A year since a historic public service strike: Where are we now?

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It has been exactly a year since 155,000 federal public servants were on strike across Canada, many demanding higher wages and chances to work from home. While several promises were made to end the historic movement, little progress has been made.

Since last year, leadership has changed at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the population of the public service has continued to grow to about 368,000 at the end of March. The government has also cracked down on contract work, setting new guidelines for managers.

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Public Service Alliance of Canada members saw their paycheques adjusted relatively quickly after the agreements laid out wage increases totalling 11.5 per cent over four years. While employees also received retroactive pay and one-time payments of $2,500 by the end of 2023, they have yet to see much movement on the more long-term pledges around telework and changing the government’s layoff process.

Little movement on telework

When Treasury Board employees’ 12 days on the picket line were over, the union told them they’d be freed from a “one-size fits all” hybrid work model, with a letter of agreement between the parties promising creation of a joint consultation committee to review the government’s directive on telework, which discusses the management of individual telework agreements. The letter also promised departmental panels to address employees’ concerns about work arrangements.

A year later, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat spokesperson Martin Potvin said joint consultation committees had been established to review the Directive on Telework, with meetings planned with bargaining agents for April and May. The aim is for consultations to be completed by the end of 2024 or early in 2025.

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While the committees have been established, the government’s direction on prescribed presence in the workplace — which asks deputy heads to require public servants to be in their offices two to three days a week — and the current directive on telework remain in place, meaning public servants still can’t work from home.

“Some employees have been, and continue to be, present at their worksites full-time,” Treasury Board spokesperson Rola Salem said. “The Government of Canada is constantly monitoring the effectiveness of our approach to hybrid work and will adjust it as required.”

PSAC national president Chris Aylward said he thought there was a “misunderstanding” around which directive would be reviewed, adding he hoped the union would have a conversation with the government around making the policy on prescribed presence more flexible.

“They’re still of the position that the policy is still in place,” Aylward said, adding that the committee had at least made some progress on the issue. “Well, what we negotiated contravenes what’s in your policy.

“PSAC is not asking for our members to be working from home five days a week. We’re looking for something that’s easier, that’s equitable and that keeps the employer accountable.”

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The Union of Taxation Employees has a joint committee with Canada Revenue Agency and that group held its first meeting in August.

Panels in progress

As for departmental panels, Potvin said in an email earlier in April that they were still being established.

“Each department or organization is responsible for creating their own panels,” Potvin said.

Salem said Treasury Board was not tracking how departments implemented their panels.

“We do know that deputy heads are aware of the commitment the government made in the letters of agreement with several bargaining agents and are engaged in the process,” Salem said, noting that the government had helped develop tools to assist with creation of the panels and had shared them with the departments.

Aylward said the union called on the government to “be partners,” to help establish the panels and to fulfill the obligations agreed upon in bargaining “rather than delay the process with unnecessary bureaucracy.

“We expect to be able to share more details around these panels and how the complaint process will work,” Aylward said. “We’re gonna continue for all telework, all remote-work requests, to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”

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Aylward said the union was looking at options, including legal action, to progress on telework.

Still waiting for news on seniority rights

At the end of the strike, PSAC-UTE and the government agreed to submit a joint proposal to the Public Service Commission of Canada urging the agency to include seniority rights in the government’s Workforce Adjustment, or layoff, process.

Currently, the layoff process is based on merit, which PSAC says leads to “arbitrary and inconsistent” decisions. It also causes stress and anxiety as members compete to avoid losing their jobs.

During discussions, Aylward said the union and the government decided that equity should also be considered in layoffs given that many employees in equity groups were hired in recent years, resulting in a submission prioritizing an “equitable seniority-based process.”

PSC spokesperson Magdalena Bober said the organization was evaluating consultations about the proposal held late last year.

“The commission is reviewing the results of the consultation process, following which it will work with Justice Canada to finalize the drafting of the regulations,” Bober said, adding that the organization was assessing the Public Service Employment Regulations. “As per the regulatory process, the draft regulations will be published in the Canada Gazette Part I to facilitate further consultation.”

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Aylward said he expected there would have to be a “phased-in approach” to the new process to ensure it didn’t cause more problems than it fixed.

Review of bilingualism bonus underway

Following the strike, a review of the Bilingualism Bonus Directive was launched.

According to Potvin, the “cyclical review” of the directive is underway, with proposals, including those from PSAC and TBS, to be submitted this month to the National Joint Council for consideration.

According to PSAC, eligibility for the allowance has not been updated in more than 20 years, with the $800 bonus unchanged since 1977. The union said it was looking for that amount to be significantly more, noting that, considering inflation, $800 then would equal more than $3,000 now.

“If the Official Languages Act is updated to include languages other than English and French, for example Indigenous languages, these languages should also be eligible for an allowance,” PSAC said.

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