News - June 2009                  Previous Month         Following Month

The headlines for current month's news items are listed immediately below. Click on the headline of your choice to see the entire text of the article.

Working together, we can successfully tackle the grievance backlog

Our Union calls for swift implementation

of House of Commons Agriculture Committee recommendations

and call for inquiry into CFIA actions over listeriosis

Agenda, minutes from National Consultation

with Public Service Commission now posted

Building of remote Indian school, supported by

our Social Justice Fund, well underway

The Western Producer blasts CFIA for poor communication skills

New Service Officer focusing on the PI Review

Social Justice Fund: Update on Kenyan agriculture development project

Working together, we can successfully tackle the grievance backlog

(Posted June 23, 2009)

The National Office is currently attempting to cope with an extraordinary backlog of grievances.

Time delays can occur for a number of reasons. Some of these involve scheduling difficulties or conflicting priorities. Other problems, however, could be avoided with a better understanding of how the grievance process functions. This brief article attempts to do just that.

Regrettably, Service Officers are using the majority of their time handling issues that should be dealt with at the Local and Regional levels.

The Agriculture Union National Office typically deals with grievances at the following levels:
          • grievances at the final level;
          • National Joint Council (NJC) grievances at the second and final levels; and
          • classification grievances.
In all other cases, grievances should be dealt with at the Local or Regional levels.

Even in the case of these above-mentioned grievances, the process can be slowed down considerably if there is a delay either in forwarding the grievance or if the accompanying files are incomplete. In such cases, National Office staff must use up valuable time – which should be spent dealing with properly-documented grievances – seeking out individual grievors and/or Local representatives in order to obtain all the necessary information and documentation.

It is also important that members contemplating a grievance seek information and assistance at the Local level. A Local Union representative, such as an Executive member or a Steward, should be the first point of contact. Contacting our union’s staff in Ottawa, however well intended, again slows the overall process of dealing with the grievance backlog by diverting their attention from grievances properly within the jurisdiction of the National Office.

This in no way means that Local representatives are being left in the lurch when it comes to grievance handling. Far from it.

If necessary, local Presidents can and should contact their respective Regional Vice President or Director for advice and assistance regarding workplace issues, grievance wording, the required documentation and so forth.

As well, the Agriculture Union’s ‘Key Info’ kit – which is readily accessible on our Web site – contains much useful information on workplace issues and the grievance procedure.

Finally, our bargaining agent, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, regularly holds a number of courses in regions across the country that assist Local Representatives in performing their union duties and responsibilities. Contact your closest PSAC Regional Office for a course schedule.

Please do realize that the National Office takes our members’ grievances, and their concerns, very seriously. Working together effectively is the best solution to speed up an admittedly lengthy grievance process.

If we all do our part, and work together, we can successfully clear the grievance backlog. Your co-operation and understand is appreciated.

Our Union calls for swift implementation of House of Commons Agriculture Committee recommendations and call for inquiry into CFIA actions over listeriosis

(Posted June 19, 2009)

Chalk up another victory for food safety and the influence of the Agriculture Union with federal politicians.

In an eagerly-awaited report, issued June 18, the House of Commons Agriculture Committee called for a number of measures to tighten up the country’s food system, including a public inquiry into the response of both the Conservative government and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency into last year’s listeriosis crisis.

What follows is a CBC report -- one of the first media reactions -- to the Committee’s report. As can be seen, our union is already calling for swift implementation of the Committee recommendations:

Agriculture committee calls for public inquiry into listeriosis crisis
CBC News

Thursday, June 18, 2009

          A parliamentary committee is calling for a public inquiry into the actions of the federal government and its agencies during last summer's deadly listeriosis outbreak.

          It is one of a dozen recommendations in a House of Commons Agriculture Committee report released Thursday. It also features a dissenting report from the committee's Conservative members.

          During committee hearings, opposition MPs questioned whether the Canadian Food Inspection Agency realized the severity of the crisis and acted soon enough to stem the outbreak, which led to the deaths of 22 people and made hundreds of others sick after they ate contaminated deli meats from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto.

