The Public Service Alliance of Canada was created in 1966, when the Civil Service Association of Canada and the Civil Service Federation of Canada merged to increase bargaining power.
Today, our strength comes from those same federal public service workers, alongside tens of thousands of members working in a wide spectrum of other workplaces.
PSAC members work together, support each other, and make our collective agreements and our workplaces better.
What we wish for ourselves, we wish for others, but not all workers can easily join a union. In BC, workers in small and isolated workplaces find it difficult to come together to form a union.
CDAs deserve a union: sign the petition
The BC Labour Code does not currently allow for union representation for workers across an entire profession, creating structural barriers for many precarious workers to unionize.
PSAC BC is working with the BC Federation of Labour on a landmark project that will create the mechanism for bargaining across multiple workplaces, within an entire sector.
This is known as sectoral bargaining and it will give thousands of workers the ability to join or form a union.
Sectoral bargaining makes us all stronger.
Many different types of workers and unions in BC who want to see this move towards a sectoral bargaining model are starting to build and mobilize towards this at a grass-roots level.
Over the past year and a half, PSAC BC has developed a relationship with a group of Certified Dental Assistants who have been organizing towards building their bargaining power and improving their working conditions by forming a union.
These workers perform key duties and make up the largest profession within BC’s dental industry, yet they are often excluded from the rooms where decisions are made. A workforce made up mostly of women, CDAs’ expertise and labour are regularly disregarded.
Many CDAs work in small and isolated worksites, where sectoral bargaining is needed in order for them to unionize.
PSAC BC is committed to helping CDAs achieve this goal and PSAC members have begun to meet with CDAs to build relationships and solidarity within our organizations. For more information, contact Heather Holdsworth, PSAC Regional Organizer.
Be part of our campaign to support these workers! Sign the petition today.
Tell the Minister of Labour that Certified Dental Assistants, like all workers, deserve a union.