PSAC’s National President, Robyn Benson, on behalf of the Alliance Executive Committee, wishes a wonderful holiday season to all. Thanking you for the work done in 2014 on the “We are all affected” campaign, Sister Benson reiterates the importance of resting up for 2015 because a lot of work is ahead of us.

via PSAC wishes a wonderful holiday season to all.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19TH. Please Stop into the 6th floor break room for some treats and info. And just to say hello.  12-1 during lunch. Thanks!

My name is Souad Soubra (Sue), and at our last PSAC Ontario Regional Convention, I was elected as the Members with Disabilities Representative for Ontario Region. Consequently, this makes me a member on the PSAC National Human Rights committee representing members with disabilities.

So, as your Representative for members with disabilities, I am your voice in order to make sure that your concerns and/or challenges are voiced and I will bring forward your issues in order to make your workplace more inclusive and improve your quality of life and assist in any way possible in your participation in PSAC events.

PSAC has fought for disability rights for many years, from the fight to bring about employment equity in the federal public sector in the 1980’s and 1990’s, to the struggle to advance accessibility and the duty to accommodate both within workplaces and within our union. The struggle for a society and for workplaces that recognize and encourage the full participation of all people of different abilities is far from over. Confronting discrimination and harassment at work, protecting benefits such as sick leave and disability insurance, and continuing to advance employment equity are some of the key issues.

PSAC is working on a webpage for members with disabilities that will be a great resource and would give you a point of reference for issues like: Mental Health, Duty to Accommodate, knowing your Rights, and would also give access to some useful resources and tools. This will be launched in the next few months.

I would like to encourage members in your local to contact me by email so I can work on a contact list to communicate information, receive your concerns, suggestions and ideas via email at: sue.soubra@yahoo.com

I am looking forward to working with you and to helping Members with Disabilities in any way possible.

In Solidarity,

Souad Soubra (Sue)
Members with Disabilities Representative
PSAC Ontario

This is an excerpt from an email we received at work today:

With flu season underway, now is a good time to review the actions we can all take to ensure a healthy workplace.
There are a number of simple steps that we can all take each and every day to help prevent the spread of infection. As outlined by the Public Health Agency of Canada, these include:
• Wash your hands often and thoroughly in warm, soapy water or use hand sanitizer;
• Cough and sneeze in your arm, not your hand;
• Keep common surfaces and items clean and disinfected; and
• Stay home if you are sick, unless directed to seek medical care.

I find it interesting that it instructs you to stay home if you are sick at the same time the employer is trying to shove this “wellness plan/short term disability” down our throats.
Yes, there is a gap between our accumulated sick days and long term disability and some changes may need to happen, through fair negotiations. However, I think that would be better done by bringing in a sick SUB plan, like we have for maternity and parental benefits. (I sent this up as a bargaining demand from our local) There will be an unpaid waiting period with any short term plan the employer is proposing. So, what would that mean? If you have exhausted your small amount (proposed by employer) of sick days for that year and you get the flu, what you are really facing is the choice of going to work sick or taking the day without pay. Not a great choice really. Do you think so???

Remember that the employer has a ‘Duty to Accommodate’ (DTA) those members who need accommodation in the workplace due to a disability.

________________________________________________________________

The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was proclaimed in 1992, by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3.

This observance Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

This year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities sheds light on the role of access and technology; with the theme Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology.

The goal of this theme is to harness the power of technology to promote inclusion and accessibility to help realize the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society. You can learn more about this year’s theme by visiting the United Nations webpage: http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1620

In Solidarity,

Souad Soubra,
Members with Disabilities Representative,
PSAC Ontario Council

If you have rec’d a red bracelet, please wear it! ..especially tomorrow, November 19th in support of our bargaining team.

Harassment persistent among public servants: study

Kathryn May
More from Kathryn May Published on: November 16, 2014 | Last Updated: November 16, 2014 6:30 PM EST
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Treasury Board President Tony Clement is bent on cracking down on absenteeism and improve “wellness” and is trying to do it with an aggressive overhaul of the public service sick-leave regime, replacing it with a new short-term disability plan.

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Print Canada’s public servants report high and persistent levels of harassment on the job that some experts say can be tied to mental health concerns, which account for nearly half of the workforce’s disability claims.

The triennial public service employee survey has consistently found that nearly 30 per cent of public servants say they have faced some kind of harassment over the past two years.

The last survey, in 2011, found they felt harassed by — ranked in order — superiors, co-workers, the public, people working for them or people in other departments.

The survey hadn’t distinguished among types of harassment until this year when — at the urging of MPs on the Status of Women committee — the government added a specific question about sexual harassment. The 2014 survey wrapped up in October with a 69-per-cent response rate, but the results won’t be available for months.

The Status of Women committee’s own report on sexual harassment in the federal workplace, made public in February, garnered little attention until recently, when two Liberal MPs were suspended after being accused of harassing two NDP MPs.

Sir Cary Cooper, an international expert on workplace harassment and professor at the Lancaster University Management School, said a workforce where 30 per cent of employees feel they have been harassed is “very high” and should be a red flag for the government about its culture.

