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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

Brothers Mike Arseneault, RVP Atlantic and Claude Duchesneau, RVP Quebec, were instrumental in persuading CSC to recognize that employees and inmates working in food services areas need to wear appropriate footwear. Brothers Arsenault and Duchesneau are USGE’s representatives on CSC’s National Policy Health and Safety Committee (NPHSC). 

With the New Year comes new members! USGE is pleased to welcome CSC employees whose positions were recently returned to the bargaining unit.

The end of January will prove to be an important time for our members working in the field of offender education. An evaluation team has been tasked with the assessment of CSC’s education programs in advancing offender academic development and achieving improved correctional outcomes. The focus is on the continued relevance of education programs and their effectiveness and efficiency. 

In a misguided attempt to save a few dollars on the backs of its employees, Treasury Board recently provided direction to Departments advising of changes to the method employed to calculate rates of pay upon promotions, deployments and actings for employees covered by the SV collective agreement.