Good morning.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today on Bill C-59. I will address part 3, division 20, on the sick leave and disability programs.
Since 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada has issued a number of of important rulings on the subject of freedom of association in section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court has made it clear that the charter protects the right to free collective bargaining. It guarantees that workers have the right to join together to collectively present demands to their employers and to engage in a meaningful dialogue.
The court has also imposed constitutional obligations on governments in their role as employers. As employers, they must agree to meet with unions and bargain in good faith, and they must not enact legislation that substantially interferes with the ability of a union to bargain workplace issues. International human rights and labour laws also protect collective bargaining as part of freedom of association.
Yet in spite of international conventions and Supreme Court decisions, the federal government continues to interfere with the bargaining rights of our members and with the ability of our union to negotiate freely.
Unfortunately, Bill C-59 is the most recent act by the government to deny its employees their constitutional rights. Division 20 authorizes Treasury Board to modify the sick leave provisions of its collective agreements. It allows them to unilaterally impose a short-term disability plan outside of the agreements. Treasury Board will have full control to design the plan as well as modify the terms of the current long-term disability plan. It will also be able to alter sick leave entitlement and carry-over of unused sick leave regardless of what is in our collective agreements.
About a year before PSAC and Treasury Board were scheduled to begin bargaining, the government started its campaign to get rid of the current sick leave provisions. They started by releasing statistics about the use of sick leave in the federal public service, in effect to sway public opinion. Their statistics were later called into question by both Statistics Canada and the parliamentary budget office.
Then Treasury Board communicated directly with its employees about its new workplace wellness and productivity strategy. They talked about the new sick leave regime, leading employees to believe it was a done deal. The government's next step was to include $900 million in so-called savings from accumulated sick leave in its latest budget, in order to fund a projected surplus. Now it is taking the final step of using its power to unilaterally change our collective agreements.
It is very clear that the government has predetermined the outcome of negotiations. This offends the charter right of our members to free collective bargaining. It's completely inconsistent with section 2(d) of the charter, which calls for a meaningful process of collective bargaining.
We believe that collective bargaining works when both parties are able to negotiate freely. For example, we knew that there was a significant growth in long-term disability claims related to mental health issues. Increased sick leave usage is directly related to these claims, as members must use their banked sick leave before they can transition to long-term disability. Recognizing the importance of this issue, we tabled a proposal and reached an agreement with Treasury Board to create a joint mental health task force.
This is another reason why division 20 is such a problem. Unilaterally changing their sick leave protection just adds to our members' stress at work. It is an affront to employees with health issues, both mental and physical. We ask the committee to give serious consideration to removing division 20 in its entirety from the bill, upholding our right to negotiate our collective agreements free from the threat of legislation.
Thank you.