Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Les membres de l’AFPC déterminés à défendre leurs droits et avantages

La Conférence sur la négociation de l’AFPC (unités du Conseil du Trésor) s’est terminée dimanche, alors que plus de 300 personnes syndiquées sont reparties, déterminées à défendre leurs droits et avantages lors de la prochaine ronde de négociation. À peine quelques jours après l’annonce d’un budget fédéral qui continue à supprimer d’importants services, les participants ont juré de défendre ensemble les fonctionnaires et les services qu’ils offrent à la population.
« Il s’agit de protéger les droits que nos membres ont acquis de haute lutte durant des décennies, a expliqué Robyn Benson, présidente de l’AFPC, dans une allocution. Nous devons les protéger non seulement pour nous, mais pour la relève. »
La présidente a vertement critiqué l’atteinte aux congés de maladie des fonctionnaires fédéraux. Elle a aussi dénoncé la tentative des conservateurs d’accélérer l’adoption du projet de loi C-525, « une autre manœuvre scandaleuse des conservateurs pour compromettre la syndicalisation des travailleurs, manœuvre qui permettra aussi à une minorité de mécontents de se débarrasser d’un syndicat même si la majorité de leurs collègues veulent le contraire. »
À l’occasion de la Conférence, des experts de l’AFPC ont expliqué les enjeux de la prochaine ronde de négociation avec le Conseil du Trésor, dont la sécurité d’emploi et l’élimination des banques de congés de maladie. Des invités du monde syndical, pour leur part, ont réitéré le rôle essentiel de la mobilisation et de la cohésion des membres pour conclure des ententes équitables. Il s’agissait de Paul Moist, président du SCFP, Hassan Yussuf, secrétaire-trésorier du Congrès du travail du Canada, Debi Daviau, présidente de l’IPFPC, et Sam Hammond, président de la Fédération des enseignantes et enseignants de l’Ontario.

Les délégués : unis pour joindre les membres là où ils travaillent

Samedi, les délégués ont proposé des moyens de mobiliser les membres dans leurs lieux de travail, d’optimiser la communication avec eux et de sensibiliser davantage de travailleurs afin d’assurer notre succès à la table de négociation.
« C’était évident que les délégués étaient unis dans leur volonté de défendre les services publics et les conditions de travail de ceux et celles qui les fournissent », a fait remarquer Chris Aylward, vice-président exécutif de l’AFPC.
Lors de la dernière journée, les délégués ont élu les membres des équipes de négociation pour les groupes PA, FB, TC, SV et EB du Conseil du Trésor. Les équipes prépareront les cahiers des revendications dans les semaines à venir.
« Lorsque le gouvernement s’en prend aux fonctionnaires, il s’en prend à tous les Canadiens et toutes les Canadiennes, a affirmé la présidente Benson. Voir tous ces délégués se serrer les coudes pour lutter contre la destruction de la fonction publique a été pour moi une source d’inspiration. »

PSAC members commit to defending workplace rights and benefits

PSAC’s Treasury Board Bargaining conference closed on a determined note Sunday, as more than 300 union members committed to defending workplace rights and benefits in the next round of bargaining. Only days after the government introduced a federal budget calling for even more cuts to crucial programs, participants pledged to stand up for public sector workers and the services they provide.
“This is about protecting the hard-won rights of our members over decades,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President, in her address to the conference. “And it is about keeping those rights in place not just for us but for the next generations of workers who have yet to join the public service.”
Benson criticized the federal budget for its attacks on public sector sick leave. She also took aim at the Conservatives for rushing Bill C-525 through Parliament, “another outrageous Conservative bill that proposes to put up major roadblocks to the unionization of workers, and that will also allow a minority of workers to get rid of a union even when the majority wants to stick with their union.”
Conference participants heard from PSAC’s experts on the important issues that members will be facing at the bargaining table with Treasury Board, including sick leave and job security. Delegates also heard from Paul Moist, National President of CUPE, Hassan Yussuf, the Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress, Debi Daviau, the President of PIPSC, and Sam Hammond, the President of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario on the importance of mobilizing the membership and sticking together to achieve fair collective agreements.