He said the reported harassment levels, coupled with the fact that mental health issues (led by depression and anxiety) account for nearly half of all disability claims, “should be a signal to government that they have to do something about it.”

“Those numbers are too high, even for the naysayers who could say people are lazy and say they are harassed or bullied to get off work. But the numbers are too high to ignore … If the government wants an efficient civil service, they will have to get at it.”

Cooper said persistent harassment leads to absenteeism, more sick leave and mental health problems, and with that come physical ailments, such as heart disease.

He said studies show that all workers suffer when exposed to harassment and bullying. Employees who witness the harassment of colleagues are half as likely as the victims to develop mental health problems, he said.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement is bent on cracking down on absenteeism and improve “wellness” and is trying to do it with an aggressive overhaul of the public service sick-leave regime, replacing it with a new short-term disability plan.

Treasury Board officials told the committee during its hearings into workplace harassment earlier this year that the survey results were “disappointing” and worrisome because those levels have persisted for a few years. In the 2002 and 2005 surveys, the percentage of employees who reported they were harassed hovered at 21 compared with the 30 per cent in 2011.

Ross MacLeod, then assistant deputy minister at Treasury Board, said the government is committed to a healthy and “respectful workplace” and acknowledged that, if left unchecked, harassment has “adverse effects on the mental health and engagement of employees and on the quality of their work.”

The number of formal complaints, however, is small. MacLeod said he was puzzled about why people don’t come forward with complaints and noted that in a separate survey question, about 40 per cent said they would be reluctant to initiate a formal complaint.

“That’s something we need to drill down on a little more the next time around, because I’m worried that if the processes are there to help people and they’re not using them, then it’s hard to get at it.”

Treasury Board has revised its harassment policy three times since 1982 and introduced its latest policy in 2012 aimed at giving deputy ministers the “flexibility” they need to deal with harassment unique to their workplace. The focus is prevention and “informally” resolving complaints.

“Culture is the key. We think that culture underlies respect for people. Lack of respect underlies harassment. If you change the culture and create a respectful work environment, then we’ll see change. That’s very much the theme we’re pursuing in dealing with departments on this issue,” said MacLeod.

The reporting of harassment is influenced by many factors: occupation, nature of work, gender, race, age, tenure and even the wording of the question. The kind of harassment policy analysts might confront is different from that faced by call-centre employees dealing with frazzled Canadians, or prison guards with inmates.

The 2011 survey found female, visible minority, aboriginal and disabled employees are more likely to feel harassed. Half of the disabled respondents reported harassment compared with 42 per cent of aboriginals, 31 per cent of women and 31 per cent of visible minorities.

Executives reported the lowest levels while as many as 39 per cent of employees in the broad operational and administrative jobs said they felt harassed.

Some bureaucrats speculate the rate has remained high because of the tense and sometimes distrustful relationships between bureaucrats and politicians. A recent health survey of executives found a growing number of complaints about incivility and harassing bosses.

“Ministers put a lot of pressure on their senior civil servants and what do they do, delegate that pressure and stress and pressure downward,” said Cooper. That’s where it comes from, the top.“

Harassed employees typically have more negative reactions to questions probing their perceptions of the workplace, such as of their supervisors, the leadership, fairness in staffing, job satisfaction, commitment and recognition.

New employees tend to have a rosier picture of the workplace than older workers, which could affect the findings of the 2014 survey. It captured a higher proportion of new employees as large numbers of baby boomers retired or left with the downsizing. At the same time, “harassment thrives during cutbacks, leaving fewer people to do more work,” said Cooper.

kmay@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/Kathryn_May

New questions on harassment
The public service employee survey, which began in 1999, was sent to 250,000 employees in 90 departments and agencies. (The military and RCMP are not included.) The survey has always questioned employees about harassment but the 2014 is the first to probe the nature of the harassment. The following questions were added to get a handle on sexual harassment and what stops employees from formally complaining.

Q. Please indicate the nature of the harassment you experienced. (Mark all that apply.)

01 Aggressive behaviour
02 Excessive control
03 Being excluded or being ignored
04 Humiliation
05 Interference with work or withholding resources
06 Offensive remark
07 Personal attack
08 Physical violence
09 Sexual comment or gesture
10 Threat
11 Unfair treatment
12 Yelling or shouting
13 Other

Q. What action(s) did you take to address the harassment you experienced? (Mark all that apply.)

1 I discussed the matter with my supervisor or a senior manager.
2 I discussed the matter with the person(s) from whom I experienced the harassment.
3 I contacted a human resources adviser in my department or agency.
4 I contacted my union representative.
5 I used an informal conflict resolution process.
6 I filed a grievance or formal complaint. a Go to question 68
7 I resolved the matter informally on my own.
8 Other
OR
9 I took no action.

