[Tb-bargaining] News Release: PSAC tells Harper government to get real

[Patrick Bragg]

OTTAWA * After a year of bargaining, negotiating teams for the Public
Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are less than impressed with the
Harper government*s wage offer tabled this week. The government has
offered increases of 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.2% in a four year agreement
retroactive to 2007.

*The government*s proposal is an insult and a joke,* says Patty
Ducharme, PSAC*s national executive vice-president. *The wage offer
is below current inflation and well below projected inflation rates. It
doesn*t even allow our members to stand still.*

Gas prices alone have risen by over 25% over the past year and are
projected to rise by another 15 to 20% before the summer is over. *A
wage offer that reduces our members* real income also has a ripple
effect on sectors such as manufacturing and tourism that are already
being hard hit by the high Canadian dollar and rising gas prices.*

*How does the government think it can recruit and retain workers with
this kind of offer,* says Ducharme. *Wages may be moderating in the
face of an economic downturn but both public and private sector wage
settlements were much higher in 2007 than the 1.5% being offered by the
Harper government.*

*When gas hits a dollar fifty a litre or more, we will have to pay.
When food prices rise, as they are around the world, we will have to
pay. When our children*s tuition fees increase because of government
cutbacks, we will have to pay.*

According to Ducharme, the Harper government already has a dismal
record on the economy and this is just one more example of its failure
to protect workers* jobs and incomes.

*Our members provide quality services to Canadians from coast to
coast to coast. What we expect is a fair increase that protects our
purchasing power and compensates us for increased productivity.*

The Treasury Board offer is in stark contrast to a settlement between
PSAC and the Canada Revenue Agency reached last fall. The union
negotiated a 2.5% increase in each year of a three-year agreement
starting in 2007, in addition to another 1.6% average increase resulting
from a new classification plan.

*Our members at Treasury Board are continuing to fall behind their
counterparts at the CRA, thanks to an out-dated federal classification
system,* says Ducharme. *This latest offer just compounds the
problem. In addition, the offer does not address an ongoing problem in
the Operational Services unit. Unlike 93% of the federal public sector,
these workers are still paid on a regional basis.*

PSAC represents over 100,000 workers in five Treasury Board bargaining
units.