Delegates united in strengthening union outreach in the workplace

Delegates worked together on Saturday to develop concrete strategies for engaging members in the workplace and for building the communications and outreach plans that will be essential for success at the bargaining table.
“It was clear that delegates were united in their resolve to defend public services and the working conditions of those who provide them,” said Chris Aylward, National Executive Vice President of PSAC.
On the last day, delegates elected bargaining teams for the five PSAC Treasury Board groups: the PA group, the FB group, the TC group, the SV group and the EB group. Bargaining teams will be preparing the demands for each group in the coming weeks.
“When the government attacks the people who provide public services, they are attacking all Canadians,” said Benson. “I was inspired to see all our delegates unite in their commitment to stand in the way of the decimation of the public service.”

Nous demandons des candidatures pour pourvoir au poste vacant de vice-présidente adjointe/vice-président adjoint, Ontario.

Le 12 février, 2014

À: Toutes les sections locales – Région d’Ontario
Délégué(e)s de la Région d’Ontario au Congrès 2011

Objet: Appel des candidatures au poste de vice–président(e) adjoint(e) – Ontario

Chers confrères et consoeurs,
Nous demandons des candidatures pour combler le poste vacant de vice-présidente adjointe/vice-président adjoint, Ontario. Nous vous prions gentiment de faire passer le message à tous les membres de votre section locale.
Tout membre en règle dans la région d’Ontario peut poser sa candidature pour ce poste.
Pour proposer ou appuyer une candidature, vous devez avoir été un membre délégué accrédité à notre dernier congrès et être toujours un membre en règle. La même règle s’applique pour le droit de vote.

S'il vous plaît voir le tableau d'affichage dans la cuisine.
 
Le formulaire peut être retourné par la poste, par télécopieur ou par courriel au plus tard le mercredi 12 mars, à 16 h, heure avancée de l’Est, et doit être adressé à Ateau Zola.

150, rue Isabella, bureau 900
Ottawa (Ont.) K1S 1V7
Télécopieur : 613-560-4208
Courriel : ateau.zola@une-sen.org
Objet : Candidature pour le poste de deuxième vice-présidente adjointe/vice-président adjoint – Ontario.

Celles et ceux qui soumettront leur candidature peuvent nous envoyer une notice biographique (une page ou moins). Elle sera distribuée aux déléguées et délégués ayant le droit de vote.

En toute solidarité,
Doug Marshall,
Président national
 

Seeking nominations to fill the vacant position of Assistant Vice-President for Ontario

February 12, 2014

TO: All Ontario Locals
Ontario Delegates to 2011 Triennial Convention
Union of National Employees (PSAC)


Subject: Call for Nominations – Ontario Position of Assistant Regional Vice-President


Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are requesting nominations to fill the vacant position of Assistant Regional Vice-President – Ontario. We kindly ask you to share this message among members of your Local.
Any member in good standing in the Ontario region can put his or her name forward for consideration.
In order to nominate a candidate or second a nomination, you must have been an accredited delegate at our last convention and continue to be a member in good standing. The same applies to voting privileges.


Please see the bulletin board in the kitchen.

The form can be returned by mail, fax or email to the attention of Ateau Zola no later than 4 p.m. eastern daylight time on Wednesday, 12 March 2014.
900-150 Isabella Street
Ottawa, ON K1S 1V7
Fax: 613-560-4208
Email: ateau.zola@une-sen.org
Subject line: Nomination for Second Assistant Vice-President – Ontario.


Those who submit their names for nomination can send us a short biography (one page
or less). This will be shared with voting delegates.


In Solidarity,
Doug Marshall,
National President

Le Congrès du travail du Canada présentele Concours vidéo àmessage d'une minute

http://messageuneminute.congresdutravail.ca/

The Canadian Labour Congress presents the One Minute MessageVideo Contest

http://oneminutemessage.canadianlabour.ca/

Thursday, 13 February 2014

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s plans to strip worker rights and advance a low wage economy

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,

We are anticipating that there may be a spring provincial election and
with it a chance for Tim Hudak and his Progressive Conservative (PC)
Party to gain power. Hudak has centred his campaign around weakening
unions and replacing good jobs with low wage work. In addition, his
party has made it quite clear their intentions to privatize public
services and sell off public assets.

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and Canadian Labour
Congress(CLC), are launching a campaign to educate workers about
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s plans to strip worker
rights and advance a low wage economy.

The campaign will begin with a series of regional meetings for all
union members to provide the tools for members to engage in their
workplaces and neighbourhoods about the threat of the PC party.

