BY NYCOLE TURMEL NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE PSAC
SAINT JOHN NEW BRUNSWICK
JULY 2005
Today marks the second PSAC Component Convention this year, and I want first of all to thank you for the opportunity to be here, and to wish each and every one of you a great Convention.
More than 3,000 members will participate in PSAC Regional and Component Conventions this year. These events will see new faces in leadership positions, new policies, and an agenda for the future. As some of you know, I am in the last year of a six-year term as PSAC National President.
When I was elected in May 2000, I said that I would leave the Union stronger than it was on the day I took office. I said that we would become more socially and politically active, that we would re-focus on bargaining and education, and that we would put to rest some of the long-standing obstacles to internal unity, solidarity and strength.
Easier said than done, and history will judge where we have succeeded and where there is more work to do. But I can tell you that I am really proud of our Union and the direction that we are headed.
I know that a number of you attended one of the seven PSAC Regional Conventions that took place over the last three months. Those who did will have heard me say that when I spoke to delegates to Component Conventions “I would push the envelope”.
That’s what I said, and I meant it! Over the course of the next few minutes, I am going to do just that when it comes to collective bargaining, when it comes to membership realignment, when it comes to leadership, and when it comes to social justice.
Let me start with social justice.
Our 2003 Convention connected our leadership with union activists from the South, and marked a new era in international solidarity within the PSAC.
Our Social Justice Fund has started this process, and I think that it has the potential to become a significant part of what our Union stands for and does. But our Social Justice Fund also works in Canada and with our members who are involved in organizations promoting social justice at the international level.
I am also particularly proud of the work that our Social Justice Fund is doing to fight poverty.
It's a disgrace that in 2005, poverty is still very much a fact of life here in Canada - one of the richest countries in the world.
You know all too well the devastating impacts of poverty throughout the communities where you live and work.
You know that the government’s 15 year old promise to end child poverty is in shambles. You know that rental housing is an unattainable and unaffordable right here in Saint John and in many, cities across the country.
You know that the poverty rate is almost 50% for families where the youngest adult is under 25. You know that 13% of food bank users have jobs. You know that Newfoundland has the highest poverty rate in the country, despite its oil.
As some of you may know, our Social Justice Fund has launched an exciting new project. Over coming months we will be funding up to 15 anti-poverty initiatives that involve PSAC members and their communities. We are starting small, with each project eligible for funding up to $2500 for activities aimed at education and anti-poverty work. So I encourage you all to look at the call out on the PSAC web site and submit projects – let’s do our part to help eradicate poverty right here in Canada.
The Social Justice Fund is doing this in the context of the international 2005 Make Poverty History Campaign—a world-wide campaign to end poverty around the world. Eliminating poverty is an ambitious goal, but every small step counts.
Earlier this year, the PSAC and a number of Components stepped up to the plate and contributed a significant amount of money to the PSAC Social Justice Fund so that we could fund a full scale program to assist the victims of the Tsunami that struck Asia on December 26, 2004. Today, and at Component Conventions over the summer months, I am going to raise the possibility of a comprehensive PSAC anti-poverty campaign funded in a similar way that will allow our Social Justice Fund to make a real change in the lives of poor people in Canada.
Let me switch gears a little and talk about bargaining. First, the obvious. Bargaining has been exceedingly hard during my time as President, particularly for the larger groups who negotiate with the federal government and its various agencies. There have been victories, like the sick leave carry-over for CRA term workers. But there have also been setbacks and concessions, such as the "day-is-a-day" issue pretty much across the board, and severance pay at Canada Post.
It's small consolation, I know, but in context we have done better than most. Bargaining at the federal level was a real challenge, in the context of wage rollbacks and cuts in BC and Newfoundland, and a similar situation on the horizon in Quebec. Ultimately, I believe that we achieved all that was possible, and that’s only because we had a united membership that was ready and willing to take to the picket lines.
I said that I want to leave the union stronger than on the day that I assumed office, and for that to happen, we need to strengthen the authority of the National President in the bargaining process. That's a concept that is not universally supported, but I am committed to it.
