From February 27 to the 29, your bargaining team was hard at work trying to reach a deal with the Employer. While the Union showed up ready to reach a fair deal, the Employer came to the table insisting on removing many of your collective agreement rights, while at the same time refusing you fair compensation for your hard work.
What remains at issue?
- Our members deserve fair compensation for the work they do – despite your working without economic increases throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and through times of extremely high inflation, the Employer will not agree to fair economic increases, nor reasonable increases to your allowances.
- Travel in Canada’s North is expensive and becoming more so. The Employer wants to remove your lump sum Vacation Travel Assistance allowance (VTA) and pay it to you bi-weekly – we believe a lump sum VTA is critical to offsetting the high costs of travel in Canada’s North.
- The Employer wants to punish employees with substance use disorders – the Union believes substance abuse disorders are medical disabilities and is insisting that employees with disabilities receive support and protection, not shame and stigmatization.
- The Union continues to seek improvements to vacation accruals, paid leave for employees required to quarantine by public health officials, paid leave for employees facing domestic violence, the establishment of a committee to explore retirement plan options, and protections related to your access to hunting, fishing, harvesting and cultural leaves.
What’s Next?
Because impasse has been reached at the bargaining table, the Public Service Alliance of Canada will be filing for conciliation We will continue to provide you with updates as the conciliation process progresses.
As always, membership support will be key to success at the bargaining table. Please ensure your contact information is up to date so you receive all the latest updates. If you have questions or concerns, contact your bargaining team, or visit the UNW and PSAC websites.
In Solidarity,
Your UNW/PSAC Bargaining Team