          The report says Canada's food supply chain, from farmers to consumers, is "highly fragmented" among many stakeholders, and that hazards can originate anywhere in the food production system.

           But the committee's opposition members said they are left with many questions over how many food safety inspectors actually work in Canadian food plants.

          Briefing notes tabled before the committee cast doubt on the Conservative government's claims that it has hired 58 additional food inspectors this year, as it was determined that none of the newly hired inspectors actually works in meat-processing plants, the CBC's David McKie, who has been investigating the listeriosis outbreak, said Thursday.

          The committee report also recommends:

• Food safety standards in provincial and federal food plants be harmonized.

• The federal government set up an ongoing review of Canada's food safety standards to ensure up-to-date food

       safety and processing technologies, and new scientific evidence be included in all risk assessments.

• Ottawa review the training and resources CFIA inspectors need to "implement, execute and enforce" all food

       inspection activities, and make the results of the review public.

• The CFIA, in co-operation with the food safety inspectors union, work to provide "accurate, real-time evaluation"

       of inspectors' resources.

          The Conservatives said they will await the findings of independent investigator Sheila Weatherill, who was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to probe the crisis.

          Among the Tories' recommendations is a call for a review of the "compliance verification system," a self-policing auditing system that allows companies to inspect themselves while the CFIA inspectors review the company's paperwork.

           Bob Kingston, President of Agriculture Union - PSAC, which represents government food inspectors, praised the committee's report and called on Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to implement its recommendations as quickly as possible.

          He said the CFIA had failed to meet the expectation of providing Ritz and the cabinet "accurate and timely" information on inspector resources.

          "It is an essential first step to address the inspector shortage that is undermining food safety and consumer confidence," Kingston said in a release Thursday.

          The CFIA has defended its performance during the outbreak and said it has already brought in new measures in the wake of its own and other investigations into the crisis.

          Weatherill is due to present her findings to Ritz next month

Agenda, minutes from National Consultation with Public Service Commission now posted

(Posted June 18, 2009)

The Public Service Commission and the Agriculture Union met, on June 11, 2009, for the bi-annual National Union Management Consultative Committee meeting.

Agenda items discussed, as well as official minutes from the previous meeting, may be viewed by clicking HERE.

Building of remote Indian school, supported by our Social Justice Fund, well underway

(Posted June 15, 2009)

Members Harmesh Sidher and Sid Wong from British Columbia report that good progress is being made on the building of a new schoolhouse in the remote Indian village Musepur, near the Nepalese border. The project is being partially supported by the Agriculture Union’s Social Justice Fund.

The first photo below shows Harmesh on a recent visit to Musepur, with the foundation for the new school clearly marked out. The second photo shows a group of excited village children beside a freshly-constructed portion of the schoolhouse wall.

The Musepur schoolhouse is one of a number of initiatives being undertaken in this poverty-stricken area of India by the Vivek Educational Foundation of Canada. The Agriculture Union is pleased to be able to support this work.

More information on Vivek’s projects is available on the Social Justice Fund section of our Web site, or by clicking HERE.

The Western Producer blasts CFIA for poor communication skills

(Posted June 12, 2009)

Agriculture Union members appreciate that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will likely never win an Olympic medal for public openness.

However, the CFIA did garner at least one recent if dubious prize: the Canadian Association of Journalists awarded the Agency its ‘Code of Silence’ award for its lack of disclosure around the recent listeriosis crisis.

