Privatization

The 2003 Convention will address the question of privatization. You can read the pre-convention discussion paper on privatization by clicking here.

Other information

In April, 2001, PSAC members were out in force at a national conference of over 450 union activists meeting in Ottawa to mobilize against the privatization of public services. During this conference, organized by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), delegates listened to descriptions of successful campaigns against privatization at the federal, provincial/territorial and municipal level in Canada and internationally. Among them, Oscar Olivera, Executive Secretary of the Federation of Factory workers in Bolivia, who described how a mass uprising of ordinary people took back public control of their water which had been handed over to a private multi-national company.

PSAC National President Nycole Turmel told participants that PSAC members are fighting every privatization plan on the table. "Whether it be privatization of food inspection, the firearms registry, air safety or supplies for the military, our union is working with coalition partners, communities and labour activists to fight back." In a look to the future, Turmel told Conference delegates that if the federal government follows the pattern of the last 20 years, e-government will not be a pretty sight and that security of private information will become a thing of the past.

She urged delegates, " to press governments to own up to their plans to privatize, to talk about privatization in the workplace and to make our experiences with privatization known to the public. She went on to say that, "as unionists, we must not be afraid to roll up our sleeves and take action. Together with our  social partners and our communities, we can build the solidarity. We need to change the future and we can win."

The 93 PSAC members, elected officers and staff participated in a series of workshops which produced a 10-point action plan. The conference also gave rise to a declaration that the CLC and its affiliates commit to a comprehensive ongoing campaign in our workplaces and communities to promote and rebuild quality public services. The declaration affirms that public services must be funded adequately through a progressive tax system and delivered by public sector workers who are accountable to Canadian taxpayers. We need to ensure that Canadians continue to be entitled to strong public services, including health care, education, social security and support mechanisms and a sound, publicly developed regulatory system. 

Speech by PSAC National President, Nycole Turmel

Good Morning, Sisters and Brothers :

As I was preparing my remarks for today, I couldn’t help thinking of my grand-children. You might think that’s a little odd – but I realized that unless all of us commit to battling privatization of public services here and now, my grand-children will grow up in fear.

No, I am not being melodramatic. Should our children not be afraid to consume meat, fish and even grains that have not been subjected to the stringent standards we have had under a public system? Should our children not be afraid to fly when aircraft safety can no longer be assured? Should our children not be afraid to see firearms registration controlled by private interests? Of course they should. And so are we!

We are very afraid. All around us, we see examples of the disasters that come with privatization. A few minutes ago, we heard about the impact of water privatization in Bolivia, of privatization of food inspection in the UK. We all have our own examples here at home. But what I’ve also heard over the past few days this week is that we’re not prepared to put up with too much more.

I want to tell you about some of the ways PSAC members are fighting back.

When you go to lunch a little later today, spare a thought for PSAC members who work for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. They are in negotiations that are not going particularly well. But more importantly, they are the front line defense that we all count on to prevent contaminated food from causing serious illness and death.

But guess what? The federal government, joined at the hip with big corporations, is in the process of de-regulating food safety – just another fancy word for privatization. If you eat chicken, you need to know that the government has allowed faster and faster line speeds, making inspections way more difficult.

Our members who work at the CFIA are committed to ensuring that the food we all eat is safe. They’re fighting every cost-saving privatization and de-regulation plans that are on the table.

Providing information to the public is a part of the fight-back. Working with coalitions – the Canadian Health Coalition and the Council of Canadians – is a part of the fight-back. Working internationally with unions and coalitions is part of the fight-back. And our food agency members are committed to protecting the food supply in Canada and around the world. Canadian companies must never be allowed to export uninspected food products. Imported food should be inspected in Canada.

Not all federal privatization is as attention-grabbing or ‘sexy’ as food safety. But they should be. The federal government has the legal right to collect more personal information than just about any public or private sector organization in Canada. Be it the privatization of passport applications, gun registration, or countless other plans for privatizing, the government is putting our privacy at risk. So our members fight back, in their workplace, in their communities and across the country.

Let’s look for a moment at the future. Consider a society with a federal government defined by technology. E-commerce is one thing. E-government is something else, and if the government follows the pattern of the last twenty years, e-government will not be a pretty sight.

Those of you who have filed income tax returns through the internet are relying on the professionalism, honesty and integrity of our members who work for the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, because the CCRA’s computers actually go in to your own hard drives, and take the tax information you have put on file. As this process evolves, government agencies, such as the CCRA, will have access to a whole range of personal information that is almost unlimited.

Imagine what would happen if these kinds of government services were privatized. Imagine a bank or an insurance company with direct access to your income tax information – not just how much you make, but the minute details of your financial life.

Our members have just started to fight back against e-government. We plan to lead the way, but it’s everyone’s issue, and we are counting on your support and that of coalitions from coast to coast to coast.

We’re fighting hard against privatization. And sometimes it happens anyway. And when it does, our fight is to protect the economic rights of our members, and yes keep our members.

Let me tell you about our members fighting back against the transnational corporation SERCO in Goose Bay-Labrador.

Because of our fight for successor rights, and for a decent first collective agreement, SERCO was forced to stick to the collective agreement the workers had with the federal government. This was a huge victory for PSAC members, because it made privatization more expensive for the federal government, and cut deeply into the profit that motivated SERCO in the first place.

You would think that the federal government and the profit-seeking corporations that want to get their hands on public services would have learned a lesson from the SERCO experience. That is clear, successor rights should apply in such a way as to protect the economic and workplace rights that PSAC members have fought for and acquired.

But federal ‘privatizers’ continue to ignore the law, and PSAC members in Saskatchewan and elsewhere are being forced to fight the same battle all over again.

Some PSAC members who were active during the Goose Bay struggle are in this room. So are many of the Brothers and Sisters that helped them win this fight. Their fight is over, for now. But their experience is being used by the PSAC and other unions to fight privatization in Newfoundland and Labrador, and across the country.

Fighting to keep our members—sticking to them like glue—is a key part of our overall fight against privatization. At the PSAC, we’ve been able to consistently re-certify our members who have been moved from the government to separate agencies or to the private sector.

We’ve managed to maintain public service wage levels when this happens, and often times improve terms and conditions of work. The contracts that we have negotiated on behalf of our Airports’ members, for example, are in many cases better than was possible when the federal government was the direct employer. That makes it a lot harder for the government to sell off separate agencies to the private sector. And it makes it a lot less attractive for profit-driven corporations to come in and make money from cheap labour.

In closing, let me leave you with these last few thoughts. We can win the battles we will identify this week. But we need to take action.

We need to press governments to own up to their plans to privatize.

We need to watch out for the signs that a public service is on the road to privatization.

We need to talk about it in the workplace. We need to focus on the shared, democratic responsibility and accountability that goes with the public in public services.

We need to reject the principle that public services that don’t make money must be privatized.

We need to ensure that public services continue to be available to everyone, not just the privileged few.

We need to make known our experiences with privatization and its devastating impact on our communities.

The reality we are all facing during this conference might be stark. But unionists have proven time and time again that we are prepared to take action. With our social partners and our communities, we can build the solidarity we need to shape the future. And we can win.