In July 2006, PSAC started a court challenge to force Parliament to bring Health and Safety legislation on the Hill into the 21st century. The case continues to move ahead. On October 29th union representatives Gilles Lavigne, President of Local 70390 and union co-chair of the House of Commons Joint Health and Safety Committee, Robert Beauchamp, past local president and Health and Safety representative for the local and Rachel Dupéré, scanner group member were cross-examined by lawyers of the government. Members of other unions and PSAC staff were also called upon to make declarations in this process.
Twenty years ago parliament recognized the justice in giving Hill workers the same Health and Safety framework as all other federal government workers. Unfortunately this key section of the legislation was never put into effect.
Since that time, your union has attempted repeatedly to encourage Parliament to do the right thing without success. The PSAC court challenge is a way of forcing the issue before the courts.
During all this time, your union has continued discussions in good faith on Health and Safety issues and policy and attempted to find solutions which, although they do not go as far as the law applying to other federal workers, assist in addressing immediate problems. We will continue these discussions in good faith with the employer and will make sure our members get the best representation we can provide under the circumstances.
This does not change the fact that the law that applies to other federal employees and that allows qualified labour officers to come in and investigate problems should be in place for Hill workers. We will continue to pursue this objective. It is expected the PSAC case will be scheduled for hearing in 2008.