We thought our members would be interested in the following opinion article penned in early June by Barry Wilson, the Ottawa correspondent for the respected Western Producer publication:

Award reflects CFIA's communications shortfalls

          To say that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a poor reputation for its communications ‘skills’ is akin to saying the sun rises every day over Newfoundland first in Canada.
           It is self-evident, as the slave-owning founders of the American republic said about the proposition that all men (women, back of the line) were created equal.
           So it was no great surprise when the Canadian Association of Journalists recently awarded CFIA its "Code of Silence" award for performance on the listeria file last year.
           Access to information requests for Maple Leaf Foods inspection records often took more than half a year to produce. CFIA was seen as less than forthcoming in informing the public.
           It is true that the journalism culture of "I need that damning information now!" and the bureaucratic culture of covering bases and vetting potentially damaging information are bound to clash.
           But even in that context, CFIA has a communications problem.
           Recent Parliament Hill hearings into the listeria issue and food safety were a classic example of an unfair fight.
           The inspectors' union, the Agricultural Union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, ran circles around the agency, setting the agenda, feeding media with stories that framed the narrative and generally leaving the CFIA on the defensive.
           Did I mention that PSAC's media shop is a tiny fraction of CFIA's communications bureaucracy?
           But they understood reporters' need for a story, a relatively simple message and timely delivery.
           They also had an easier message to sell to media and public skeptical of government and looking for someone to blame for 22 deaths and hundreds of illnesses – Conservative cuts, underfunding, increased company responsibility for inspection and a reduction of inspectors on the floor were contributors to the crisis.
           CFIA responded with lines about chemical and scientific analysis, changing contamination-fighting strategies and denials that inspector staffing was an issue.
           For folks unfamiliar with the day-to-day of the food industry, it looked fishy. Add to that a CFIA assertion that industry, rather than the regulator, has the frontline responsibility for food safety and the makings of a public relations disaster were born.
           Then the union exploited the situation brilliantly with leaks to urban journalists and pre-event allegations that set the stage for questions to CFIA and framed the subsequent narrative.
           Before CFIA officials appeared on a Monday, PSAC issued a news release that challenged agency assertions. CFIA did not respond unless the media asked.
           The union commissioned a public opinion poll that said (surprise) Canadians "place food safety trust in government" rather than industry. The real question is where they found almost 14 percent of Canadians who said they trust food companies the most.
           PSAC surveyed its members and found (surprise) the inspectors felt they were under-staffed and resourced.
           All of these findings were reported, put the CFIA on the defensive and gave ammunition to opposition MPs determined to find the government at fault.
           The agency looked blankly into the publicity headlights and said mistakes were made but trust us. It wasn't a fair fight.

New Service Officer focusing on the PI Review

(Posted June 2, 2009)

The National Office is pleased to welcome Linda Koo, a new term Service Officer who will be working exclusively on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's PI Review.

As our affected members know too well, this Review has been a lengthy and drawn-out affair. With Linda’s welcome assistance, we hope to be able to prod the employer to move forward on this important file.

Social Justice Fund: Update on Kenyan agriculture development project

(Posted June 1, 2009)

Kami Swanson is a Feed Specialist Inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. A member of Local 74 in Red Deer, Alberta, she recently returned from a rather unique business trip.

You see, the ‘trip’ was to Africa, and the ‘business’ was helping poor Kenyan farmers improve their grazing pastures and livestock feeding practices.

Kami’s involvement in this project came through her work with Compassion Works International, whose goal is to ‘empower needy people with skills, knowledge and health to enable them to sustain a better quality of life’. She was also the driving force in securing financial support for the Kenyan project from the Agriculture Union’s Social Justice Fund.

In her latest trip, Kami worked with the World Agroforestry Centre to encourage local farmers to plant fodder shrubs that will add value to such normal animal feed as Napier grass and maize stovers.

Rich in protein, the short, woody fodder shrubs are both fast-growing and drought-resistant. They develop deep root systems that do not compete for nutrients with other food crops. Fodder shrubs also provide a valuable feed supplement for dairy cows and goats, especially during the withering heat of Kenya’s dry season.

The above photos show Kami counselling several local farmers on value of fodder shrubs and, along with interpreter Daniel, addressing a large group of farmers.

While Kami’s Kenyan trip was fairly brief, she and her colleagues leave behind the lasting gift of the alleviation of both poverty and hunger, Our Social Justice Fund is proud to support Kami and her work!