With the filing of the omnibus Budget Implementation Bill on May 7, the Conservative government signals the end of the negotiations in the federal public service and contravenes the recent Supreme Court decision on the right to free collective bargaining.
"C-59, which will certainly be adopted by the Conservative majority, sets several working conditions of some 200,000 employees of the federal public service, particularly with regards to sick leave and short term disability, outside the framework of bargaining," says the President of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), Emmanuelle Tremblay. In doing so, the government is denying what it said two weeks ago on budget day, when it said it wanted to negotiate such changes in good faith. Again, this government adjusts its laws to do what it cannot achieve through free bargaining."
CAPE, like other unions in the federal public service, condemns this illegal intrusion into free collective bargaining. "The courts have reaffirmed with the recent Supreme Court decision concerning the right to free collective bargaining in the case involving the government of Saskatchewan: it is a principle protected by the constitution and even the government cannot ignore the rights of employees in the federal public service," added the CAPE president.
This gesture, which shows the contempt this government has for the human rights of women and men working in the federal public service, is also another step towards the dismantling of the Canadian democratic model. "Canadians should not be fooled by this government that claims to want to 'protect public employees and taxpayers' says Emmanuelle Tremblay. What it wishes to take from federal employees does nothing to improve the lot of the people working at minimum wage, without union protection and whose working conditions are precarious. This is just another ideological attack to push down the working conditions of all Canadians by legislating the unions into ineffectiveness. "
CAPE will gather its negotiating teams for EC groups (economists and analysts) and TR (translators, terminologists and interpreters) to decide how to return to the bargaining table in June as planned. We will also intensely inform and mobilize our members in the coming weeks. The union is also consulting the other public service unions to develop a strategy to counter this new attack.