The following is a listing of currently scheduled meetings in Ontario,
although more will be added to the schedule in the coming weeks:

- Feb 27 - Durham: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm - Unifor Local 222 Hall, 1425
Phillip Murray Ave, Oshawa

-  Mar 6 - Toronto:Details to follow.

- Mar 18 - Sudbury: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm - USW Local 6500, 66 Brady St,
Sudbury

- Mar 20 - London: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm - Unifor Local 27, 606 First
Street, London

- Mar 27 - St. Catharines: Details to follow.

- Apr. 1 - Thunder Bay: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm - Lakehead Labour Centre,
929 Fort William Rd, Thunder Bay

- Apr. 10 - Hamilton: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm - UA Local 67, 195 Dartnall
Road, Hamilton

For more information, and to register for any of these meetings, please
visit: www.RightsatWork.ca 

The webpage also contains resources on the achievements of labour
unions in the past and their continued importance in our society.
Materials includes reports, fact-sheets, handouts, planning guides and
workshop materials, which together comprise a toolkit for popular
education on the role and value of labour unions and collective worker
action.

To receive printed materials, or to arrange a workshop presentation for
your Local, contact the OFL at: info@ofl.ca

In Solidarity,

Sharon DeSousa
PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President - Ontario

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Bad diagnosis in public service sick-leave debate

OTTAWA — Here’s what happens when an MP calls in sick, or when Tony Clement is flat out with the flu, unable to crawl to the limo: nothing.
MPs don’t have sick leave. Or maternity leave.
Absent a long-term disability, no one officially counts the days they “call in” sick. They don’t have to produce a doctor’s note. They don’t have to put on their hoarsest voice and fake-cough their way through the morning grovel to the short-pants in PMO.
They can just stay home. Today, tomorrow, all week, next week, all month if necessary. Do MPs take more than 11.5 or 18 days off annually from illness, like the average federal public servant?
Who knows? They don’t even take real attendance in the House of Commons. In a public document that outlines their $160,200 annual salaries ($76,700 extra for cabinet ministers), there is a provision about attendance, about which it’s difficult not to reach for the big sack of snarky.
It says $120 a day will be deducted from pay if a member misses more than 21 days in a session of the House, unless you’re away for these reasons: illness, official business, service in the armed forces or House adjournment.
And here’s the comical justification for those last exclusions: “because these days count as a day of attendance.” So, an MP is counted as “present” even when he’s at home with an illness, and attendance, in any case, seems to be self-reported. And they’re worried about secretaries and clerks jerking the system?
The Treasury Board president’s targeting of sick leave has that weird whiff of government trying to solve problems that don’t exist or aren’t pressing, like the long-form census nonsense or the face-slap to Canada’s war veterans.
And the sick-leave debate has this accusatory undertone of wide-scale fraud, as in: the numbers are higher than the private sector, therefore slackers and fakers, grown diseased on a diet of entitlement, are to blame.
Sick leave, one suspects, is not the biggest worry in the public service. We are, crazily, looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
If we accept that 11.5 days are taken in paid sick leave annually, this is about five per cent of the yearly total of days worked.
The more pressing matter for taxpayers, surely, is this: what are public servants doing with the other 95 per cent?
If gainfully employed, great. If not, this is not a union problem, this is a management problem. If there are too many public servants doing the wrong things, or nothing at all, this is a management problem, not a union plot.
Put another way, if the goal is to reduce the 11.5 sick days to eight or five or zero, what is the point if the worker is asleep at his desk anyway?
And, it should hardly need be said, sick leave is a benefit the government negotiated. It is not a “favour” the employer has bestowed on the working masses. And is it not rather rich that their masters in the House can be “sick” however, whenever?
There will be much parsing of numbers in this dispute and loads of unhelpful omissions. The payout for sick leave has risen sharply in the last decade or so, but why?
The Parliamentary Budget Officer puts the figure in 2011-12 at $871 million, or about 107 per cent higher than in 2001-02. But hold on. Adjusted for inflation, the increase is 68 per cent. And, of that, 25 per cent is due to increased wages, 25 per cent to a larger public service, 33 per cent to more actual sick days, and a further 17 per cent is put down to “interactions” of factors.
The real number to focus on is a 23-per-cent increase (over the decade) in the average number of sick days that a typical public servant takes in a year. (Further complicating things, according to the budget officer, is that Treasury Board counts employees in a way that makes the problem look even worse.)
Possibly the increase is due to an aging workforce and typical middle-aged maladies that afflict the demographic. Possibly there has been an increase in abuse.
Does it make sense, though, that over the course of a decade, tens of thousands of workers have suddenly become cheaters and con artists?
The diagnosis, doc, is just sick in the head.

