Union holds rally as Non-Public Funds strike hits 135-day mark

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The Public Service Alliance of Canada held a rally outside of the National Defence Headquarters in downtown Ottawa on Tuesday, as 200 Non-Public Funds employees working for Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services remained on strike.

The strike, which originally involved around 500 workers across Ontario and Quebec, has reached 135 days.

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The group of union members, including from PSAC and the Union Of National Defence Employees, met shortly after 12 noon outside the Shaw Centre, where a PSAC convention was taking place, before walking over to the government building at 101 Colonel By Dr.

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Rain began falling just as the group started to march, with many members donning clear ponchos, waving union flags and chanting “So-so-so-solidarity” and “NPF: Not paid fairly.”

Military police showed up at around 12:30 p.m. and asked members to move a food truck and union truck that were blocking the building’s driveway.

Only those NPF workers in Quebec remained on the picket lines as of Tuesday, as 71 per cent of workers in Kingston, Petawawa and Ottawa voted in favour of a settlement during ratification votes in April and then returned to work.

Non-Public Funds staff working at bases in Bagotville, Montreal–St-Jean and Valcartier voted to reject the deal.

The settlement between PSAC and Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services, reached through mediation, included wage increases of 13.75 per cent over three years and a commitment from the agency to consult the union on implementation of a national job classification for workers — a key bargaining issue for Non-Public Funds employees — with the goal of creating a national wage grid.

According to PSAC, Non-Public Funds staff in Quebec are the “least paid NPF members in the country.” The union’s website indicates that wage gaps for various positions across military bases in Canada range from $1.05 per hour to $9.97 per hour.

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Derek Belley, president of UNDE Local 10581 in St-Jean, said no significant offer had been made by the employer since the strike began. While the goal isn’t to remain on strike, he said, members are ready to keep going if needed.

This newspaper reached out to CFMWS, which declined to comment.

Karine Côté, a NPF employee, fitness instructor and vice-president of UNDE Local 10581, said being on strike for so long had shown members that their employer “doesn’t respect” them.

“We will keep going because, at St-Jean, the fitness instructors have half of the staff because nobody wants to come to work for the employer because the entry salary is too low,” Côté said, noting that starting pay was $19 an hour, though all staff had university degrees and lifeguard certifications.

Côté, who works to help military members pass their physical tests, said she chose to stay in the job as it’s rewarding. She said, however, that wages were a big issue, noting the discrepancies across bases and between NPF workers and those in the core public service, such as fitness instructors working for the RCMP.

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Working on behalf of the chief of the defence staff and under the authority of the defence minister, CFMWS is a separate agency, with NPF workers supporting Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans and their families by delivering morale and various welfare services such as financial planning and recreation.

As staff are not National Defence or Treasury Board employees, having been excluded from the Public Service Employment Act, they have their own pension and pay systems and collective agreements.

Outside DND headquarters, Cathy O’Kane, vice-president for the Non-Public Funds with the Union Of National Defence Employees (UNDE), said it was time for the employer to be “called to action” by the military.

“They talk a good talk about and caring about the military, caring about the families of the military and yet, many of our members are military spouses,” she said. “It is time they stop treating us like second-class citizens and give these people a decent wage.”

UNDE national president June Winger said the government needed to pay its employees better in order to deal with the ongoing retention problem that had existed for 15 years.

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“The national defence budget’s increasing. Pay your people,” Winger said.

According to the 2024 federal budget, defence spending on a cash basis will rise from $29.9 billion in 2023-24 to $33.8 billion in 2024-25 and $44.2 billion in 2025-26, taking into account adjustments related to the government’s refocusing spending exercise. Major investments over the next few years include replacing Canada’s satellite communications equipment and replenishing supplies of military equipment.

“Members have been working all these years, just accepting less and less and less until their backs were against the wall,” Winger said, adding that this was the first time NPF workers had gone on strike. “At this point, they know what they’re worth and they just simply cannot accept less.”

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