To attract the attention of Members of Parliament, PSAC-Quebec is shining a light on the plight of Non-Public Funds (NPF) workers – who have been on strike for over five weeks – and denouncing the contemptuous attitude of the Canadian Armed Forces, which considers them to be second-class public service workers.
NPF workers live in precarious situations and are amongst the lowest paid federal public service workers. These members provide vital programs and services to Canadian Forces members, veterans, and their families, including morale and welfare services such as health, fitness and recreational programs as well as shopping, retail, and financial services.
Unfortunately, the Canadian Armed Forces is not honouring its own ethos of dignity in the way it treats these employees.
“I’ve never witnessed such disrespect from an employer that claims to value honour and integrity,” said Yvon Barrière, Executive Vice-President, PSAC-Quebec. “Not only is it not taking the bargaining seriously, but it is also using a 40-year-old order to treat these members as second-class public service workers.”
A 1982 ministerial order is at the heart of this unacceptable situation. Approved by the Public Service Commission, the order excludes all NPF personnel from the Public Service Employment Act. This deprives them of the working conditions, protections and fair pay scales enjoyed by workers doing equivalent work across the federal public service.
The order has had preposterous effects. Examples of these include:
- A financial services assistant in Valcartier earns $10/hour less than someone doing the same work in Ottawa.
- These same assistants earn 1/3 the salary of their counterparts at the Treasury Board.
- Bagotville’s fitness and sports instructors earn 62% less than their federal counterparts.
- The pay scale for Bagotville’s kinesiologists ranges from $16–$26 an hour. Mere blocks away, their colleagues in Quebec’s long-term care centres earn $26–$43 an hour.
- Shipping and receiving clerks earn barely $1 more than the federal minimum wage.
- and many more.
These absurd discrepancies make life extremely precarious and burdensome for NPF employees, who struggle to earn a living and often have to take on second jobs to make ends meet.
We are therefore calling on the federal government to immediately annul the 1982 order so that NPF workers can be treated with the same respect that we show the Canadian soldiers that they serve and train.