Presentation to the National Collective Bargaining Conference
Social Justice Fund Demand

February 02, 2007

Jeannette Meunier-McKay, National President CEIU and member of PSAC Social Justice Fund Steering Committee meets women of Barrio Siloe, Colombia who are struggling to obtain municipal services for their community.

I want to start by thanking the organizers for asking me to make a presentation on the break-through demand – Social Justice Fund.  They know I’m very passionate about this issue and I am sure many of you feel the same.  Unions exist to improve the lives of workers and their families. The Public Service Alliance of Canada is committed to negotiating improvements in pay and working conditions for its members.  But more than this, the PSAC believes that unions must be a force for building a more just and peaceful world.

This morning, I am going to walk you through our Social Justice Fund demand, talk about why it is so important, and outline the commitment that our members and their union have already made to the Fund.

Let me start with the demand.

We have at the Table, a demand that would see the Employer contribute one cent (1¢) per hour worked to the PSAC Social Justice Fund.  Contributions will be made for all hours worked by each employee in the bargaining unit.

By any measure, the demand is not financially significant. In fact, it represents approximately $20.00 per member per year from the employer.

Major employers in Canada have acknowledged that Humanities, Solidarity and Social Justice Funds are important, and have agreed to negotiate their contributions.

The big three auto companies in Canada have been leaders in this area and now contribute 1 to 7 cents per hour worked to the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund.

In fact, the Canadian Auto Workers Union alone has negotiated employer contributions to its Social Justice fund by fully 166 Employers, Canada, Siemens and Noranda.  The Steelworkers union has negotiated 530 agreements including that of Cominco that include a contribution to its Humanities Fund.

Moreover, since launching the PSAC Social Justice Fund on May 1st, 2003 the PSAC has successfully negotiated contributions to the fund from Airport employers, (Ottawa, North Bay, Timmins, Victoria Airports), the Canadian Labour and Business Centre, Canada Post Corporation and approximately 40 employers from across the country.

In no sense of the word can the Canadian Government or any of its agencies be accused of leading if they were to agree to Social Justice Fund funding under PSAC collective agreements.  And they would not be leading in the federal public sector either, since Canada Post Corporation contributes to CUPW’s International Solidarity Fund.

The PSAC Social Justice Fund demand is relatively insignificant from a financial perspective. It is anything but insignificant when it comes to the people and communities that it is designed to help.

The PSAC Social Justice Fund is about:

• Emergency relief in Canada and around the world.
• It’s about Canadian anti-poverty and international development initiatives.
• It’s about Worker to Worker exchanges; and,
• It’s about worker education in Canada and around the world.

In short it’s about our Union undertaking distinct and important activities and doing them well.  PSAC has been involved in social justice, at home and abroad, for many years.  We’ve been fighting for workers’ rights for many years.  We won one of the most important equity settlements in Canada and in the world for our members.  This victory paved the road for other union and non-union groups to fight for pay equity.

Since it was established in 2003, the Social Justice Fund has supported a number of projects and disaster relief efforts in Canada and abroad.

Some of these include:

• support for the Maquila Solidarity Network, a Canadian-based anti-sweatshop advocacy group;
• Co-sponsor with CUPE, CUPW and the CLC of a tour of the Atlantic and Western provinces of Colombian public sector workers in defense of public services in Colombia and Canada;
• contribution to the Canadian Labour Congress and Doctors Without Borders for hurricane relief in the Caribbean in 2004;
• support for Oxfam’s humanitarian aid to thousands of people displaced by the conflict in Darfur, Sudan;
• donations for tsunami relief in South East Asia and Africa in 2004-2005;
• joint support with CUPW for an educational forum for Colombian postal workers;
• support for the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG); and
• support for 36 PSAC member-initiated anti-poverty projects in Canada as part of the Make Poverty History campaign.

In Canada and on an International level, public services are under threat, the violation of human and labour rights are systemic and on the rise, reforms erode labour protection, and the social safety net is broken.

In short, and in summary, our demand is consistent with the practice of large unionized private sector employers in Canada, and it is consistent with and supportive of government policy with regard to foreign aid and international development.

As one Colombian trade union activist said during a recent worker-to-worker exchange that our Social Justice Fund supported, “we look to Canada as a model.  We need your assistance in helping us to achieve some of our own victories.”  That’s also what our Social Justice Fund is about.

In closing, let us remember the Social Justice Fund is an important demand.  It’s a call for support for an initiative that will make a difference in our country and beyond our borders.

I urge you to make the Social Justice Fund a priority and keep the demand on the table no matter what and hold this government accountable for social justice in Canada and abroad.