Yellowknife (Oct 20/04) - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says it will recommend their members reject the federal government's clawback attempts and have provided a work to rule order.

A work to rule order means civil servants represented by PSAC will now closely observe every rule in the bureaucratic book in an attempt to slow down operations in the civil service. The action could potentially create a logjam of backed up files and unhappy clients.

PSAC union members picketed outside the Joe Tobie building on Oct. 12. PSAC representatives say they will recommend their members reject the federal government's latest offer. - Stephan Burnett/NNSL photo

The federal government's Treasury Board negotiators offered to give programs and administrative employees and technical services employees a 9.6 per cent salary increase.

But it wants to cut allowances that help create parity between public and private sector salaries, said Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, regional executive vice-president for PSAC North.

Des Lauriers provided grain inspectors and fisheries enforcement officers as examples of workers who would be impacted by the federal government's attempt to take away "terminable allowances," which were put in place to create parity between the public and private sector.

Grain inspectors, who are part of the technical group of employees representing 10,000 federal civil servants, currently receive a $3,000 annual terminable allowance.

Fisheries enforcement officers receive a $2,000 terminable allowance per year.

Des Lauriers described the fisheries enforcement officers' annual stipend as an enforcement allowance that brings their salaries closer to RCMP salary levels. The federal government wants to remove both stipends, said Des Lauriers.

"The salaries have not caught up with the private sector," Des Lauriers claimed. "Now they're looking at removing the terminable allowances. It's a major hit," he said.

Programs, administrative and technical workers represented by PSAC are scheduled to vote on the government's new offer within the next six to eight weeks, which would put PSAC members into December with a vote to reject the offer.

"We're going to do our homework to explain to the members the reasons why this is not an appropriate deal. We are usually successful in getting our members' support," he said.

Other options

Des Lauriers added there are other strike options other than a call back to the pickets lines, especially considering the Christmas season. Those include rotational strikes, or internal strikes, "where people go in to work, but do very little or no work," he said.

Suzanne Meunier, spokeswoman for the Treasury Board, rejected Des Lauriers' claim that the union will now go into a work-to-rule mode.

"I will not be commenting on the content of the offer. PSAC is supposed to put that to its members and we'll see how the process progresses," she said.