(Ottawa) The Treasury Board and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are still unable to reach an agreement on the dawn of the seventh day of the strike. The union intensified the means of pressure Monday by blocking the port of Montreal, but it still hopes to reach an agreement.
“The only thing in common that I now have with M.me Mona Fortier, it’s our optimism to settle this quickly,” jokes Yvon Barrière, first regional vice-president of the PSAC for Quebec, in an interview.
Hounded in question period by both the Conservatives and the New Democrats, the President of the Treasury Board replied that the government is working “very hard and tirelessly” to negotiate new collective agreements “fair, competitive and reasonable ” .
This round of negotiations has been heavy to bear. The union came to the bargaining table with 570 demands, I’m proud to say there are only a handful left.
Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board
The Treasury Board circulated a letter on Monday detailing the four points still in dispute: the salary increase, the inclusion of telework in the collective agreement, the ban on the use of subcontractors and the maintenance of the seniority as a criterion for keeping a position in the event of cuts.
“They always came back with 9% for three years,” laments Mr. Barrière. And they presented that to us with a small non-pensionable and taxable lump sum. The PSAC is calling for 13.5% for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 in order to catch up with inflation.
Some progress
Mr. Barrière acknowledges that there has been some progress on the issue of teleworking at the negotiating table. Treasury Board agrees to review this policy with the union, but still refuses to include it in the collective agreement. “If it stays outside, we will still be caught with favoritism where some managers will manage it the way they want,” explains Mr. Barrière.
With regard to subcontracting, a problem that made the headlines because of the juicy contracts given to the consulting firm McKinsey, the government has undertaken to reduce this practice, but not to eliminate it.
“We hope everyone understands that reducing it to zero would seriously compromise the government’s ability to deliver services to, and work for, the people of Canada,” the Treasury Board wrote in its letter.
The government would also like merit to take precedence over seniority in determining who could keep their job in the event of cuts in the public service.
Services disrupted
The strikers blocked the four entrances to the Port of Montreal on Monday morning in an attempt to increase the pressure. These disruptions only caused a minor slowdown, according to its spokeswoman Renée Larouche. The PSAC denounces the hiring of scabs to inspect grain destined for the Chinese and Japanese markets, which the Canadian Grain Commission denies.
“We have about fifteen managers who continue to do the inspections,” said its spokesperson, Rémi Gosselin. Companies that export grain must send composite samples representative of their cargo and would therefore hire private inspectors to do so, particularly at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal.
The Trudeau government had promised during the election campaign to table an anti-scab bill that would apply to federally regulated sectors, which it has still not done. This is one of the elements of the agreement between the Liberals and the New Democrats.
The strike is slowing down several government services. For example, passport applications are not processed unless they are urgent or humanitarian.
Contrary to what the union said last week, the processing of tax returns is not at a standstill.
“I want to reassure my colleagues to tell them that since 2015, this is the best tax season we have had,” ended up answering the Minister of National Revenue, Diane Lebouthillier, during the question period. The Conservatives repeatedly asked him if there was going to be a delay in tax refunds. “Ninety-five percent of people are filing electronically and there are no backlogs in payments,” she added.
However, the government is advising taxpayers that there could be delays in the processing of income tax returns, particularly those filed on paper.