Town Hall Discussion on Provincial Budget 2013 - Thursday March 14 7pm

PSAC will have a table at this event. We encourage members to come and speak out for quality, public services.

BetterWayAlberta.ca

MP Under Fire At Forum

On Saturday, January 26, 2013, several members of PSAC and our allies, attended Jim Hillyer's prebudget forum. Of the almost 30 people in attendance, there were 10 wearing WeAreALLAffected tshirts (plus other PSAC members), 2 wearing IdleNoMore tshirts and several other allies. There were only about four people who perhaps supported (though absolutely quietly) the Conservative MP.

This article appears in the January 27, 2013 Lethbridge Herald. This demonstrates the power of collective political action! First we unite, then we speak, they have begun to listen. Next is change!

Thank you to all our members who showed up, spoke up and supported!

Speaking out on the Conservative budget

How will this budget bill hurt your family or community?


Take 5 minutes and fill out this survey. As a public servant, this budget puts your job at risk, affects your daily work, and modifies your pension and retirement. As a Canadian, this budget has far reaching implications for environmental legislation and democracy itself.

http://budget2012.ndp.ca/

Staff reductions will make food system unsafe: union - Western Producer

Posted May. 4th, 2012 by Barry Wilson

The impact of $56 million in federal budget cuts on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and food safety continues to fuel a war of conflicting claims in Ottawa.


Last week, Public Service Alliance of Canada union president Bob Kingston said announced cuts will make the Canadian food system less safe, creating a system of “cross your fingers” and hope for the best.


Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz fired back that the issue is saving money by finding efficiencies in CFIA. 


“We would never put food safety at risk.”


And while it would not make a senior official available to respond to union charges, CFIA issued a statement insisting it is “strengthening its approach” to food inspection. 


“The bottom line is clear — protecting the safety of the Canadian food supply remains the agency’s top priority.”


At an April 24 news conference, Kingston offered a far different version of the impact of changes at CFIA.


Citing comments made by operations vice-president Stephen Baker at private meetings with employees to explain the changes, he said the future includes:


• the end of pre-clearing imported meat before it gets to the border

• a major revamp of inspecting product labels

• a new inspection system that “will radically alter the way in which we actually do verification and compliance and enforcement activities in the inspection space”


In answer to a question about the impact of a 10 percent CFIA budget cut and claims that front-line inspectors will not be affected, the union says Baker replied: “I don’t know how you can take 10 percent of your budget and not deal with the front line.”


Kingston said the clear message from agency executives is that while some front-line inspectors will remain, they will not be experts in the commodity they are inspecting but rather generalists whose main job will be to review company records of what they have done and decide whether they followed the rules.


“With fewer resources and inspection staff, CFIA is being forced to water down food safety inspection and introduce more industry self-regulation,” he told the Parliament Hill news conference.


In its statement, CFIA said the end of pre-clearance for imported meat is part of an “inspector modernization” plan. 


“The CFIA is planning to supplement traditional inspection methods that focus on the processing environment and the end product with more sophisticated science and risk-based approaches in order to verify that industry’s controls are effective and that industry is producing safe food on an ongoing basis,” it said.


During a news conference, Ritz said changes at the agency are meant to move it from the world of paper records to an electronic information technology age.


Meanwhile, CFIA announced on its website last week that within two years it will be closing three prairie quarantine stations that it says are no longer used — at Monchy, Sask., Coutts, Alta., and Nisku, Alta.


It said services will not be affected and no inspector positions will be eliminated.

http://www.producer.com/2012/05/staff-reductions-will-make-food-system-unsafe-union%E2%80%A9/

Numbers reveal Agriculture one of hardest government sectors hit by budget cuts

From PSAC:

While this will come as no surprise to members receiving their ‘affected’ notices, the Agriculture sector of the public service was especially hard hit in the March 29 federal budget.

In fact, cuts across Agriculture Union employers were at or around the ‘worst case’ 10 per cent level ordered by the Harper government. The Conservatives, National President Bob Kingston pointed out, have shown a complete disregard for both the important services provided Canadians and the well-being of the women and men who deliver them.

“These cuts are frankly worse than I had anticipated,” Kingston said. “This was a behind-closed-doors exercise by senior management with no effort to involve either the union or the members who provide these services. Many of the cuts make no sense in the real world.”

Here’s a brief overview of the major staffing impacts provided to us by various employers…

AAFC: A total of 689 indeterminate positions will be affected, with Winnipeg and the National Capital Region taking the heaviest blow. Of this total number of affected jobs, 346 are in the Program and Administrative Services Group, 231 in the Operational Services Group, 105 in the Technical Services and seven in the Library and Educational Services Group. Seven Agri-Environment Services Branch sites will be closed, and AESB, Environment and Research Branch will be merged into a new Science and Technology Centre. Seven research and sub-research centres will be closed, including those in Winnipeg, Bouctouche, New Brunswick and Delhi and Kapuskasing in Ontario. An additional 188 positions will be lost over the next six years following a decision to eliminate the Pasture Management Program, despite this being a revenue-neutral operation.

