About 70 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada spent their lunch hour Thursday in front of their building on Hollis Street in Halifax protesting what they call illegal wage rollbacks by the federal government.
The rollback affects about 27,000 public servants and is included in Bill C-10, the Budget Implementation Act that was passed by the Senate last night.
John Campbell, a Dartmouth resident and 28-year public service employee, said he’s fed up with the whole situation.
“Here they are rolling back one per cent of the measly 2.5 per cent increase that we were supposed to receive in November,” Campbell said during a break from the protest. “If this was anyone else it would be almost illegal after a collective bargaining agreement was signed.”
Mark Rogers, the regional representative for the alliance, said they disagree with having clauses like the wage rollback included in a budget bill.
“If we oppose Bill C-10, we’re opposing the stimulus package,” he said. “So instead we’re opposing what we call ‘three poison bills’ — the rollbacks for public service employees, the changes to EI and the pay equity changes, as well.”
Rogers added the government should not be able to change something they agreed on and signed.
“We’ve been lobbying the Liberals, and they’ve been terrible, totally ineffective,” he explained. “They say, ‘we believe in pay equity and we don’t believe in wage rollbacks,’ but they’ve stood with the Conservatives and supported this.”
The union has received criticism from the public, who wonder how they can be arguing over wage increases when so many other people have lost their jobs. Rogers said it’s about respect.
“Yes we have employment, but what we don’t have is respect from our employer.”
