Fighting For Her Rights

 

Sylvie Deschamps, a 30-year PSAC employee, says the union has ignored an arbitrator’s ruling to reinstate her. Photograph by: Bruno Schlumberger, Ottawa Citizen

The forever self-righteous and sanctimonious Public Service Alliance of Canada which holds government to a high standard of irreproachable conduct toward the thousands of civil servants whom the country's largest federal union represents, is a force to be reckoned with. It portrays itself as a defender of the underdog. And it does not merely represent working relationships and the interests of federal civil servants, but it goes much, much further afield, presenting itself as a champion for the welfare of what it deems to be "occupied" populations in the Middle East.

It has a large agenda and it takes its activities seriously indeed.

So seriously that it fired one of its long-term employees who had the misfortune to get on the wrong side of former national president Daryl Bean. Sylvie Deschamps, living in Rockland, began her service with PSAC in 1983 and worked her way up to quite a few fairly high-ranking positions. Including secretarial position with Mr. Bean. During a grievance hearing she offended the sensibilities of PSAC president John Gordon.

Who took it upon himself to order that she undergo an independent medical evaluation. Doubting her mental fitness to continue working. She was suspended without pay when she refused that order. What resulted then was an avalanche of documents, emails, memoranda and exchanges of documents related to a number of filed grievances by Ms. Deschamps. Eventually an arbitrator was called in, and this resulted in a 72-page decision.

Michel Picher examined all those documents and memoranda, and he concluded that what he had read represented "the unfortunate account of how an exemplary employee came into conflict with her supervisor and, ultimately, with the then-national president of the Alliance." He decided to dismiss grievances of harassment by Deschamps by one of her supervisors, and that PSAC had failed to accommodate a diagnosed stress condition making it difficult for her to accept a position in the finance department of the Alliance.

It was, she claimed, a "toxic work environment". On the other hand, Mr. Picher felt that Mr. Gordon violated the woman's rights through his "excessive and unjustified" demand she submit to an independent medical examination. PSAC had, in addition, improperly placed her on an unpaid leave of absence and was ordered to reinstate Ms. Deschamps, to pay her $42,594 in lost wages and benefits and to adjust her pension benefits accordingly.

The union responded by firing Sylvie Deschamps 'for cause' the very day she received Mr. Picher's binding remedy order. She was accused by the union of 'disloyalty', for appealing for assistance from Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, and for posting derogatorily harmful comments on her blog about PSAC. PSAC's director of human resources claimed her dismissal to have been provoked by "actions that led to damaging the relationship with the employer. In our view it was irreparable and justified termination for cause."

Before her 2008 suspension, Ms. Deschamps pointed out that she had "nothing but glowing reviews from everybody I worked with. I never had any complaints. My file was perfect." She was quite simply practising what the PSAC urges its members to do; file grievances, vigorously pursue them. "They say, 'fight for your rights'. That's what I did. But I get fired."