This piece was completed for a class assignment and was up to date as of Feb. 5, 2024. On Feb. 7, Alex Silas, regional executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, was arrested at a rally of striking union members on Star Top Road, as reported by the Ottawa Citizen.
On Jan 31, the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Service (CFMWS) issued striking Non-Public Funds (NPF) workers a trespassing notice as picketing escalated inside the agency headquarters at 4210 Labelle St.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said it is fighting for NPF workers to receive pay and benefits that align with core federal workers.
The strike impacts almost 500 NPF workers who provide various services, including financial, recreational, retail and travel assistance to Canadian Forces members. They have been on strike since Jan. 15, after bargaining talks with their employer, CFMWS, broke down on Jan. 12.
Military and Ottawa police were present leading up to the notice being issued, said Rose Touhey, a Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) staff member and non-elected regional representative.
Touhey, who was handed the notice by the employer, said she is skeptical about the legitimacy of the notice and that escalation inside a building is standard practice in slow-moving labour disputes such as this one.
Including Ottawa, six units of the Union of National Defense Employees are on strike in Quebec and Ontario. The union is a component of PSAC.
According to Julie Laska, strike captain and president of Local 70682, the employer has not returned to the bargaining table since talks broke down almost three weeks ago, and the employer continues to ignore the union.
“Our negotiator was on the line yesterday and today. She tried to talk to the employer’s negotiator, and the employer’s negotiator totally ignored her,” Laska said on Jan. 31.
“We feel like our employer really doesn’t care about us. We feel disrespected.”
On Feb. 2, Striking NPF workers returned to the picket line at 4210 Labelle St. despite the trespassing notice. Laska said police have supported the union’s right to picket.
Ultimately, Laska said she thinks the trespassing notice was a form of intimidation by the employer.
In an emailed statement from Julie Leblanc, a senior communications manager at CFMWS, the employer states the notice falls under the Trespass to Property Act and striking members may not enter the non-public property at the Queensway Corporate Campus.
“CFMWS recognizes and respects the rights of employees to strike peacefully and lawfully, but the conduct of the strikers on 30 January 2024 transgressed what is peaceful and lawful. They were given a period of 24 hours to remove their equipment, such as warming huts, vans, and portable toilets, from the Queensway Corporate Campus.”
Photos of the notice document provided by PSAC show it was signed by David Connors, an administrative services manager at CFMWS.
Connors declined to comment on the notice at this time.
Support from NDP MPs
NPF workers are employed under the authority of Defense Minister Bill Blair, while the Treasury Board employs core public service workers.
NDP MPs Lindsay Mathyssen and Alexandre Boulerice visited the picket line on Jan. 30 to show support.
Mathyssen said she does not understand why the employer still has not returned to the bargaining table.
“[Non-Public Funds employers] deserve livable wages, and they’ve been ignored for quite some time,” Mathyssen said. “They’re asking to be given the respect that all workers deserve for a fair process and deal.”
In question period in the House of Commons on Jan. 30, Mathyssen asked Blair if he would accept the obligation to get workers back to the table.
“We support a resolution of this labour dispute at the table, and we will continue to support both sides coming back to the table. That is the right place to find the solution,” Blair said.
Deep frustrations among workers
Alex Silas, regional executive vice-president of PSAC, said the fact that each NPF unit bargains with the employer separately creates an unfair situation.
“This should be one unit with one contract,” he said.
Silas is assigned to the NPF as a bargaining portfolio.
Cathy O’Kane, vice-president of NPF, emphasized how the separate bargains create unequal wages across the country among people working the same jobs.
“The employer has been capitalizing on the fact that we bargain separately at each table,” O’Kane said.
“We are some of the lowest-paid public servants. We’re here for a fair contract,” Laska added.
Leah Paas, an accounting clerk at CFMWS in Ottawa, said she had been on the picket line almost every day of the strike.
She said she knows her wage is slightly higher than on other bases but added it is not even close to what she would make if she worked the same job as a core federal worker or in the private sector.
Paas said she almost accepted a higher-paying job at a private company last year but decided to stay at CFMWS due to the flexibility.
“I am a single mom…I need flexibility to drop off and pick up my daughter from school,” she said. “We just need to be paid fairly.”
Paas said she does not understand why management received fair raises based on inflation, but those in her pay group have not.
Lynn Guibord, an office clerk at the Canadian Forces Base Uplands in Ottawa, said she knows her wage is on the low end of the spectrum among bases.
“With my bus fare taken off, it’s minimum wage,” she said.
At work, Guibord puts military families into homes. She said she misses having positive interactions with people at work.
Despite being frustrated with the employer, Olivia Bissonnette, the union secretary and youth representative, said she feels proud of her colleagues for maintaining high spirits and said she wants to continue contributing to the military.
Bissonnette provides military members with special discounts and benefits.
“When I first got this job five years ago… I was like, ‘This is amazing. I’m actually giving back to this really amazing aspect of our Canadian culture,’ and I’m so proud to be there to support our troops. I want to keep doing that, but the employer just doesn’t understand how valuable our work is.”
On Thursday, Feb. 1, Ottawa picketers moved to the military base in St-Jean and were supported by members from the other five UNDE locals on strike – Kingston, Petawawa, Valcartier and Bagotville.
Laska stressed she wants to see an end to what she believes are one-sided negotiations.
“A negotiation is two parties talking and negotiating a fair contract and not one party, being the employer, dictating what we’re getting. Those are not negotiations, and this is what … [the employer] seems to think negotiations are,” she said on Jan. 31.
Olivia Grandy 