The Labour Board has announced Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearing dates for PSAC’s bargaining units representing federal government workers. The table below lists the PIC hearing date for each unit as well as the number of members affected.
Bargaining unit |
Number of members |
PIC hearing date |
Treasury Board |
71,000 9,500 9,000 9,500 900 |
Dec 4-7 Jan 22-24 still in talks Dec 17-19 Dec 9-12 |
27,000 |
Jan 6 & 20 |
|
4,200 |
Mar 30-31 |
|
4,300 |
Jan 27-30 |
|
Communications Security Establishment |
2,000 |
Mar 24-25 |
What is a Public Interest Commission (PIC)?
Under the law that governs contract negotiations in the federal public service, once impasse is reached at the bargaining table, a PIC is established to help the parties reach an agreement.
The PIC is a panel of three people – a chairperson appointed by the Labour Board and nominees appointed by the union and management. The union and the employer submit briefs and explain their positions on the outstanding issues at a hearing with the PIC. The PIC then issues a report with recommendations for settlement. The recommendations are not binding.
Once the PIC releases its reports for the various PSAC units, the union’s respective bargaining teams will meet to discuss the recommendations. Traditionally, following this, PSAC’s teams and government representatives have returned to the table to resume negotiations. We expect the PIC reports to be issued in 2020.