BARGAINING POLICIES OF THE CANADIAN FEDER AL-GOVERNMENT - ACCORDING TO THE LAW AND ACCORDING TO ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS

The Public Service Staff Relations Act in 1967 introduced an essential ly decentralized collective bargaining system, in which impasses would normally be resolved by arbitration. The possibility for a union to s elect instead the conciliation-strike route was written into the act b ecause of the 1965 strikes by postal workers. The restricted list of a rbitrable matters, some important gains obtained through strike action , but mainly the 1975-78 wages control and the 6 per cent and 5 per ce nt restraint program of 1982-85 have convinced all important units to move away from arbitration to conciliation and strike for final settle ment of conflicts. Units also regrouped for bargaining purposes. In 19 85 and 1988 bargaining was conducted at a highly centralized level. In 1991 there was a close-to-general strike in the federal public servic e. Bargaining on wages has been replaced by an imposed unilateral wage s policy. All these radical changes have happened without any importan t modification in the fundamental provisions of the Public Service Sta ff Relations Act.