Federal public employees prepare for showdown with Tories

PSAC putting together national campaign to 'defend public services' across Canada

Ottawa (2 May 2006) - The largest union representing federal public sector workers in Canada is preparing for a showdown with the Harper Conservatives by asking members to fund a major campaign to defend public services and to gear up for the next critical round of collective bargaining.

The main concerns are potential program cuts, contracting out and privatization, the same issues that confront public sector employees at all levels of government in Canada.

The determination to fight back is critical as similar fights have shown at other levels of government.

Most recently, the biggest component of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) won a major victory over privatization in Ontario.

After a failed five-year experiment with private management of a new Ontario "super jail" at Penetanguishene, the province has just announced that it will bring the work back "in-house" for public employees to manage. The decision follows years of work by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) to defend the public sector and to expose the flaws of privatization.

Tory prison industry?

The management of correctional services will also be one of the major issues at the federal level in coming years. The potential for privatization is massive when the huge increase in the prison population, posed by Conservative law and order plans, is taken into consideration.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his ministers have gone out of their way to say publicly they respect public employees and the work they do. But there is a looming disconnect between what the government is saying and what it is making plans (short-range and long-range) to do.

In response, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is determined not to be caught flat-footed.

Besides funding for a national fightback campaign, it is also asking members to approve a $5 a month levy to bolster their strike fund before facing the new government in the next round of contract talks next year. A strike fund goal of $25 million has been set.

The twin initiatives, approved by the union's board over the weekend, will be presented to delegates for approval at the union's national convention in Toronto this week. The measures coincide with the first Tory budget, due for presentation in the Commons today.

Shortfall of billions

Economists are warning that the Conservatives cannot honour all their election and post-election promises without massive program and work force cuts. One calculation puts the overall cost at $22.5 billion compared with a maximum surplus (left behind by the departing Liberals) of $10 billion to $13 billion.

The PSAC campaign, which is bound to influence relations between governments and employees nationally in the coming years, will make the defence of public services a central priority for the foreseeable future.

The message will resonate at the bargaining table and in all of the union's research, advertising, lobbying, organizing and communications.

Nycole Turmel, PSAC president, says large federal cutbacks may be restrained while government remains in a minority position in Parliament but all bets are off if it manages to win a majority. As a result, the union will be "reading between the lines" of the budget to see the future direction that the government is plotting.

Private sector 'Temp' rip-off

One key area of focus for the union in the coming months will the $6.5 billion annually that Ottawa spends on consultants and other services, which could be "contracted in" and done by public employees at reduced cost. The union will lobby the Tories to set up their own temporary agency to hire 'Temps' and thus reduce the high fees now being raked in by private companies.

Another major goal will be to make Canadians more aware of how greatly public services affect their lives.

"We want Canadians to understand the importance of strong public services that everyone can access. Whether it's the water you drink, the beaches you swim at, the meat on your table, they are all done by public services," Turmel says.

Issues the union will be focusing on include:

Stronger "job security" and "contracting in" language for workers and protection for those whose jobs are "devolved" to other levels of government.
New organizing initiatives to unionize employees of contractors hired to do government work.
Better research to identify the scope of privatization and contracting out.
Analyzing the true effectiveness and cost to taxpayers of work that is privatized or transferred to the private sector.
Pushing for greater disclosure of all information related to the real overall cost of privatization and contracting out.
Greater involvement in provincial and municipal (as well as federal) elections where issues of privatization of public services is involved.

One of the biggest fears about the new government is that it harbours a hidden agenda on public sector issues because of the key role played by cabinet ministers recruited by Harper from anti-public-sector Mike Harris Conservative ranks in Ontario.

Flaherty, Baird and Harper

Jim Flaherty, the new federal finance minister, was one of the most-right wing members of the former Harris cabinet, and John Baird, the new treasury board president, was one of the biggest cheerleaders for Harris' so-called Common Sense Revolution. The infamous 1990s program gutted Ontario public services, handed huge tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy and left the province deeply in debt when Ontario finally threw the Tories out in 2003.

Harper has a similar personal background. Before his latest incarnation as Conservative leader and prime minister, he was president of the government-hating National Citizens Coalition.

All of these factors form a backdrop to what PSAC leaders will be asking members to approve this week. They are also aware the entire labour movement will be watching with interest. NUPGE