By Kelly Egan, OTTAWA CITIZEN February 10, 2014

Federal budget takes aim at public servants’ benefits to save billions


Finance Minister Jim Flaherty set the stage in Tuesday’s budget for a watershed round of collective bargaining in 2014 with plans to save at least $7.4 billion over six years by reducing the benefits of former and current public servants.
 
In a one-two punch, the Conservative government is taking aim at sick leave benefits of public servants and the $1.4 billion in salary costs from estimated future banked sick leave.
At the same time, it intends to double the premiums that retired bureaucrats pay for the Public Service Health Care Plan while limiting their eligibility for the plan. That move will save $1.5 billion in 2014-15 and up to $7.4 billion by 2018-19.
The compensation cuts are the biggest savings the government booked in its drive to a balanced budget.
They come on top of the two-year operating freeze for departments the government announced last fall to save $1.7 billion. The freeze will ratchet up the pressure at the negotiating table if departments have to absorb any wage increases, which in turn will squeeze more jobs, programs and services.
The budget also signalled new legislation to get rid of “redundant” organizations and consolidate support and administrative services. Unions have long been braced for services like finance and human resources to be consolidated like the government did with IT when it created Shared Services Canada.
Public servants also took another hit with the government’s decision to give veterans released on medical leave top priority for jobs in Canada’s public service, ahead of laid off and surplus bureaucrats. This means the 1,000 veterans a year can go on the priority list for five years.
The government spends about $46 billion a year on personnel and compensation, its biggest single operating costs. Treasury Board President Tony Clement has vowed to bring this in line with the private sector to make it more “affordable and reasonable.”
The budget comes as the government heads into a much-anticipated round of collective bargaining with 17 federal unions that parallels the run-up to the 2015 election. As expected, the top priority is to replace existing sick leave benefits with a new short-term disability plan.

Unions have signed a “solidarity” agreement to refuse concessions on sick leave but their bargaining clout has been significantly weakened by new legislation that strengthens the government’s hand at the table.
Ian Lee of Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business said the government’s unusual step of booking some of its expected compensation savings as collective bargaining is poised to begin shows the Conservatives won’t be dickering at negotiations.
“They are sending the message to the unions that this is going to happen whether they agree or not,” he said. “Tony Clement isn’t going to back down and they would be grinning from ear to ear if the unions even contemplate a strike because the government feels it has the court of public opinion on its side when it comes to reducing public service pensions and benefits.”
Robyn Benson, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said the government is balancing its books on the “backs of public servants” and gutting services Canadians rely upon.
Debi Daviau, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, called the cuts an “irresponsible abuse of the public purse to build the Conservatives’ election kitty” while compromising programs and services.
NDP MP Paul Dewar said the government could pay for the public service cuts at the ballot box in the seven area Conservative ridings.
“If the Conservatives think they can take public service for granted, I think there is a surprise for them coming up and they better take it seriously,” said Dewar. “It will be interesting to see how they sell this to their constituents.”
But Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, the Conservative MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, said the cuts came as no surprise and are “mild” compared to the Liberals’ downsizing of the 1990s. He said no one is keen on paying more but the benefits enjoyed by public servants will still be among the best in the country after the changes.
“You know the best assurance for stability and security for the National Capital Region’s economy and the public service is a balanced budget, and the good news we are incredibly close and we will be in surplus next year and that will be the ultimate stability and security.”
The budget’s announced changes to the health-care plan have been rumoured since last summer.
The National Association of Federal Retirees quickly launched a national campaign to drum up the support of the 500,000 retired public servants, military and RCMP who belong to the plan. 

The government intends to make retired public servants pick up 50 per cent of the cost of contributions for the plan rather than the 25 per cent they pay now.
The government is also changing the eligibility for the plan. Under the existing rules, retirees who worked for two years in the public service can join the plan. The government argues two years is too short a time to access the plan and is lengthening that to six years.
The health plan is optional and popular with retirees, with about three-quarters signing up for the plan when they retire. With the new cost-sharing, the government estimates a retiree’s contribution cost would double from $261 to $550 a year.
Although the government is committed to the two major changes, it is willing to negotiate to ensure “current low-income pensioners are not affected” by the increase in contributions. The government picks up the contribution costs for all existing public servants and that will remain unchanged.

