News - July 2009                   Previous Month         Following Month

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Members’ rights top of the agenda as Conservatives offload AgriStability program to Saskatchewan and British Columbia

CFIA members urged to contact their Member of Parliament

over gender-biased classification system

New CFIA collective agreement available for download on our Web site

Members’ rights top of the agenda as Conservatives offload AgriStability program to Saskatchewan and British Columbia

(Posted July 29, 2009)

The Agriculture Union is skeptical about the merits of the federal government’s plan to offload the delivery of the AgriStability program from the federal jurisdiction to provincial jurisdictions in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

“Obviously, our main concern is for our members and the potential for dislocation and job loss,” noted National President Bob Kingston. “But it’s also a bad move for taxpayers. The numbers don’t add up. By dismantling a single federal program delivery system, they are sacrificing the economy of scale and essentially ‘rebuilding the wheel’ a couple of times. It must be political because it sure isn’t economical.”

Outlined in a June 24 announcement, the federal government’s plans will see about 440 jobs transferred to the provinces.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has made commitments to minimize the impact on workers by facilitating transfers where possible. While about 246 indeterminate employees will have the opportunity to transfer or take advantage of the Work Force Adjustment provisions in their collective agreements, the fate of about 194 term employees is uncertain.

The transfer of jobs from Winnipeg and Regina to Kelowna, B.C. and Melville, Saskatchewan will begin in December 2009. Ongoing federal programs will be consolidated in Winnipeg and the Regina office will be closed by June 2010.

We are negotiating the best transfer arrangements possible to ensure that workers who want transfer will be able to. We are also doing what we can for term employees and are attempting to secure access to training opportunities to address transition and job loss issues.

CFIA members urged to contact their Member of Parliament over gender-biased classification system

(Posted July 17, 2009)

The Agriculture Union and its members at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have been working hard to force the employer to implement a gender-neutral classification system.

CFIA had agreed to implement the results of a historic pay equity ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, including the development of a gender-neutral classification system. However,employees of the CFIA continue to be victimized by a gender-biased classification system that has seen the wage gap in predominantly-female jobs widen dramatically.

Several months, ago we launched a grievance campaign in an attempt to force the issue. Now, we are asking you to contact Members of Parliament.

Clicking on the following logo, also prominently located on the main page of our Web site, will take you to a special page allowing members to send a protest letter to their own MP:

We urge all our CFIA members to take the time and make the effort to send a powerful message to our lawmakers.

There are indications that our efforts are having an impact. So, let’s keep up the pressure!

New CFIA collective agreement available for download on our Web site

(Posted July 3, 2009)

The National Office has only recently received the official signed-off version of the new collective agreement covering Agriculture Union members employed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

An electronic copy of the new contract, which expires December 31, 2011, can be downloaded from our Web site by clicking HERE.

Along with all other collective agreements applicable to Agriculture Union members, the new CFIA contract can always be found by clicking on 'Collective Agreements' under the 'Useful Information' main menu tab at the top of each page.