John Gordon – President of our bargaining agent, the Public Service Alliance of Canada – began day two of our 14th Triennial National Convention with a call to arms around an increasingly difficult round of negotiations for a new contract covering the great majority of PSAC members.

Gordon, below, complimented the Agriculture Union for its current fight against the Conservatives' attack on the Canadian Grain Commission, and urged delegates to apply that same spirit of solidarity to the struggle with Treasury Board and separate employers such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Labour songs have a long, proud history as tools of union organizing and mobilization. Delegates were charged up mid-morning by a spirited musical presentation by the Ottawa folk group, Healy and Juravich, seen below.

The late morning saw the second Convention appearance of the Collective Bargaining and Health and Safety Resolutions Committee. A particularly vigorous debate took place around a resolution that would modify PSAC Regulation 15 to include electronic voting as an option during the collective bargaining process.  As this adopted resolution affects the PSAC, it will be forwarded for consideration to that body's own Triennial National Convention in 2009.

 

Early afternoon saw the first appearance of the General Resolutions Convention Committee, seen directly above holding an impromptu caucus after the referal back of a resolution – subsequently adopted – that would see the Agriculture Union hold a one-time Human Rights Conference over the next three-years..  Convention delegates unanimously adopted a resolution put forward by the Committee urging the PSAC to launch a lobbying campaign to oppose the transfer of federal laboratories to universities or the private sector.. As federal labs are represented by a number of PSAC Component unions, the Agriculture Union is looking to the Alliance for leadership on this issue.

Mid-afternoon saw the 'première' of a video produced by the PSAC to support and promote our campaign against attacks on the structure and role of the Canadian Grain Commission. The presentation was a lead-in to a discussion of the PSAC political action program for the upcoming federal election, entitled Defending Quality Public Services. An overview of the program was provided by PSAC National Executive Vice-President Patty Ducharme. For her part, Jackie de Aguayo, head of the PSAC’s representation section, laid out a comprehensive overview of the current status of the political rights of federal public workers.

The day’s Convention business was capped with the creation of a Social Justice Fund, administered by the Agriculture Union and based on guidelines established by the National Executive. Our union will provide an initial $50,000 in seed money to get the Fund up and running. To ensure its sustainability, an amount equal to $0.50 per member per month will be allocated to the Fund. After a three year period, an evaluation will be conducted by the National Executive.

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