Union News - December 2025
By now you have seen that bargaining with the employer has started. We exchanged demands with the employer on September 11 and 12. We met to negotiate in both October and November and have dates set for the months of December, January and February thus far. As usual, we expect the employer to give bargaining the attention it deserves as we have now passed the expiry date of our current agreement.
December 2025
PSAC-UTE bargaining team tables wage proposals
September 2025
PSAC-UTE proposals
The fight for remote work provisions is never over, and in this particular round we are facing an austerity budget from the current government, coupled with the exponentially increasing use of Artificial Intelligence. As the employer rolls out new AI initiatives, they may say it has no impact on staffing levels. While this may be true for some tools that are implemented, it is far from a guarantee for the future. For the first time ever, the government has created a Minister of Artificial Intelligence. This is a message we cannot ignore. When an austerity budget is presented, and this ministry exists, it is not unreasonable to assume that the employer will leverage AI advancements to save money. More often than not, “saving money” in the public sector means decreasing staffing. Job protection is of paramount importance in these times. Taxpayers don’t want to talk to automated “chatbots”: they want real live workers with empathy and reasonable judgement.
As with all rounds of bargaining with this employer, securing better working conditions and pay is like pulling teeth. They have no mandate, or frankly interest, in making your life better: that is not their job and to suggest otherwise is disingenuous at best. Their mandate is to get more work for less cost (pay and benefits). It has always been that way and will remain the same. There has yet to be one benefit or pay increase that the employer simply volunteered to provide. It has always taken a fight, or legislation because of advocacy and lobbying.
Given the most recent wave of Work Force Adjustment, ask yourself if the employer would have been providing guarantees of a reasonable job offer or reasonable job offers or alternations if they didn’t have to because of our collective agreement.
Ask yourself if the employer would give you a paid leave to attend to a sick member of your family if they were not obligated because of our collective agreement.
Ask yourself if you could use paid leave for attending a family member’s funeral if the employer did not have to allow it.
As we negotiate with, quite literally, the most powerful legislative body in the country, please understand for whom the employer is fighting and for whom the union is fighting.
Solidarity
Adam Jackson
2nd National Vice President