By Kathryn May, Postmedia News February 12, 2014

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

URGENT - Stand up for workers' rights against Bill C-525



Conservative Members of Parliament want to make it harder for people to form a union at work. They're trying to rush Bill C-525 through the House of Commons as fast as possible.
The Committee studying the Bill is allowing only one day of witnesses. PSAC asks what's the big rush?
What the Conservatives want to keep quiet is that this Bill is profoundly undemocratic.
Under current federal labour laws in both the public and private sectors, if a majority of employees sign a union card, the union is certified. If there is less than a majority, a vote is held. Right now, the majority rules - a majority of those who cast a vote. But that won't be the case if Bill C-525 becomes law.
Under Bill C-525, whenever a vote is taken, employees who don't vote will be counted. They will automatically be counted as having voted against the union - even though they never voted.
You can help by sending an email to the Members of Parliament sitting on the committee that's examining in the Bill. PSAC President Robyn Benson and REVP for Quebec Magali Picard are appearing before the committee on Tuesday. But they need your help. The Conservatives are trying to rush thisBill through as quickly as possible. Act now!
Please Go On Line to fill out this section, see link below:
 
Dear Members of Parliament:
 
I am very concerned about Bill C-525.  This Bill is going to create problems where none currently exist.  Here are several of them.
 
Existing federal labour laws in the public and private sectors allow workers to freely decide to unionize or to decertify.   Bill C-525 will eliminate the right to automatic certification when a majority of workers have clearly shown their intent by signing union cards.  Experience in the provinces where this right has been eliminated shows that workers are vulnerable to employer intimidation before votes can take place.
 
When labour boards conduct votes, unions can only be certified or decertified if there is majority support among the workers who vote.
 
With Bill C-525, unions will need a majority of the entire bargaining unit to become certified.  In other words, labour boards will have to count all those who did not vote as having voted against the union.  In the case of a decertification vote, once again anyone who does not cast a ballot will be counted as voting against the union.
 
How can you possibly make assumptions about those who do not vote? You have to cast a vote to be counted.  As a Member of Parliament, if you chose not to vote on Bill C-525, your non-existent vote will not be counted as either for or against the Bill.
 
Bill C-525 also proposes changes to the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Parliamentary Employees Staff Relations Act that will set the requirement to decertify the union at 45%.  There is no justification to allow a minority to  be able to overturn the will of the majority. 
 
Labour laws should balance the interests of workers, employers and the public.  These laws should only be changed with careful consideration and after full consultations with those affected.  Bill C-525 was not the result of consultation and is seriously flawed.
 
I ask you to vote against this Bill at the Committee stage and in the House of Commons.

Thursday, 6 February 2014

Electronic notification of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) Bulletin administrated by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.

As part of our "Green" initiative to reduce our collective environmental footprint, plan
members who have provided their e-mail address are now being invited to view the
PSHCP Bulletin on-line.  

The PSHCP Bulletin will no longer be mailed to you if you
have provided your e-mail address to Sun Life, and emails will serve as notification once
a new PSHCP Bulletin is available on our site.

The most recent version of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) Bulletin is now
available on the Sun Life website. To view the PSHCP Bulletin, please follow the steps
outlined below:

  1. Visit www.sunlife.ca/PSHCP
  2. Click on "PSHCP Bulletin" under my plan.

If you encounter any difficulties, please contact our Customer Care Centre toll free at
1-888-757-7427 (in North America) or at 613-247-5100 (in the National Capital Region).

In line with current industry best practices, Sun Life promotes safe e-mail
communications. Therefore, we do not provide hyperlinks to the sign-in pages of our
password protected websites or ask you to provide personal information in our e-mail
communications.

Thank you for using the electronic version of the PSHCP Bulletin.



Public servants take similar amount of sick days as private sector: Report



OTTAWA—A report from the Parliamentary Budget Office will find no significant difference between paid sick leave in the public and private sectors, the Star has learned.
The report, to be released by the PBO in Ottawa on Thursday, is expected to show that public servants take a similar amount of paid sick days as counterparts in comparable private sector organizations.

The findings complicate Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s position that public servants are abusing the current sick-leave system, leading to higher rates of absenteeism among federal bureaucrats than their counterparts in the private sector. 

