LABOUR ~PSAC members Say their time has come | By KERRY McCUAIG The Mulroney government could be fac- ing its greatest labour challenge yet. Sitting in the wings are 180,000 public service workers, federal government employees who think their time has come. Their union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), is in negotiations. and is looking at catching up in an age of restraint. The majority of its contracts are up in May and for the first time it can realistically look at shutting down government operations in a country-wide strike. It won’t only be a test for government. Some say it will be a chance for the unwieldy Alliance to prove whether or not it is really going to bea union. The odds aren’t even. Public service unions are the infants of labour. PSAC wasn’t born until 1966 and even then it came about more by an act of Parliament than by traditional organizing. The Public Service Staff Relations Act brought PSAC into being, then chopped off its legs. The PSSRA prohibits raising any issue already covered in law. Staffing, seniority, hiring procedures, pensions and political rights, to name a few, are all non- negotiable items. Government has the power (and uses it) to unilaterally roll back contract gains that have already been agreed to. Before 1966, public employees had been covered by two staff associations, one based on departments, the other representing workers by region. PSAC’s founding con- vention married the two units, resulting in some pretty bizarre relationships. PSAC conventions, held every three years, elect the president and four table officers: Also sitting on the board of direc- tors are six regional directors and 17 com- ponent presidents, representing employees of different government departments. The latter are elected at separate conventions. A local may have 1,000 members, a few in each city across the country. On the other hand, one government office, with 10 departments, could have 10 components represented. Each department has its own interpretation of government policy. The result is workers, all employed by the fed- eral government, doing similar jobs in the same location, each working under different guidelines and conditions. Negotiations aren’t any easier. Try serv- ing 180,000 workers stretched from coast to coast, employed in occupations as diverse as typists to cowboys, grouped into at least 31 different units, each with separate contracts and different expiry dates. Add a strike situation where PSAC members could be forced to cross each other’s picket line and you have a trade unionist’s nightmare. In addition, PSSRA allows only 60-days notice before a contract expires. With so many different groups, negotiations drag out, often for two years or more. Treasury Board finds it in its interest to procrastinate, then dangle retroactive cheques before employees, and let outstanding debts take precedence over militancy. To defend itself, PSAC has consistently pushed for a master agreement, with one expiry date, covering benefits and working conditions. Finally in 1985, Treasury Board agreed. The master contract was a victory for the union, but at a price. In order for Treasury Board to even contemplate the concept, the PSAC compromised, agreeing to give up its right to strike and opting instead to use binding conciliation. It wasn’t an easy trade-off to sell. PSAC’s 1985 convention was probably its stormiest. Continued from page 1 Meanwhile, the hospital association has rejected UNA’s latest contract offer. A revised wage package asked for 85 cents, 50 and 50 cents over three years, down from an original demand of $1.50 over 15,months. The AHA is offering 46 and 53 cents, or 3.25 per cent. “The union has made all the move- ment,” said UNA negotiator Dale Fior. The hospitals have made no offer since negotiations broke down. before the strike began. The union stated that it would agree to mediation, provided the person has authority to discuss money. However, Hospital Minister Marvin Moore said hospitals will get no new funding. “(The AHA will) have no increases in salaries throughout the system, or if they do have increases, those must be offset by decreases in the number of people work- ing in the system,” Moore told the media. UNA has repeatedly emphasized its opposition to an arbitrated settlement, as outlined in the law. Bill 44 not only made it illegal for nurses to strike but it also set up a process whereby the arbitrator is obliged to take government fiscal policy into account in deciding a settlement. Ethier said the strike has exposed the injustices in the law and emphasized the sorry state of labour relations in the pro- vince. Nurses’ wages have only gone up seven per cent since the’act took affect. The AHA admits that picket lines are growing. Calgary representative Sandy Rentz said her members were “con- cerned, but. not discouraged” by the drawn-out process. “Their determina- tion is as strong as it ever was.” Public support is also siding with the Labour backing nurses P fiits} G98: hii = nurses despite exaggerated media reports of crisis conditions in the hospitals. Dozens of