But that hasn’t stopped concerns that Clement may have done just that when he recently reached an extraordinary agreement with the largest federal union to set up a task force that will examine what’s making public servants sick with historic levels of mental health disability claims.
With that agreement, the big question is whether the government will seek any more concessions from public servants on their benefits. It has already taken a whack at severance pay, health benefits and is now taking aim at sick leave.
Some are waiting for the shoe to drop in next week’s budget, which will effectively lay out the platform that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will take into October’s election.
“I’d say the budget could signal or sabotage a breakthrough in the promotion of mental health in the federal workplace,” said Bill Wilkerson, a mental health advocate who has long pressed the government to tackle the high number of disability claims for mental health.
“The health of your workplace is one of those things that should rise above politics and the partisan nature of the management-labour relationship.”
The Conservatives just reached an unprecedented agreement with the largest union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, to set up a task force that will conduct a sweeping review of the policies, practices and working conditions of the public service, seeking to understand the “toxic” factors that can poison the workplace and drive up mental health claims. Within the public service, mental health claims account for fully half of all disability claims.
Both unions and Treasury Board declared the task force a great victory. The agreement., though hammered out at the bargaining table, has now moved to an independent track. The 17 unions and management are now setting up the steering and technical committees for the task force.
So will the Conservatives introduce a budget measure that risks torpedoing any good will and trust forged by agreeing to the joint mental health task force? Such a move could jeopardize its work.
“We entered into this task force process in good faith hoping to make real progress on a key factor behind sick-leave use and to improve mental health in the workplace,”said Debi Daviau, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). “We expect no less from the government; any sign otherwise in the budget will cast a very long shadow.”
Clement has said he is “passionate” about mental health issues and wants the public service to be Canada’s model employer in managing mental health in the workplace.
“The minister, and the unions, feel this issue is too important to be used as a bargaining chip. This is a real commitment to improving the health and welfare of federal public servants,” said Stephanie Rea, a spokesperson for Clement.
PSAC President Robyn Benson said she expects Clement to stick to his promise to bargain in good faith and his disability plan is a “step in the wrong direction.”
“We’ll be watching the budget carefully and we’ll take all the necessary measures to oppose any attempt to legislate changes to our collective agreement. The right to collective bargaining has been established by the Supreme Court as a Charter right.”
Ian Lee, a business professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, said he would be surprised if the budget didn’t highlight sick leave, one of Clement’s signature reforms of the public service. He speculates the budget could contain an announcement of the government’s intention to implement a new short-term disability plan.
A proposed short-term disability plan is a red flag for unions during a difficult round of collective bargaining. Sick leave is now enshrined in public servants’ contracts, so Clement needs to negotiate a new deal to proceed with his disability plan.
The unions are united in their opposition to surrendering sick leave for the new short-term disability plan. Instead, they propose fixing the existing sick-leave regime and keeping the 15 million unused paid days employees have banked. Clement wants the current system abolished.
For unions, an announcement of a new disability plan in the budget could be tantamount to a take-it-or-leave it deal – and that could lead to the first government-wide strike since 1991. A strike, in turn, opens the door to the prospect of back-to-work legislation, which the Conservatives have used to end other labour disputes.
“While I think that the public service bargaining reforms have the unions in a bind, I do not think Clement will publicly rub the unions’ nose in it, by publicly threatening back-to-work legislation and termination of the sick-leave bank,” said Lee.
“But if the unions strike, they are setting themselves up for back-to-work legislation that will likely include the termination of the sick-leave bank.”
If they reject the government’s offer of six sick days a year instead of 15, most of the public service unions have little choice but to strike. Under new rules, the government, not the unions, decides whether they strike or have access to arbitration in the event of a negotiating impasse.
Outside Ottawa, a fight with unions plays to the Conservative party’s base.
But Lee argues reducing the pay and benefits of public servants in the name of prudent management also resonates with the swing vote the Conservatives want– Liberal voters with conservative leanings – and that will matter more than worrying about alienating unions at a critical juncture in negotiations.
Clement’s short-term disability plan wouldn’t generate big savings. The banked sick leave is valued at $5 billion, but it is a contingent liability and abolishing it won’t affect the deficit.
Clement also doesn’t have to force a strike because the new rules will lead to one when negotiations hit a stalemate over sick leave.
Others argue that Clement has already tactfully shifted bargaining back to his priority of dealing with sick leave by moving the “mental wellness” issue from the bargaining table to the task force.
The unions had managed to change the channel on these round of talks by linking sick leave to “wellness” rather than casting it as a battle to save an employee benefit.
Meanwhile, Mathieu Ravignat, the NDP’s Treasury Board critic, argues the task force will be a token gesture unless the budget provides it funding and the Conservatives adopt the Mental Health Commission’s national standard on psychological health and wellbeing – which it is resisting so far.
Emmanuelle Tremblay, president of the Canadian Association of Public Employees (CAPE), is pleased about the task force but admits her first reaction was: “What is the trick?”
She said the Conservative government has previously shown little trust in the public service or concern for the wellness of employees. She noted the announcement of the mental health task force came at a time when the number of public servants being denied disability claims has tripled.
“Whether or not Treasury Board is serious about mental health in the workplace, I have my serious doubts about … It is all words now and not so much in deeds,” she said.
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: KATHRYN MAY
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