Remote work at centre of labour dispute between federal government and employees – Okanagan | 24CA News
It’s a labour dispute taking part in out on the nationwide stage as public servants stage a full-blown strike.
The roughly 155,000 federal authorities staff, represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), are combating for a brand new collective settlement, one which incorporates higher wages and dealing situations.
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But there’s one other contentious challenge between the employees and their employer, the federal authorities.
And it’s one not seen in previous labour disputes.
“Working remotely, working from home,” stated Sue Moser, strike captain and president of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) Local 20003.
“Remote work and telework have been proven to be very productive. I think we are able to do our jobs remotely.”
Many federal public servants have been working remotely for 3 years now because the begin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But in January, the Treasury Board of Canada mandated that federal staff have to return into the workplace two days every week, or 40 p.c of the time.
The mandate is a degree of rivalry between the 2 sides.
“We’re looking to have that clarified in our collective agreement,” Moser informed Global News. “So that we have some say in whether we come into the office or not, how many hours we come in, where we come in, that sort of thing.”
While sure jobs require staff to return into the workplace, many can and have been doing work remotely.
For instance, in Kelowna, the general public hasn’t had in-person entry to Canada Revenue Agency officers for years. So whether or not they’re working within the workplace or from house, nobody would know.
“We don’t have public access to CRA in this building,” Moser stated.
While distant work wasn’t usually a part of pre-pandemic labour negotiations, it’s one thing labour attorneys now count on to see extra of.
“We’re in a bit of a state of flux, where we’re trying to make decisions and work together without something being in a written contract, said Richard Johnson, a lawyer with Ascent Employment Law.
“I expect that it’s going to become more of a topic of collective bargaining negotiations as we make our way into the future.”
Johnson stated this one may not work within the authorities’s favour, having allowed distant work to go on for this lengthy already.
“They’re establishing that as a term of employment, they’re allowing it to happen. It’s not a COVID thing anymore,” stated Johnson.
“It’s been months past COVID and so the longer that goes on, the more employees have the right to say it’s become a de facto term of my employment,
“There’s no problem and clearly doing my work, what’s the issue? And so that’s where I come down on the issue. If I had to pick a side, it’s the employees I think have it on this one.”
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Kelowna barrister and solicitor Aleks Kukolj, who additionally makes a speciality of employment legislation, informed Global News the legislation has lengthy been that employers usually get to find out the place work is to be carried out, with such a big workforce
“The reality of the present situation, however, is that 155,000 unionized employees have massive leverage over an organization (the government) that has, generally speaking, a track record of agreeing to generous terms of employment for its workers,” Kukolj said.
“A portion of the employees who are on strike, in this case, are also responsible for managing revenues (CRA). So I would be very surprised to see the government hold firm on not allowing remote work moving forward. I think they can also sell it to people that the government is keeping with the times and accepting the realities of the modern workplace.”
The idea of a contemporary office is an argument Moser strongly agrees with.
“The federal government needs to step up and realize that because we will lose people, our younger generation has options,” Moser stated.
“If they don’t get the kind of working conditions that they’re expecting, or that they can get from another department or another area, our workforce is going to shrink.”
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
