PSAC to replace outgoing president at event this month
National head Aylward not running for re-election after six years in role
Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Chris Aylward will not be running for re-election this month as the union enters a busy season, campaigning for the government to reverse its updated telework mandate and facing a potential strike of more than 9,000 border-services workers, according to a member of his union executive.
The votes for PSAC’S new leaders will take place at the 2024 PSAC National Triennial Convention, running from May 26 to 31 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.
Sharon Desousa, PSAC’S national executive vice-president, is running for the position of president. Alex Silas, regional executive VP for the National Capital Region, is running for Desousa’s current role.
Both candidates remain uncontested at this time, Desousa and Silas confirmed, though any member in good standing can be nominated and seconded right up until the time of the election.
“It’s still early on,” Desousa said. “Any member can run from the floor.”
Desousa said she was “quite excited” to be running for the position of national president, noting the election would take place on May 30. There are just under 600 delegates to the national convention who will take part in the votes.
“I started as a young worker getting involved in the union in my 20s and I never thought I would be in this position to move to different elected positions and present myself for the position of president, but here I am,” she said.
If selected for the role, Desousa said she plans to focus on ensuring members work in a healthy and safe environment and they have work-life balance.
Aylward took on the union head role in 2018. Before being national president, he was PSAC’S national executive VP. He first became involved with the union working as a shop steward with the Union of Taxation Employees Local 90000 at the St. John’s Taxation Centre.
This newspaper reached out to Aylward, who declined to comment.
“(Aylward) has been the national president for six years,” Silas said. “That’s gonna leave a big hole.”
Silas’s priorities in the potential role include being accessible to members, finding new ways to engage and communicate with members, and fighting for inclusive discrimination-free workplaces.
“PSAC also represents a lot of blue-collar workers, but then we also represent this huge portion of membership that’s in the federal public service that had to transition to telework,” he said. “Pushing for a new standard on remote work, it’s not just something our members want, it’s a better way of working, it’s a better way of providing services to Canadians.”