[Tb-bargaining] PSAC members ratify new agreements with Treasury Board

[Patrick Bragg]

News release: PSAC members ratify new agreements with Treasury Board

OTTAWA - Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working for
Treasury Board have accepted new collective agreements that contain no
concessions for four bargaining units representing more than 100,000
workers.

With these agreements, PSAC achieved some significant breakthroughs:

    * The establishment of national rates of pay for members of the
Operational Services (SV) group. This concludes a 41-year battle to
remove regional rates of pay for trades people in the federal public
service.
    * Occupational group and classification review that we anticipate
will result in the development of new classification standards to better
reflect the kinds of work our members perform for the Program and
Administration Services (PA), Operational Services (SV), Technical
Services (TC), Border Services (FB), and Education and Library Science
(EB) bargaining units. The review work will begin with the PA group
within six months following the signing of the new collective
agreement.
    * Members in the Border Services (FB) group have also won an
agreement that reflects the nature of the professional services they
provide and compensates them accordingly.
    * The agreements also contain language that requires the government
to review the use of contractors and consultants in order to avoid
layoffs through strengthened workforce adjustment appendix provisions.

The four-year collective agreements, which expire in 2011, provide for
across-the-board annual wage increases of 2.3 per cent for the first
year from 2007 to 2008 and 1.5 per cent for each of the remaining three
years.

*Our union is proud of achieving these agreements which contain some
significant gains and no concessions,* says PSAC national president
John Gordon. *We were able to make these breakthroughs because of the
18 months of hard work put in by our bargaining teams and the collective
actions of our members, especially under a challenging bargaining
environment.*

The Technical Services (TC) group was unable to conclude a tentative
agreement and is proceeding to arbitration, with full support of the
PSAC.

*A clear majority of our members have voted to accept the tentative
agreements,* says Gordon. *We see this as a vote of confidence for
the bargaining teams and the union. We will now be focusing our
attention on ensuring that the occupational group and classification
review reflects the workplace and needs of our members.*