telegrams, letters and mes- sages have come in from unions, women’s organizations and individuals. Packed rallies in Edmonton and Cal- gary have declared their support for the strikers. Last Sunday 2,500 braved -25°C temperatures to demonstrate on the steps of the Legislature demanding Pre- mier Don Getty act to bring a just end to the dispute. Getty says he won’t talk to. the nurses until they return to work. The Alberta Federation of Labour has established a strike support committee which is attempting to meet with the premier and cabinet members. The provincial teachers’ association, steel, paper, transit, postal, railway and construction trade unions have pledged support to the nurses struggle. The Uni- ted Food and Commercial Workers local at Gainers Meats, which won country-wide recognition during a bitter strike in 1986, has pledged $1,000 to UNA. . Offers of support have piled in from unions representing hospital workers across the country, including Jack Gerow of the Hospital) Employees Union and James Clancy of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union who called the strike “a fight for all Canadian health and public sector workers.” Communist Party leader William Kashtan sent a telegram of support. Alberta CP leader David Wallis accused the government of undermining the health care system. Wallis credited the nurses union with waging “an heroic role” in the fight to restore free collective bargaining to “all workers and their unions.” 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 10, 1988 : Hi Fi ae Le mennnniiseseery | THE Gp Kk Diss ee aS See. nti => PSAC members picket Revenue Canada offices in downtown Vancouver during the last country-wide strike in 1986. Daryl Bean, then vice-president in charge of collective bargaining, repeatedly had to assure delegates the strike ban was a one- shot deal that would never be repeated. The convention conceded to his entreaties and following a two way race, narrowly elected him as president. Last round, the 31 groups still negotiated separately for wages and specific issues. The master agreement, covering most other items, was short on gains, but the principle was established. This time, PSAC is out for more than principle. Four years of the Mulroney Tories have left it reeling from privatization, technological change, contracting out, deregulation and cutbacks. Local leaders have been primed and have already lobbied their members of parlia- ment in an attempt to win support for a union proposal which would rationalize the bargaining process. PSAC wants the master agreement plus seven unit negotiations. It argues, the 31 tables are cumbersome and unnecessary. It also provided MPs with figures showing that its option represents a $1.5 million sav- ing on bargaining costs. However, in a twist, the Treasury Board now insists the binding conciliation/strike ban remain in place. Its representative walked out of the talks and charged the union with failure to bargain in good faith. But Ottawa may be underestimating the changing face of its work force. The grateful and dedicated civil servant imbued with the myth that a government job meant life long security is disappearing. The old guard, the military types, who were rewarded with a civil service job, are retiring. Today’s public service worker is young, university-educated, over-qualified for the job she’s doing and is _ prepared to take risks. “The currency of government workers has been reduced,” explained one activist, who.-asked to. remain anonymous. “We’re underpaid, our workload has tripled, our ability to serve the public has been seriously affected and we take the brunt of people’s frustrations when they have to wait hours in lineups to get service.” Public sector workers face the same frus- tration when they have to carry out government policy. Those who .expose department waste or.corruption are threa- tened or fired. They are inundated with speeches on cost efficiency, then watch as government repeatedly robs the public purse for its private sector friends. For example, Ottawa is busy contracting out its cleaning services. In one case, a single janitor on a military base was fired and replaced by a service firm at $100,000 a year. Restraint programs are also showing their effect on public service wages. For the first time federal workers are falling behind the private sector: According to a govern- ment survey, federal clerical groups make about 12 percent less than (largely unorgan- ized)-women doing the same work in the private sector. Job security is also a major worry with two-thirds of the staff on short term con- tracts in some departments. Consequently, PSAC had little difficulty in mustering up a contingent of strike cap- tains for each area. Members of the PSAC board met last weekend with activists in each centre to co-ordinate bargaining strategies. The union is more prepared than it has ever been going into negotiations and a strike is a serious option. It wants a wage catch up and protection against contracting out and tech change. And unless Ottawa wants its 180,000 workers.on the streets it had better listen.