The Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearings for the Program and Administrative Services (PA) and common issues tables wrapped up this weekend. The hearings are the first of eight scheduled in the next few months for nearly 140,000 PSAC members who are still without a new collective agreement.

At the hearing, PSAC representatives put forward our demands for a fair contract that delivers reasonable wage increases and the working conditions that make balancing family and work possible.

Now that PSAC and the employer have provided their respective submissions, we can expect to see a report with the commission’s recommendations for a settlement early in the new year. But we won’t wait for this report to secure an agreement. Between now and then we’ll continue to negotiate and mobilize for the fair contract PSAC members deserve.

We’re going to continue pushing for a deal that provides fair wage increases that cover the rising cost of living, improvements to work-life balance, and equitable compensation for the Phoenix pay disaster.

Once the PIC report is issued, the PA group, which includes 71,000 members, will be in a position to take a strike vote if we still haven’t reached an agreement with Treasury Board on our outstanding issues.

We’ll continue to provide updates over the coming days and weeks, including a detailed analysis of the union and the employer’s submissions at the hearing.

The next PIC hearing – for the Education & Library Sciences (EB) group – takes place December 9-12 in Ottawa.

Read the submissions to the Public Interest Commission:

Public Service Alliance of Canada’s submission

Treasury Board’s submission