From CAPE's Young Members Advisory Committee.*
In a recent Ottawa Citizen article, young and old civil servants are said to be having a generational battle over Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s proposed changes to the sick leave policy. However, like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark, the voices of actual young civil servants are conspicuously missing from the piece.
The generational divide is real, but the conclusion that young civil servants are quietly supporting the proposed changes to the sick leave policy is unconvincing and unsubstantiated. In the article, Ian Lee, political commentator and the weaver of this narrative, admitted, “I am not saying all young people support [Clement’s proposal], but there is a significant number who do and whether that is 10, 20 or 30 percent, I don’t know.” From such reasoning, it is also possible that 90% of young public servants are against the changes, but like Lee said, we don’t know.
What we do know is that dissatisfaction with the status quo does not equate support for the proposed changes. Specifically, the proposed reduction of 15 paid sick days to 6 is certainly unfavourable to all generations involved. On this aspect of the proposal, where day-to-day illnesses and injuries are concerned, all public servants lose.
The generational divide comes when we look at longer-duration disability benefits. Due to shorter years of service, the current system requiring a 13-week waiting period disadvantages younger civil servants with less unused sick days rolled over from previous years. The new system requires only a 6-day waiting period, which is still unpaid.
However, requiring any unpaid leave before longer-duration disability benefits could kick-in would disadvantage younger civil servants who have student debts, new financial obligations, and less time to accumulate savings for emergency funds. According to Generation Squeeze, a youth equity lobby group, compared to the 1970s, younger Canadians have to save up to 3 times longer for a 20% down payment on a home and face lower incomes despite more postsecondary education. From this aspect, young people are left out of both the status quo and the new disability proposals.
The proposed changes are unlikely to benefit most young public servants considering the significant reductions in day-to-day sick leave from 15 to 6 days. In 2013-2014, significantly fewer public servants used the disability leave than those who benefited from more than 6 paid sick days. Further consultation with young public servants is needed to ensure the generation gap is not narrowed simply by a race to the bottom.
The divide between different generations of public servants must be addressed by rising up the standards of those who are at the bottom rather than by bringing down the working conditions of the entire population. Without solidarity between different generations, emphasizing the gap between generations is a bargaining tactic to make the outcome worse for all workers involved.
This is a joint response from young public servants of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).
*Please Note: This committee is currently inactive.
