Employee Organizations in the Federal Public Service

• Author: Christopher Rootham
• Pages: 355-373

355

 

Employee Organizations in the

Federal Public Service

A. INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a brief overview of the history, duties, and rights

of the main employee organizations in the federal public service.

B. THE BARGAINING AGENTS IN THE FEDERAL

PUBLICSERVICE

There are currently twenty employee organizations1 certif‌ied as bar-

gaining agents under the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act

(FPSLRA)2 in eighty-two dierent bargaining units in both the Treasury

Board and separate employers. Those employee organizations represent

over 242,000 employees employed in the federal public service.

By far the largest employee organization in the federal public ser-

vice is the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). The PSAC was

formed in 1966 as the result of a merger between most members of

the Civil Service Federation of Canada and the Civil Service Associ-

ation of Canada. The PSAC’s predecessors were organized in the early

part of the twentieth century. The Civil Service Association of Ottawa

was founded in 1907. This employee organization was open to all civil

servants in the national capital area. In 1909, a number of employee

1 This includes employee organizations with several locals representing separate

bargaining units.

2 Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, SC 2003, c 22, s 2 [FPSLRA].

356 | LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW IN THE FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE

organizations formed the Civil Service Federation of Canada. The Civil

Service Federation of Canada was composed of smaller organizations

of civil servants organized along departmental lines. The Civil Service

Association of Ottawa decided to join the Civil Service Federation

of Canada at that time and (along with the “outside” organizations)

retained a fair degree of autonomy within the federation.

By the 1950s, tensions had arisen between the geographically based

Civil Service Association of Ottawa and the other departmentally based

organizations that composed the Civil Service Federation of Canada.

The two organizations split in 1954 after a dispute over whether depart-

mentally based employee organizations would be allowed to recruit

members who worked in Ottawa. However, both organizations rec-

ognized the need for unity among public servants, and merger talks

of various forms continued throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. In

1957, the Civil Service Association of Ottawa merged with the Amal-

gamated Civil Servants of Canada (an employee organization founded

in 1920, largely composed of postal workers based in Western Canada)

to form the Civil Service Association of Canada. Eventually, the Civil

Service Association of Canada merged with the Civil Service Federation

of Canada (less the postal workers organization that was a part of the

federation) to form the Public Service Alliance of Canada in 1966.

The PSAC has retained some features of a federation of unions and

other features of a centrally organized union. The PSAC itself has been

certif‌ied as the bargaining agent,3 and the central body of the PSAC is

responsible for collective agreement negotiation.4 However, the PSAC is

still divided into a number of “components” that used to roughly ref‌lect

departmental lines, although departmental reorganizations in the past

f‌ifty years have made it more dicult to track components exclusively

in various departments.5 The components are responsible for enfor-

cing the collective agreements applicable to its members, including

3 See Public Service Alliance of Canada and Canada (Treasury Board) (Hospital

Services Group — Operational Category), [1967] CPSSRB No 2 at 3.

4 Constitution of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (November 2018), s 7(2),

online: https://psacunion.ca/our-constitution.

5 Aside from the components that exist along departmental lines, there are three

components that represent employees in territorial governments and the public

sector in those territories. The PSAC also has what it refers to as “directly char-

tered locals” who represent employees outside of the federal and territorial public

services.