Yesterday marked the close of a petition to the House of Commons calling on the Government of Canada to amend Part III of the Canada Labour Code and guarantee federally regulated employees the right to work remotely three days per week.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, Quebec Region (PSAC-Quebec) supports members’ right to work remotely and believes this right should be enshrined, whether in labour legislation or collective agreements. While this petition did not exclusively target public service workers, its goals are entirely consistent with our position.
Here’s what Sébastien Paquette, Executive Vice-President for PSAC-Quebec, had to say:
- The fact that the petition has more than 60,000 signatures—including 14,000 from Quebec—clearly signals that people want change.
- It shows that our Treasury Board bargaining teams, which have been fighting relentlessly for members’ right to work remotely, are championing a cause shared by many.
- As a reminder, since July 6, public service workers are required to report to the office four days per week, spending most of their time in videoconferences.
- Many locations are already short on workstations, and the problem will only get worse when people are back from vacation in September.
- Shared workstations create ergonomic issues that can put members’ health and safety at risk.
- We want to emphasize that remote work benefits everyone, including taxpayers, since it could generate more than $6 billion in annual savings for the Government of Canada.
PSAC complaint
It should be noted that the federal government is currently in bargaining with a number of units represented by PSAC. In imposing the in-office mandate without the union’s consent, employers have violated employees’ bargaining rights. PSAC has filed a complaint in this matter, since the employer cannot change working conditions at will during collective bargaining, regardless of whether those conditions are governed by the collective agreement.