CFIA: A total of 308 positions will be lost – 247 indeterminate and 61 terms. Just fewer than 200 of these are located in the National Capital Region, with PM, AS and CR positions disproportionately impacted. Technical positions are prominent among the remaining cuts spread across the country. The loss of some 100 inspector positions completely undoes the staffing action taken in the wake of the listeriosis crisis, and then some.

PSC: A total of 87 positions will be eliminated, mostly through attrition. Six Library Services jobs will be lost in the National Capital Region. Four members in Winnipeg and six in Edmonton will receive affected notices in December 2013 in advance of the closure of those two Regional Offices in 2014.

CSPS: Our CSP members were already reeling from a pre-budget decision by the School to eliminate its language program and lay off 190 teachers and support staff. Of these 190, 119 term employees were let go as of March 31, 30 have been declared surplus (half from the National Capital Region, with the remainder in regions across the country) and a further six position to date have been identified from the Advanced Leadership Program as affected.

DND: Forty-two positions have been identified as potentially affected, although no final decision has as yet been made. The targeted jobs are those of language instructors or program developers in Ottawa, Borden and Kingston, Ontario and St-Jean and Montreal in Quebec. It is a clear indication by the numbers affected in Borden that this worksite will be closed.

The Agriculture Union will be working hard to ensure our affected members receive their full rights under the work force adjustment and employment transition provisions of their collective agreements. Any member who encounters unfairness or misapplication of these protections is urged to bring this to the attention of the union as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we will continue to take our case against these serious cuts to the public, both through the media and by working with like-minded advocacy groups and opposition politicians.

Federal Budget Cuts Update from Robyn Benson

April 12, 2012

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

This week is a very dark one for many PSAC members across the country.

Yesterday, thousands of members received notices from their departments

advising them that they are "affected employees", or worse, under the WFA. In

some cases members were advised that the section or organization that they are

working for is shutting it's doors.

During this difficult time, it’s critical that we get information to members as quickly

as possible. So we will be hosting a telephone town hall for Prairies members

next week to allow members to ask questions about the WFA process and

discuss the next steps. All PSAC Prairies members that we have information for

will be called and have the opportunity to participate. If you want to ensure you

are on the list, please contact your regional office and provide your updated

contact information.

I will keep you posted on the escalating impact of the cuts as other departments

and agencies advise us of their plans to cut services and jobs. But I also ask that

you keep me informed of the cuts that have been announced in your workplaces

and how this will affect you and your co-workers. You can send me updates via

e-mail at bensonr@psac.com.

As the PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President for the Prairies, I am committed

to helping each and every affected member through the difficult choices that you

will face in as little as 120 days under the WFA. If there is anything I can do to

assist you during this time, please let me know. You can e-mail me or call me

anytime at (204) 956-4625.

In Solidarity,

Robyn Benson

Regional Executive Vice-President

Public Service Alliance of Canada, Prairies

Breakdown of cuts - more details

Here's one of the most detailed breakdowns of job cuts.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Jobs/6443434/story.html

Federal Budget Letter from Robyn Benson

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

After much anticipation and speculation, the Conservative government has released a regressive federal budget that outlines severe cuts to the public services we provide in our communities, and that all Canadians rely on. 

This government will cut seven per cent of the operating budget and more than 19,000 jobs, which will be devastating to Canadians and will seriously harm our economy. 

Unfortunately, because this government has been so secretive, we still don’t know exactly where the cuts will happen or how it will affect us in the Prairies.  So we need your help, Brothers and Sisters, to shed some light on the cuts and prepare ourselves for what’s ahead. We need to work together and share our experiences.

Please email me directly with any information you have about how the cuts will be rolled out, when they will be rolled out, and who will be affected in your workplaces, now and as the weeks progress.

Though the Conservative government claims the majority of the cuts will be in the National Capital Region, they have yet to give us reason to trust their word, as evidenced in this budget where they have reneged on their previous promise to leave our members’ pensions untouched.

Regardless of where the cuts crop up, I believe Canadians will feel the cuts from
coast to coast to coast.

In Solidarity,

Robyn Benson
Regional Executive VicePresident
Public Service Alliance of Canada, Prairies

bensonr@psac.com

Published: March 30, 2012

http://prairies.psac.com/winnipeg/federal-budget-2012

Canada Budget 2012: Federal Government Job Cuts Could Mean A Lost Generation Of Civil Servants

"With the Harper government promising to slash 19,200 federal public service jobs, there is one group of people who stand to lose the most -- the students and graduates working to become the next generation of civil servants."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/03/canada-budget-2012-public_n_1401680.html

Canada Budget 2012: CFIA Cuts Mean Food Labelling Lies Will Have To Be Policed By Consumers

"The federal government’s decision to stop policing nutrition claims on food labels threatens Canadians’ health and leaves consumers with little recourse when food labels are wrong, the head of an agricultural union says."


More here -
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/03/30/canada-budget-2012-cfia-cuts_n_1391708.html?ref=canada

This should be a concern to all Canadians. Please pass this on.

Cuts Behind The Curtain

This study explores the impact of the federal government’s 2010 and 2011 budget cutbacks and finds between 60,100 and 68,300 jobs will be lost as a result. The author also identifies areas that are already seeing cuts and may see more of the same, and raises serious concerns about the government's lack of transparency about what will be axed, and why.


From the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/cuts-behind-curtain