Sources with knowledge of the report said it will dispute Treasury Board claims that public servants take an average of 18.2 paid and unpaid days off annually, saying the number includes things like long-term disability, work place injuries, or unpaid sick leave.
Unions have already taken issue with that estimate, putting the number closer to 11 days a year. The Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents approximately 180,000 unionized workers, claims a relatively small amount of long-term disability claims drastically skew the Treasury Board numbers. 

The PBO’s analysis will likely become an important baseline for the debate between Clement and the 27 bargaining units heading into contract talks with Ottawa in 2014. Clement has made sick-leave reform the main point of those contract talks, while unions are digging in their heels and vowing to fight any changes.
“We’re not in a race to the bottom, and we’re not in concession bargaining. We’re not prepared to give up our sick leave,” Robyn Benson, the national president of PSAC, said in an interview Wednesday.
“We have time and time again said that Mr. Clement is incorrect. Our members do not abuse sick leave . . . . Mr. Clement has said we use upwards of 18 days a year when we only actually earn 15.”

Benson said the Treasury Board has not made the case that there is any issue with the current system in their push for reforms — including explaining their estimate of 18 sick days per year.
“It’s always very interesting when the government puts out numbers, and then we ask how they come up with it and they don’t have an answer for us,” Benson said. “And we asked the question, and will continue to ask the question, what’s wrong with our sick leave benefits now?” 

Clement did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.
The Treasury Board president signalled the Conservatives’ desire to crack down on “exceedingly high absenteeism” in the public service in June 2013.
According to Treasury Board briefing notes, the government feels the current system lacks effective oversight that “can sometime lead to abuses.” 

In the face of pushback from unions, Treasury Board is now looking for private sector consultants to examine their proposed reforms and help sell them to bureaucrats.
The PBO report is expected to show that the overall cost of sick-leave benefits has increased over the last number of years, but not simply due to an increase in the number of days public servants call off. Higher salaries compared to previous years, as well as an increase in the total number of workers in the core public service over the last decade, also play a part.
Salaries and benefits amount to the largest single operating expense for the federal government, coming in at approximately $43 billion annually. 

By: Alex Boutilier Staff Reporter, Published on Thu Feb 06 2014


Wednesday, 5 February 2014

OHS - RSI Plus Day - February 28th

Workplace injuries such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI's) account for 42% of all lost time claims and 50% of all lost time days. 
To increase awareness on these issues, the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) is pleased to offer the 15th annual RSIPLUS Awareness Day on  February 28, 2014 at no fee. 
The deadline for registration is February 21, 2014. View the the brochureagenda, and fill out the registration form for more information.



With the aid of the eDome at Cambrian College, now anyone can access this year's RSI Day event regardless of geographic location. All that is required is a high speed internet connection and sound. Attendees using this method will be able to ask questions through the internet to any of the presenters. It is asked that all interested parties in the Sudbury area attend the event in person. The day before the event, website address, handouts, and login password will be sent to all participants not located in Sudbury. For more information you can contact Trevor Schell, or the Clinic at 705.523.2330 or 1.877.817.0336.  Once registered, more information will follow including dates to test your internal firewalls to ensure the event runs smoothly on your end.

Ontario - Spring School 2014


Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
 
It's that time of year again; PSAC Ontario Spring School will begin on Wednesday, April 9th, 2014 at 8:30am at the Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre (551 Windermere Rd., London, ON) for the two (2) Alliance Facilitator Training Program (AFTP) courses. One of the two (2) AFTP courses will be offered to all members. The other AFTP course is open to all members of Directly Chartered Locals. 
 
Spring School will begin on Thursday, April 10th, 2014 at 8:30am for the two (2) Political and Social Activism course offerings.
 
Spring School offers members the opportunity to gain specialized knowledge and skills, while building solidarity with other PSAC members from across the Region.
 
This year's course selections were based upon feedback from members and reflects the PSAC's priorities of Political Action and Campaigns and Building the Union at the Base. All courses will end on Sunday, April 13th at 2:00pm.
 
A registration fee of $25, payable to PSAC, must accompany each application form.
 
Interested and eligible applicants must select one of the four offered courses.
 
Class sizes are limited and applications are due no later than Friday, February 28th, 2014. 
 
Please speak to a member of your Local executive for the Call-Out Letter and Application Form. 
 
In Solidarity,
 
 
Sharon DeSousa
REVP Ontario
Public Service Alliance of Canada
(416) 485-3558 ext. 231
Fax NO. (416) 485-8607