Here's why!
Employers simply don’t send decision-makers to the bargaining table. The CRA Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner pull the strings, but they are not at the table. Neither is the Minister nor anyone with access to Cabinet. So, while there can be no question that bargaining team members are in the best position to represent the interest of members of a particular group, they often can’t do the job alone.
There is also no question that bargaining team members have the skills to do the job. They do! I think that this is universally true in the PSAC, and I know that it’s true in UTE. I know it’s true in UTE, because I have worked with your Teams as the Executive Officer responsible since I was first elected as PSAC President.
But bargaining team members are not magicians. They can't pull an agreement out of a hat if the employer’s reps have an inadequate or inflexible mandate.
As angry and frustrated as they legitimately get, as team members they can’t reach agreements if politicians are pulling the strings -- as they frequently do.
So somebody else has to get involved. In the PSAC it tends to be the political people at the Component and PSAC levels.
And I believe that this leadership action done at the behest of the team and in consultation with the team has advanced bargaining and secured real and substantive improvements in PSAC CCRA and now CRA collective agreements.
I said that leadership involvement in the bargaining process is not universally supported within the PSAC, but that I am committed to making it a part of our bargaining process because it’s essential. I don’t think that I have to argue this point with many members of UTE, and I thank you for the support that you and your teams have always given me. But it’s an issue that I am committed to addressing at Convention, and I hope that I can count on your support.
Let me say this as well. Leadership responsibility and authority in this regard is not unique. The President or executive of just about every major Union in the country has this authority. Steel has this authority, CEP has this authority, CUPW has this authority, and CAW has this authority. It’s the norm, and rightly so.
At every Regional Convention, I said that “while most Components are stronger and more focused than they were a few years ago, there remain a number of problems with our structure. These problems can only be addressed if Components are willing to explore membership realignments that more appropriately reflect the organization of work within our major employers, particularly within the federal government”.
Talk about putting the cat amongst the pigeons! I got questions, comments and feedback, and not all of it was complimentary. But the fact remains that we have too many situations where members working in the same job for the same department or agency are represented by two or more Components. The fact remains that we have not realigned Component representation, despite 40 years of almost continuous government reorganization.
I have facilitated a few membership realignments over the past six years, and will work to make a few more changes before departing in May of next year. Why? Because some of the existing Component affiliations don’t make sense, and more importantly, because it can confuse some members, and lead to representation and servicing problems. I believe that that is still the case at the CRA, and I am ready to address the issue and resolve it once and for all before I leave office next May.
I want to talk a little about leadership. I think that everyone will agree that our Union needs good leadership at the Local, Regional, Component and National levels. That’s one of the reasons why we have our Union Development Program as well as both Local and National Officer training as part of our Union education program. They are good, but they are not enough and we are looking to expand the program during the next budget cycle, if not before.
We are looking to provide training similar to the National Officer Training that all newly-elected Component National Officers have access to members elected to PSAC Regional Councils. Once this receives political approval, the many UTE members elected to Regional Councils earlier this year will receive the training that they need to get the job done.
Leaders make a difference. They provide service, they sit on bargaining teams, they mobilize, they motivate and they educate.
But leaders, including myself, could sometimes do a better job of preparing for their own succession.
I think that it is fair to say that our Union has done a good job of bringing in new activists over the last few years. That's because we are more mobilized and engaged on issues. Because some Components, including UTE, have provided forums for youth delegates to participate in their political structure – and I must say it’s paying off. For example, a UTE member was elected as the youth representative on the Prairie Regional Council.
Despite this and a few other exceptions, while we are doing a good job of bringing them in, but I think that we can do more to speed their advancement through the ranks.
At one Regional Convention, I heard it said that there was no demonstrated need for a youth seat on the Council. I believe that there is a need, but it does not matter. Need or not, the fact is that the youth are the voice of our future. They are getting organized in the workplace, and if we don’t provide a Union where they are respected, where their issues are heard, where they can be fully involved, they will take their talent elsewhere.
