OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is stunned by some of the contract demands by a federal government employee union. The Educational and Library Science Group of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have demanded ‘aboriginal spirit friend’ be added to the list of ill or deceased family members that would trigger getting paid days-off for government employees.
While the term “aboriginal spirit friend” appears to be a creation of PSAC, “spirit friends” are commonly considered to be religious spirits or ghosts and can take a human or animal form.
Other union demands: adding January 2nd, February 16th, May 1st to existing 10 paid statutory holidays
Four weeks paid vacation for new hires – up from three, five weeks paid vacation after eight years on the job
Destruction of negative employee performance reviews after one year
“Federal government employees already cost Canadians an average of $116,000 each,” said Gregory Thomas, Federal Director of the CTF. “Now they want 10-days off, with pay if an imaginary friend dies, 13 statutory holidays – including January 2nd – and eight weeks of paid vacation. These people might as well be working at imaginary jobs.”
In addition to demands for expanded family leave, the union is demanding members to get January 2nd, February 16th, and May 1st off with pay, in addition to the existing 10 paid statutory holidays. The union is also demanding four weeks paid vacation for new hires – up from three, with five weeks paid vacation after eight years on the job, and eight weeks after 25 years on the job, up from six weeks.
“Counting weekends, vacations, statutory holidays, sick days, family days and personal days, federal employees can already get between 150 and 165 days off every year with full pay,” said Thomas. “If the unions get their way, some full-time federal government employees could soon have more days off than days on the job.”
The unions are also demanding that taxpayers contribute one cent for every hour worked by unionized federal government employees to a “social justice fund” controlled by the unions.
They are demanding that any performance review containing a critical comment about an employee be destroyed after one year. Union leaders have also objected to the government’s practice of including formal disciplinary action for an employee’s misconduct in their annual performance review, arguing that employees are being punished twice.
The CTF is calling on the Harper government to reject the union’s demands, and negotiate aggressively at the bargaining table to get more value for taxpayers.
“Now is not the time to back down,” concluded Thomas. “The federal government needs to dig in its heels and push back on these crazy demands.”
