members how to vote. In the last election, she said, the union urged members to get out and vote while reminding them of the Conservatives’ track record on public services.
This time, she said, the government went too far, and its plan to bring in a new short-term disability plan whether a deal is negotiated or not is the “straw that broke the camel’s back.
“We are saying enough is enough. We have to defeat this government,” she said in an interview.
In her speech, Benson rhymed off the Conservative policies she said were widening the inequality gap, stretching public services to the breaking point, and trampling all workers’ collective bargaining rights. The message was clear: the attack on public servants’ benefits and collective bargaining rights is part of the government’s assault on public services to shrink the size of the state.
“Inequality … doesn’t just happen by accident,” she said. “It is the result of deliberate political choices by government. We can change those choices. We can change the government, and that’s exactly what we are going to do.”
The weeklong convention promises to be a pivotal gathering of the giant union as it maps out a bargaining strategy when it returns to the table with the government’s new position.
At the top of the agenda is an emergency resolution the union’s board of directors unanimously passed on the weekend calling for the union to mobilize, organize, campaign and take legal action against the government. It will be debated Monday.
The resolution “condemns” the Conservative government for eroding unions’ bargaining power, flouting their constitutional right to collective bargaining, reducing public servants’ severance, pension, health-care benefits, and now unilaterally taking aim at the 15 million days public servants have banked in paid sick leave.
Benson says the union won’t make concessions on sick leave. “If the Conservatives try to legislate any of our contracts before the next election, we’ll respond swiftly and effectively. We will not tolerate any interference in free collective bargaining.”
Sick leave is at the centre of the current round of collective bargaining that’s been underway for a year. The 17 unions are united in their refusal to give up the 15 days of bankable sick leave public servants now receive in exchange for a disability plan proposed by Treasury Board President Tony Clement. His proposal would limit paid sick days to six a year.
The unions are now under pressure to counter the government’s move, take action, or explain to Canadians why Clement’s proposal is unfair and doesn’t work. They have various legal options, such as taking the government to court or filing a complaint of bad-faith bargaining with the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board.
PSAC’s resolution also comes several days after the 17 federal unions met and reaffirmed the “solidarity pact” they signed a year ago to present a common front in this round of bargaining on sick leave. As the largest union, however, PSAC could signal, through its plan, that the other unions could take similar political action to “mobilize” and defeat the Conservative government.
The solidarity pact is an unlikely alliance of unions representing workers in very different jobs, from dock workers to doctors and prison guards to lawyers, but it has shown no cracks no far. Unlike PSAC, many of these unions have traditionally steered clear of militancy and any political activity that has even a whiff of partisanship.
One union official explained the solidarity pact was signed to ensure unity in opposing concessions on sick leave. The various unions have agreed to co-ordinate and work together on any advertising and political campaigns, but each is free to “do their own thing” and tailor their campaigns to what their members want.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada approved a similar strategy to PSAC’s at its annual meeting several months ago when delegates voted to “take all necessary” political action — short of becoming partisan — to defeat the government.
“We very much want a change in government,” said PIPSC president Debi Daviau.
“Are we targeting Conservatives? … In strict partisan terms no, but we will be holding the Conservatives’ feet to the fire on the issues that are important to our members.”