Q. Why did you not file a grievance or formal complaint about the harassment you experienced? (Mark all that apply.)

01 The issue was resolved.
02 I did not think the incident was serious enough.
03 The behaviour stopped.
04 The individual apologized.
05 Management intervened.
06 The individual left or changed jobs.
07 I changed jobs.
08 I did not know what to do, where to go or whom to ask.
09 I was too distraught.
10 I had concerns about the formal complaint process
(e.g., confidentiality, how long it would take).
11 I was advised against filing a complaint.
12 I was afraid of reprisal
(e.g., having limited career advancement, being labelled a troublemaker).
13 Someone threatened me.
14 I did not believe it would make a difference.
15 Other

“We don’t have to be disagreeable to disagree,” Treasury Board president Tony Clement said on the eve of the third round of bargaining talks with unions representing federal civil servants.

Clement has consistently maintained that there is “excessive absenteeism” in the civil service.

“He’s out there saying we abuse sick leave, that we’re slackers,” counters Robyn Benson, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). “This is the first president of the Treasury Board who treats his employees with such disdain and disrespect.”

■Sick days in Canada’s public service by department​
■Civil servant sick leave costs minimal for taxpayers, report says
■The fight for paid sick leave is making strides in the US, but what about Canada?

Ian Lee at Carleton’s Sprott School of Business calls it a dysfunctional relationship, “two scorpions in a bottle going at each other trying to claw out the other person’s face.”

Get past the name calling and there are indeed substantive issues dividing the two sides as they prepare to head back to the bargaining table Monday.

Robyn Benson, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), says her union rejects the government’s proposal to reduce paid sick days.

Statistics Canada has reported a loss of 37,000 jobs in the public service in recent years – a reduction, according to a recent paper from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, of 8 per cent of civil service positions. Now the focus is on cutting back benefits, specifically sick leave.

Clement wants to reduce civil service paid sick days from 15 to five a year, and eliminate the sick leave bank. His proposed changes would require civil servants to take up to seven days of unpaid leave after they have used up their five paid days, and then apply to their insurance company for sickness benefits if more time away from work is needed.

The fear of labour unions is that rather than losing pay for a week, employees will go to work sick, risk getting sicker themselves, and potentially spread illness to others. That’s something that flies in the face of public health campaigns and the push for a sustainable work-life balance.

PSAC, the largest of the 17 unions that represent federal workers, has rejected the proposal out of hand.

“We have said no to concessions. That is a huge concession,” Benson says.

The numbers game

More than 120 countries in the world mandate paid sick leave by law, and 98 guarantee more than a month’s paid sick leave a year.

The Sunday Edition
On CBC radio’s The Sunday Edition, Nov. 16 starting at 9 a.m.:

■Why do so many Canadian children still live in poverty, asks host Michael Enright.
■John Cleese, best-known as a co-founder of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, discusses his new memoire So, Anyway….
■Montreal writer Joanna Gruda’s first novel fictionalizes the story of her father Julek’s nomadic childhood in France and Poland during the Second World War.
■New ways of living alone and together includes a growing demographic – the LAT’s – Living Apart Together.

In Canada, the only jurisdiction that guarantees paid sick leave – one day a year – is Prince Edward Island. In this country, paid sick leave is granted by the grace and favour of employers and the bargaining strength of unions.

Benson’s position is that in the current round of bargaining, the federal government – traditionally in the vanguard of progressive employment practices – is not showing much grace and favour towards its employees on this issue.

Clement, in response, has said repeatedly that civil servants take 18 days of sick leave a year. “Excessive absenteeism”, he maintains, “reduces morale, productivity and affects the ability to do the job on behalf of the taxpayer.”

The Parliamentary Budget Officer suggested in his latest report that the Minister played fast and loose with the numbers. Civil servants, according to the PBO, take closer to 12 paid sick days a year. Clement included unpaid sick leave and workplace injuries in his calculations.

The PBO report also points out that the federal civil service employs older workers, more women and has a unionized work force. Older workers tend to take more sick days due to health conditions that arise as people age, and so do women – often to stay home with sick children.

Clement and the Treasury Board are putting the issue at the feet of civil service managers. He argues that handing over the monitoring of anything beyond occasional sick leave to an insurance company would guarantee more active management of an employee who is off due to illness.

Linda Duxbury says some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the country give more flexibility around absenteeism than five days. (Sprott School of Business)
This is what happens “in 90 per cent of the private sector work force,” Clement told CBC News.

“Show me the beef, Tony,” counters Linda Duxbury, who teaches workforce management at the Sprott School of business. “Show me where you get your data for that whacking huge generalization.”

Some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the country actually give more flexibility around absenteeism than five days, Duxbury says.

“Some oil companies, it’s like – ‘Hey your dog died. Good enough, take a day. We understand,'” she says. “And quite frankly, the data’s clear that organizations that demonstrate trust in employees get trust back from employees.”

Lee expects that paid sick leave and benefits will turn into a major plank in next year’s federal election, aimed at appealing to the Conservative base as the law and order agenda has in previous elections.

“The underlying text, and I’ve heard Tony Clement say this, is this isn’t fair – that these people are getting befits that the rest of us don’t get.”

The government and the unions go back to the bargaining table on Monday Nov. 17. Bargaining sessions are scheduled into the new year.

sign the pledge today! Support healthy workplaces.

The much loved calendars have been shipped to our VP@  CIC,  so hang tight and we will be distributing shortly.  Not to worry,  unlike the code wk calendars,  there will be enough for everyone!