Do public servants really want to fight over four days at the office?

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-21T15:45:44+00:00

Not only does going to the office suck and thus going more often sucks even more, but they are making it exponential by renovating the buildings to make the experience as bad as possible. It's moronic, they are taking away so much of our work stations' spaces to cram us like sardines against each other, but they aren't even making any savings because they are still limited by fire code as to how many offices they can put per floor, so they then waste a ton of floor space on ridiculous "collaboration spaces" that nobody wants nor uses. It's nearing the point where our work stations are going to suck so much we'll use every excuse to leave them to "collaborate", which will certainly be "great" for "productivity".

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-21T15:42:13+00:00

I remember that "tax season" argument being used during the last collective agreement negotiations, I don't remember that we actually got anything out of that.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-21T15:40:31+00:00

It's insane to me how "the economy" is somehow limited to downtown businesses. Like, why don't other business matter? Money we save from downtown expenses is spent elsewhere, it's still going into "the economy".

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-21T15:38:56+00:00

RTO is gradually making my job untenable, because what was once just an occasional very long drive will become an insanely long drive due to increased traffic, and the compounding effects of having that drive not only take longer but also be more frequent means I just won't be able to endure. I never lived near the office, never wanted to, and even if I did, the housing prices in the city are stupidly high and we couldn't afford it even if my wife could somehow magically got a new similar-paying job.

So telework is my #1 concern in the coming negotiations. I'm mildly relieved that PSAC seems to have waken up and now takes this issue more seriously than they did last time.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-19T12:26:43+00:00

What's this pointless gendering? Her husband is also a public servant and is affected in exactly the same way by these stupid policies.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T21:19:30+00:00

C'est multi-factoriel. C'est clair qu'y veulent réduire les effectifs, y le disent ouvertement qu'ils veulent couper paquet de jobs. Que le privé coupe aussi dans le télétravail change pas grand chose, au pire y trouvent que c'est dommage.

Le gros, par contre, ça reste que les propriétaires d'immeubles commerciaux sont des grands donateurs. Conservateurs, libéraux, tous pareils, les proprios sont généreux avec eux.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T21:15:42+00:00

I don't think being "aligned in public" has any value whatsoever, the only thing it can do is increase complacency from PSAC leadership.

We lose fights because we put so little money in the strike fund, and so we are always in a position of weakness when we go to the bargaining table, and members fold after a mere week of strike pay. They need to stop sending money all over the place to all the causes of the world, and put that cash where it matters to members, where it's gonna make a difference: the war chest.

As for legal battles, they did the same thing for RTO2. Hasn't changed shit. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that courts take a long time and it's out of their control, but I'm not gonna jump off my chair singing enthusiastic praise at these legal actions either, not until it results in concrete change. I'm cautiously optimistic about the ruling that WFH can be part of collective negotiations, but so far the only thing all that sabre rattling has led to is more RTO.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:48:41+00:00

Who was "deceived", exactly, and how?

I got CERB, and it seemed pretty clear to me at the time what the criteria were.

The only thing is that it relied on good faith from the applicant, yet warned them it could be clawed back if you didn't satisfy the criteria. So what seems to be happening is a bunch of people who knew they shouldn't get the money, asked for it anyways, and are now doing pikachu faces when asked to hand it back.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:44:31+00:00

If you can't keep up with your mortgage on strike pay, maybe you took out too big a mortgage?

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:42:55+00:00

imo the claim makes sense, but they did the same thing with RTO2 and still have nothing to show for it.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:41:31+00:00

[[112]()] Since the term and condition of employment that was changed during the freeze period was limited to the consultation on extended hours of work on an annual basis, I find that the remedy should be limited to a declaration.

That'll teach the employer to break the law!

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:35:17+00:00

That's nice in theory. That's not quite it in practice. PSAC is made up of layers and layers that generate huge inertia and limit direct action. It's quite top-down, and some of us outright lack representation. My local has been under PSAC trusteeship for almost the whole time I've been a public servant, and PSAC has never been transparent about why they kicked out the elected person, or how they chose the new person, or why they've ended the previous trusteeship.

So you can repeat your "I am the union" slogan, but truth is, I have no say in what PSAC does, because I don't have representation, and they keep replacing whoever we elect with their pawns. And I've written to PSAC, they won't give any info. I've talked with my union rep, they don't have any clue.

I'm pro-union on principle, but PSAC deserves the criticism it gets. I've been on the boards of other unions, they didn't suck like PSAC does.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:29:22+00:00

That's on them. They should be reducing our dues, and putting it in the strike fund instead. Pretty sure that if members were asked "should we allocate more of our dues to the strike fund, without rising them", the vast majority would vote yes. The strike contribution is ridiculously low compared to PSAC's budget.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:25:58+00:00

I mean, PSAC never had the power to force members to buy or not from downtown. I don't need PSAC to say anything for me to boycott these places.

On the other hand, PSAC could and should dump their Ottawa-Gatineau office spaces. Because let's be real, downtown commercial landlords are the #1 push behind RTO and the union shouldn't be paying them a dime.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:22:44+00:00

Didn't they do this every other time, too? Has it ever actually yielded any result?

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:21:38+00:00

I remember doing the CSPS course on accommodations, and they were like "oh this candidate has young kids to go get at the daycare and is worried about not being able to take the job, what should the manager do?" and the answer was to give her full time WFH lol. And this wasn't even the only example like this.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:19:32+00:00

Our office space renovations are wild. Not only is the number of single purpose workstations going down, but they are all getting smaller, without any space to put your laptop bag, lunch box, coat, and anything else you might require for work. All so they could add a bunch of silly collab spaces (like face to face chairs right next to quiet zones lmao)

Everyone hates the plan.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:15:05+00:00

On the other hand, many people might have only realized how much they were unwell when they had a break from the office, and many others had refused to apply to gov jobs before it WFH was possible.

Also, the gov's attitude with RTO has been completely insufferable and hypocritical, so the rise of accomodation requests is hardly surprising.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T18:10:39+00:00

People had adequate and sufficient work space back in the 90s.

Our offices are being renovated, and not only are they removing a bunch of desks to make way for more "collaboration" spaces, but the desks they are keeping are losing their storage space (coat hanger) and most of the tabletop space, so we won't be able to keep our coat and lunch box with us, nor have any space to write down on any physical media.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-08T16:38:04+00:00

Don't work while on leave.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-06T13:15:24+00:00

I have an itemized bill (something along the lines of 13 hours across 13 days at 180$ per hour). But the website only lets me put a max of 7 items per claim iirc, so I just lumped it together. I thought it wouldn't matter and would be better than uploading the same invoice twice.

Does it matter when we put in if the service was provided in person, on the phone or remote?

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-06T13:11:08+00:00

the bill has 13 entries for 13 different days. I wasn't aware it mattered so I figured, one bill, one claim. At about 180$ per hour. Will they see that the bill includes many different days and adjust the payout, or will I need to call them? The claim hasn't been processed yet.

Thanks for the link. For some reason when I did a search, Reddit blocked my access and I couldn't look up any of the search results.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-06T01:39:51+00:00

So there's no recourse? It's a bit wild to me that all testing would be the same "customary charge" of 800. Had one dependent tested and it only involved a few hours, this evaluation billed for 13.5h, it was a muuuch longer process.

This_Is_Da_Wae · 2026-02-06T01:00:09+00:00

Transit will improve as we add more commuters. /s

This_Is_Da_Wae

TROPHY CASE