Treasury Board and Parks Canada

December 7, 2006

Western Regional Conferences : All eyes are now on the National Conference

As soon as the Western Regional Bargaining Conference came to an end in Vancouver on December 3, the PSAC began to focus its efforts on the National Conference to be held in Ottawa in February 2007.

Much like their sisters and brothers had done in Montreal in November, some 175 delegates gathered in Vancouver to discuss, on December 2 and 3, strategies that will guide the next round of bargaining affecting 90 000 members at Treasury Board and 5 000 members at Parks Canada. They were also given an overview of the impact of the PSLRA on the upcoming round.

Indeed, collective bargaining for 130 000 PSAC members working in the federal public sector will now be governed by limits set out in the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA), previously known as the Public Service Staff Relations Act .

Mobilization is key

John Gordon, PSAC national president, explained to delegates that “the PSLRA will impact our bargaining timelines, especially in regards to strike votes. This is why effective mobilization strategies are so important.”

According to Gordon, with the Conservative government in power, the PSAC will make defending public services a vital part of its mobilization campaign. "We are going to have to fight to maintain and enhance public services across the country. We are going to need to instill pride in our members, and reinforce that quality public services are a human right that all Canadians deserve and expect. This is going to require participatory strategies for all PSAC members, their families and communities to help defend and enhance our public services.”

“We need to challenge Harper and all that he stands for. We need to explain why tax cuts hurt Canadians, as they reduce the government's ability to provide quality public services to Canadian”, added the national president.

Following the same process as Eastern Conference delegates had done the previous week in Montreal , Western Conference delegates from British Columbia , the Prairies and the North elected those who will participate in the National Bargaining Conference. At this final Conference, delegates will select members who will form the Parks Canada bargaining team as well as all four Treasury Board bargaining teams.

The following delegates chosen at the Conference will represent members at the National Bargaining Conference:

PA: Program and Administrative Services
British Columbia: Megan Adam, Virginia Vaillancourt, Sargy Chima, alternate
Prairies: Carm Chan, Niru Chanan, Teresa Eschuk, alternate
North: Geoffrey Ryan, Mike Nugent, Sheldon Jacobs, alternate

SV: Operational Services
BC: Randy Sanderson, Melvin Dureen, Gino Chicorelli, alternate
Prairies: Blair Winger, Steve Van Opstal, Satinder Bains alternate
North: James Mager, Victor Eaton, John Garbutt, alternate

EB: Education and Library Sciences
BC: Gord Miller, Céline Bélanger
Prairies: Ken Friesen

TC: Technical Services
BC: Darrell-Lee McKenzie, Peter Wills, Todd Genereux, alternate
Prairies: Carol Casey, Claude Ouellette, David Sward, alternate
North: Cynthia Sawchuk, Neil Rollinson

FB: Frontière-Border
BC: Carolyn McGillivray, Alex Bishop, Sean McGovern, Karim Lawji, Dan Sullivan, alternate
Prairies: Steve Pellerin-Fowlie, Eugenia Martin-Ivie, Dominique Sylvestre, alternate

Parks Canada
Kevin King, Omar Murray, Carrie Docken, Andre Paul, Patrick Harvey, Jeanne Freer and Lisbeth Edwards and Susan Kjartanson, alternates

Delegates from British Columbia

Delegates from the Prairies

Delegates from the North