PIPSC doesn’t value families and wants to strip rights, say IAM members

20 July 2020
For Immediate Release

Toronto, ON – The 35 members of IAM Local 907 are facing significant cuts to new parents’ parental leave financial support by their employer, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). They have been in negotiations since January.

In June, both parties went to conciliation.  Immediately following that meeting, the employer filed for a No-Board Report, which typically starts a 17-day countdown to a lockout or strike deadline.

The parties engaged in mediation in July. Despite the Union’s attempts to address this issue constructively, alongside other concerns such as ensuring adequate psychological health care for members and their families, the Employer has still failed to change course regarding concessions they have demanded related to the financial support currently in the Collective Agreement for members who are trying to raise a family.

The bargaining committee for the Union has continued their efforts to find fair resolution to this issue, but the Employer has made it clear that they are not interested in finding a solution unless they obtain their full list of concessionary demands.

The Employer declined all offers made by Union on parental leave, even the one without any financial hardship for them. That sends a clear message that PIPSC is an employer that doesn’t value families.

The IAM is shocked by this stance! Insisting on an almost 50% cut to the top-up received by a new parent to help raise a new baby and support their partner does not seem to embody the values PIPSC fights for. These are troubling signs, when an Employer states it supports workers’ rights, but then seeks to strip those very rights away from their own employees.

The 35 members in the bargaining unit are united in their resolve to find an amicable solution and will not be deterred in achieving a fair settlement. The membership will be meeting virtually this week and will determine which course of action is an appropriate response to this Employer attack.

PIPSC is the largest union in Canada representing scientists and professionals employed at the federal and certain provincial and territorial levels of government. The 35 members of IAM Local 907 represent and provide service from coast to coast to coast for the approximately 60,000 members of PIPSC.

The former members of the Professional Institute Regional Employee Council (PIREC) joined the IAM in November 2019.

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For more information
Ralph Martin, Grand Lodge Representative (rmartin@iamaw.org)
Frank Saptel, Communications Representative (fsaptel@iamaw.org)