PSAC Strike 2023

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Strike could be last hurrah for Ottawa's core as public servants fight for telework

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press
Published Apr 25, 2023 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 4 minute read

...

She used to take two buses to get to work every day, but hadn’t returned to work until the strike started because of a medical exemption that allows her to work from home full time.

...

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...t-for-telework

Lol...

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Lol...

On the picket line Tuesday, Aisha Sow, a public servant for 18 years, said commuting into downtown for the last few days feels a bit like deja vu.

She had a medical exemption to work from home full time but she managed to make it to the picket line.

Wow! This says it all.

[J.OT13]

It's quite ironic that the Union is forcing its members to picket in person everyday while they are "fighting" for work from home.

[Admiral Nelson]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

She had a medical exemption to work from home full time but she managed to make it to the picket line.

Wow! This says it all.

It says nothing whatsoever except that she may not be in a privileged enough personal circumstance to afford to take an indefinite number of days off work without strike pay.

Any revelation beyond that speaks more to one's own personal biases, I reckon.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Admiral Nelson

It says nothing whatsoever except that she may not be in a privileged enough personal circumstance to afford to take an indefinite number of days off work without strike pay.

Any revelation beyond that speaks more to one's own personal biases, I reckon.

PSAC has an Accommodated Picket Duty option for those with accommodation requirements under the Canadian Human Rights Act. So that probably means the medical exemption from office work was probably something informally arranged with a manager, rather than something where a proper medical assessment was done.

[YOWflier]

She’s also probably receiving strike pay and her regular salary simultaneously. But yeah tough times.

[passwordisnt123]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

It's quite ironic that the Union is forcing its members to picket in person everyday while they are "fighting" for work from home.

I'm not sure I understand why that's ironic? Some things can be done remotely while others can't. My regular office work can be easily done from home (better than an office, in fact). Same isn't true of picketing. Picketing and office work are different types of things.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

I'm not sure I understand why that's ironic? Some things can be done remotely while others can't. My regular office work can be easily done from home (better than an office, in fact). Same isn't true of picketing. Picketing and office work are different types of things.

AFAIK the dispute is whether the workers get to decide whether their work can be done from home or not. PSAC is not giving them that agency.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

I'm not sure I understand why that's ironic? Some things can be done remotely while others can't. My regular office work can be easily done from home (better than an office, in fact). Same isn't true of picketing. Picketing and office work are different types of things.

Some logic in this statement. But the picketing is the secondary value of a strike isn't it? I assume withdrawing labor would be the central part of it.

[passwordisnt123]

Originally Posted by acottawa

AFAIK the dispute is whether the workers get to decide whether their work can be done from home or not. PSAC is not giving them that agency.

That is incorrect. The main dispute is over wages. TBS wants us to take a pay cut of 5% adjusted for inflation. The secondary dispute about telework is about codifying language around telework so that the employer can't unilaterally change the rules again on us like they did in December.

Since the start of the pandemic, the telework that's been in place has always been limited to positions for which telework was appropriate. For tasks that cannot be done remotely, there has never been telework in place even in March 2020.

[passwordisnt123]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Some logic in this statement. But the picketing is the secondary value of a strike isn't it? I assume withdrawing labor would be the central part of it.

Striking employees who don't want to picket can simply choose not to show up. Withdrawing labour is a part of it, raising public awareness and ensuring visibility I would think would be also very important tasks. As is monitoring the use of scab workers.

[JayBuoy]

Not surprised by the very conservative takes on this forum lol. Tories on bikes you lot

[m0nkyman]

Originally Posted by JayBuoy

Not surprised by the very conservative takes on this forum lol. Tories on bikes you lot

I’m fairly disappointed at the crabs in a bucket mentality. Personally I hope they get an above inflation wage boost and reasonable flexibility on WFH. Because that’s what I’d want.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

Striking employees who don't want to picket can simply choose not to show up. Withdrawing labour is a part of it, raising public awareness and ensuring visibility I would think would be also very important tasks. As is monitoring the use of scab workers.

