Why striking PSAC members want remote work enshrined in their contract

Language for post-pandemic telework should be enshrined in contracts for Canada's 150,000 striking federal civil servants, say their union, with workers arguing it's good for the environment, their own well-beingand the public they serve.

Employees with Canada's largest federal public sectorunion are in their second week of a nationwide walkoutto back demands for issues that include higher wages andworking from home. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) wants contract language entrenched ina universal work-from-home policy.

After COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted, the Treasury Board of Canada the primaryemployer of the core public service announced ablanket policy on telework in mid-December, telling employeesthey should return to the office for two to three days a week, starting in mid-January. The plan wasfully implemented atthe end of March.

PSACnational president Chris Aylwardimmediately condemned the new in-person work mandate for public servants, saying it was "arbitrarily announced," "poorly planned" and issued with "zero consultationwith the unions."

The union said in a statement in December that working of any kind, done remotely or in the office,shouldbe negotiated at the bargaining table.

WATCH | Return-to-office mandate 'disrespectful' to public servants, union leader says:

Return to office mandate 'disrespectful' to public servants, union president says

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Public Service Alliance of Canada president Chris Aylward called a new in-person work mandate for public servants a 'knee-jerk reaction' from the federal government.

Tens of thousands of striking PSAC members took to Parliament Hillon Wednesday, including some who say they don't plan on budging from the picket line until a work-from-home optionis included in any deal.

"I think it's in the best interest of all Canadians that if we can work from home, that we continue to do so. It's better for the environment, it'sbetter for our mental health and so many issues," said Angela Bilmer, who was on the picket line in Ottawa.

"We have the technology now, so let's do it. Working from home, getting that language in our collective agreement would be a huge step forward."

Working from home is beneficial on several fronts, including an improvedwork-life balance, saidRebecca Marchand-Smith, who also took strike action on the Hill on Wednesday. Leavingit up to managers to make decisions on remote work is an arbitrary approach, she said.

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President of the Treasury Board announces common hybrid model for federal public servants' return to offices

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Treasury Board President Mona Fortier says there is a need for consistency in how hybrid work is applied across the federal government and this new model will require employees to work onsite for 40 to 60 per cent of their regular schedule.

"Because then the government could come in and say, 'Fivedays in the office, back to work now,'" she said, "andso we need a stronger stance on the stronger wording from this."

"Hybrid is here to stay, but it's the managers' decision. So I think that in terms of climate and in terms of people's well-being, in terms ofpeople's energy and quality of life, working from home, the majority of the time, is the way to go."

Savings keep adding up

John Klotz, a certified financial planner in Markham, Ont., estimatesthat someone doing afull-time job from home in the Greater Toronto Area instead of commuting couldsaveas much as $1,800a month by doing away with the cost of gas or transit fares, child care, eating out and buying professional clothing.

"You're not going to the office and buying a latt anymoreor that expensive sandwich; you're making your own athome," Klotz said.

"It adds up. It wasserious overhead," he said. "Plus, workerscan justify writing off ahome office."

Push for work-life balancenot new

Alison Braley-Rattai, associate professor of labour studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., said telework has been an important conversation for many Canadians prior to the pandemic with the "movement toward things like work-life balance, even environmental impacts of commuting, gridlock, things like that."

"There has been a kind of conversation about whether or not there should be more work from home,hybrid arrangementsand so forth," she told CBC Radio's Daybreak Alberta this week.

"But the pandemic absolutely put that into the starkest relief possible when anyone who could work from homewas sent home to do so."

Canadians reorganized their lives in order to work fromhome and then realized they could reap the benefits and for some, that meant a better work-life balance,Braley-Rattai said.

WATCH| Federal government draws red line on telework in negotiations with PSAC:

Remote work clause in federal agreement could set precedent

1 year ago

Duration 2:05

Striking federal employees are pushing for remote work options to be enshrined in their next collective agreement. If approved, it could set a precedent for other labour agreements in Canada.

Break from 'brutal' commute

Dan Barrett, a PSAC local president in Toronto, said on Thursday that he findsworking from home arelief from the city's "brutal" commute and that it helps with productivity, but there are also wider benefits that come with enshrining theserights "sothey're properly controlled."

He said it would be a "better setup for the future to serve Canadians better" and could be used as a foundation for othercollective agreements.

In a statement last Monday, the Treasury Board said it was willing to do a "formal review" of the telework directive with unions to ensure its approach is "fair and supportive of our employees" while ensuring theycan serve Canadians.

At the same time, however, Treasury Board President Mona Fortiersaidit's the right of management to continue to evaluate how to best deliver services, and telework will not be part of a collective agreement.

In addition to a work-from-home agreement, PSAChad requesteda 13.5-per-cent pay raise over three years, but AylwardtoldCBC'sPower & Politicson Wednesday that theunion hasalready "moved twice" on its wage demand.

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Twitter says its staff can work from home as long as they want. The head of Shopify says office centricity is over. OpenText is shuttering half of its offices, reducing its workforce and shifting 2000 employees to remote work. COVID-19 forced hundreds of millions of employees to temporarily work from home, but companies are starting to change their remote work strategies from pandemic to permanent.Today on Front Burner, NPR reporter Bobby Allyn explains whats driving the enthusiasm for remote work in Silicon Valley, and the employee surveillance tools he calls a morale destroyer. Then, author and UN Happiness Committee member Jennifer Moss tells us who working from home is and isnt working for.