It's not good enough to simply say to the next generation of PSAC leaders at the Local, Regional, Component and National levels — “wait your turn”. We need to provide them with opportunities to gain experience. We need to train them so that they can represent all members on bargaining teams. We need to delegate them to attend Conferences and Conventions. And we need to provide them with new and innovative opportunities to lead. Strong leadership is important because this Union has always faced challenges, and today is no different.
In many sectors, employers are on a collision course with workers over benefits of all kinds, and I think that maintaining benefits at current levels is going to be a hugely difficult undertaking. We are not on the front line on this battle as yet, and I think that the acid test will take place during private sector bargaining later this year.
A second challenge, and one that is more immediate for the PSAC, is the whole Public Service Modernization process that the Martin government is initiating. It's going to have an impact on everything, from staffing to bargaining, and from how we conduct strikes and strike votes to who can vote on tentative agreements.
It's an issue that has very real and immediate implications that are mostly negative at the Local, Regional, Component and National levels. Protecting members in this new environment is another reason why we need a Union that is strong and united at the Local, Regional, Component and National levels.
A third challenge is resources that allow our members to do their jobs. It's a point that was driven home to me yet again in June when I was reading the Senate National Security and Defence Committee Report that was appropriately named “Borderline Insecure” Service wide, the government is short-changing its workforce and the public by failing to update equipment, tools and infrastructure. As you all know, we will be in an election at some point over the next nine months, and I would like the PSAC to be in a position to deliver a strong message to candidates. So in every department and agency, I am challenging PSAC members to catalogue the deficiencies and to let the PSAC know, so that we can make the case with conviction, before the election, during the election and when the new government is sworn into office. By working together, we can force the government to fill the gaps and provide our members with the resources to do their jobs.
One final challenge, a challenge unique to UTE is to successfully convince the government to abandon its ill-conceived, ill-advised and unacceptable decision to close its cash counters and client services centres.
We have already forced them to go half way and back away from the cash closure, but there is more work to be done. I will let you in on a little secret. I knew about eight weeks ago that the government was going to back down on the decision to close the cash counters. The Minister didn’t phone me, the Commissioner didn’t phone me – no one with any identifiable power or authority called, but I knew. I knew because a self described “small businessman”, a Halifax taxi driver told me that he was – I’ll use the word ‘pissed” and so were his buddies in the industry. I knew then that our message was getting through, and that we had a broad base of support that transcended our traditional allies. I knew that the information lines and the materials targeted to the public were getting through, and that the government would back down. They did, and it’s a credit to UTE and the PSAC.
I want my participation in Component Conventions to be about the future more than the past, but as many of you may know, this is my last term in office, and I am taking advantage of the opportunity when I speak at Component Conventions to say thanks to members and leaders that I have worked with during my tenure.
There are way too many people in this room to personally thank from the podium; from Bargaining Team members who I met with for many hours often late into the night, from Local Presidents at your regular conferences to members I had the pleasure to walk picket lines with in 2004.
Before singling out a couple of UTE members, I do want to say that I have enjoyed the activism, engagement and integrity of UTE and its members. You are without a doubt a Component that is mobilized and focused.
Permit me to single out two people and say a special word of thanks to both of them. Brother Bob Campbell, even though you never voted for me, I say thanks for listening when you disagreed with me and for changing your mind on some critical issues.
But above all, Bob, I say thank you for your involvement in helping resolve the UTE/CEUDA dispute. It's far from over, I know, but your involvement pushed the envelope and has allowed me to be the most proactive President on jurisdictional issues in the history of the PSAC, and I think that our Union is better for it.
I also want to say a special thanks to Sister Betty Bannon. Betty, there were days when I cringed when you went to the mike because I knew that the points you would make would be forceful and on the money. Never, not once, have I had reason to question your commitment to our CRA members, and I sincerely thank you for your leadership, passion and, dare I say, friendship.
There are things still to be done in UTE as there are in every part of our Union. I will leave office next May confident that the members and the leadership of UTE are up to the challenge, and that they will work hard and tirelessly to make our union the best that it can be, from bargaining and representation to social activism. Day in and day out the next generation will be proud of the work that you are doing.
Thank you!