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CSC will soon be sending out a letter to those USGE members who were recently de-excluded and who were advised that union dues would be deducted retroactively to March 1, 2014. It has been determined that union dues deductions were started prematurely and therefore CSC will be advising members that deductions will be suspended for the months of May and June and resumed on July 1, 2014 for those affected members.

The Conservative federal government has launched an unprecedented attack on the retirement security of all Canadians. Their proposal is to push target benefit pension plans on federally-regulated workers that have defined benefit plans.

USGE and the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) are embarking on an 11-month pilot project that will change the way grievances are handled for USGE members, that should help in improving the response times and that should lead to the overall reduction of outstanding grievances at all levels.

There have been more questions raised with the recent integration of CSC Managers, Assessment and Interventions (MAI) and Parole Officer Supervisors into USGE. Our newest members are, understandably, upset that they are now seeing union dues being deducted from their cheques, retroactive to March 1, 2014.

Legislation was introduced today that will centralize and coordinate the provision of support services to some administrative tribunals through a new, single organization called the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC). Of particular interest to USGE is the inclusion of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to the list of tribunals.

We have come to a tentative agreement with Treasury Board on changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP). Discussions were held under threat by the Government to introduce legislation to make changes to the Plan.

The Harper government has been on a cost-cutting rampage, also known as Deficit Reduction Action Plan, with his ministers touting the party-line of protecting the taxpayer from the greedy federal public service.

Treasury Board has implemented a new Performance Management Directive. By April 1, 2014, each employee in the core public administration will have a new Performance Agreement with three to six work objectives drafted for the upcoming year. The Directive has come with much hyperbole and negative insinuations about civil servants’ performance.

In 2011, the Parole Board of Canada launched its Renewal Initiative. This corporate-wide examination of the PBCs processes and operations had as a goal the recommendation of effective decision-making models and a best-practices organizational structure.

With Jim Flahertys budget 2014, it’s just another case of déjà vu. The Harper government is quite pleased with itself, since it is on track to balance the books next year. And most Canadians appear to like this. Whats not obvious is that this balancing will come on the backs of the public service employees. More cuts, more WFA equals less programs and less services