The union says they won't get strike pay in that case. Not surprising lots of younger workers aren't striking.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by m0nkyman

I’m fairly disappointed at the crabs in a bucket mentality. Personally I hope they get an above inflation wage boost and reasonable flexibility on WFH. Because that’s what I’d want.

Didn't I see in the press recently that WFH (full time) is equivalent to a 17% wage hike?

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

That is incorrect. The main dispute is over wages. TBS wants us to take a pay cut of 5% adjusted for inflation. The secondary dispute about telework is about codifying language around telework so that the employer can't unilaterally change the rules again on us like they did in December.

Since the start of the pandemic, the telework that's been in place has always been limited to positions for which telework was appropriate. For tasks that cannot be done remotely, there has never been telework in place even in March 2020.

Yes Cannot be done like Airport security of course but there is a lot of work that was done remotely that is probably done better in person. Passports seems to be the obvious answer unless there is another reason the system collapsed?

[phil235]

Originally Posted by m0nkyman

I’m fairly disappointed at the crabs in a bucket mentality. Personally I hope they get an above inflation wage boost and reasonable flexibility on WFH. Because that’s what I’d want.

I think that the whole debate is missing a key data point - where their wages are now - below or above market. If they are already well above market, then I see less of an argument for big increases. If they are at market or below, then the asks are reasonable. I’ve never seen any neutral analysis of where compensation stands, but it probably varies by bargaining unit.

As for work from home, that is being a bit misconstrued. The government isn’t saying that they can’t have flexibility to work from home, just that the employer can’t give up the right to tell its employees where to work. That’s a pretty clear management right, and the union’s ask would be a fundamental re-write of labour law. From a practical perspective, just imagine how much the system would be bogged down by grievances if individual employees could grieve every time the employer told them they needed to come into the office. Not a recipe for a productive workforce. I don’t have sympathy for that ask.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by phil235

I think that the whole debate is missing a key data point - where their wages are now - below or above market. If they are already well above market, then I see less of an argument for big increases. If they are at market or below, then the asks are reasonable. I’ve never seen any neutral analysis of where compensation stands, but it probably varies by bargaining unit.

As for work from home, that is being a bit misconstrued. The government isn’t saying that they can’t have flexibility to work from home, just that the employer can’t give up the right to tell its employees where to work. That’s a pretty clear management right, and the union’s ask would be a fundamental re-write of labour law. From a practical perspective, just imagine how much the system would be bogged down by grievances if individual employees could grieve every time the employer told them they needed to come into the office. Not a recipe for a productive workforce. I don’t have sympathy for that ask.

Market rate is impossible to determine for so many of these people.

How much is the team that approved the Covid vaccine before the FDA worth? Should they make half as much as a pharmaceutical lobbyist?

Conversely a government admin assistant has nowhere near as much stress as a private sector "Secretary" does. They almost aren't the same job. Even the assistant to a Deputy Minister I'd argue has less stress than the secretary to the head of sales in typical car dealership.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

How much is the team that approved the Covid vaccine before the FDA worth? Should they make half as much as a pharmaceutical lobbyist?

PSAC doesn’t do this sort of job. Most PSAC categories have fairly clear private sector or municipal/provincial equivalents.

https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-bo...sentation.html

A few exceptions of course.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Market rate is impossible to determine for so many of these people.

How much is the team that approved the Covid vaccine before the FDA worth? Should they make half as much as a pharmaceutical lobbyist?

Conversely a government admin assistant has nowhere near as much stress as a private sector "Secretary" does. They almost aren't the same job. Even the assistant to a Deputy Minister I'd argue has less stress than the secretary to the head of sales in typical car dealership.

There may be some jobs that are hard to compare, but I don’t buy that these employees are all so specialized or unique that they can’t be compared with others doing similar jobs. If nothing else, you will have comparables in the provincial public services. (Nor do I buy that every private sector admin assistant has more stress than public sector admins).

There is a whole industry of consultants whose job is to classify jobs based on comparing duties and required skills. A company like Hay has a massive database of classifications and could give you market comparables for every job in these bargaining units.

To be clear, I am not saying they are overpaid compared to the private sector. In my experience, those at the lower levels tend to be paid higher than the private sector, while professionals in the public sector are generally paid less than they would make in the private sector, often by a lot.