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The largest union for white-collar professionals in Canada’s public service is preparing for an unprecedented “political” campaign in the 2015 election that some worry could breach the tradition of non-partisanship among bureaucrats.

More than 400 delegates at the annual meeting of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) voted Friday to “take all necessary” political action – short of becoming partisan – to prepare for the 2015 election and a round of collective bargaining that could end with most members on strike.

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“Let’s face it, this government is probably the worst employer we’ve had to deal with since PIPSC became a union in 1967,” said PIPSC president Debi Daviau in her opening address.

“After all, the Harper Conservatives didn’t drop the word ‘progressive’ from their name by accident.”

For the first time in the union’s 95-year history, a motion reached the floor calling for PIPSC to abandon “its traditional stance of non-partisanship” and mount an advertising campaign for the 2015 election campaign targeting the Harper government’s “far-right agenda” and “anti-union” policies. That motion was withdrawn in favour of a softer approach.