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Staff Relations in the Canadian Federal Public Service: Experience with Joint Consultation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

S. T. Frankel
S. T. Frankel*
Affiliation:
McGill University
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Extract

On February 21, 1951, in reply to a question in the House of Commons which rather pointedly raised the issue of the Government's attitude and intentions with regard to more direct “bargaining” with the staff associations, the Prime Minister stated: “From the very nature of employment in the public service, there can be no bargaining agent for the nation comparable with the employer in industry who has at his disposal funds derived from payments for goods or services. The funds from which salaries are paid in the public service have to be voted by parliament and parliament alone can discharge that responsibility.” Having presented this formal position with its hint of the “sovereign employer” theory, Mr. St. Laurent went on to say that the Government was not contemplating any steps to provide its employees with the same facilities for negotiation as are provided for private employees “… because it is considered that the appropriate machinery for these purposes was set up by P.C. 3676 of May 16, 1944, which established the National Joint Council of the Public Service of Canada, and the subsequent Treasury Board Minute of March 8, 1945, approving the constitution of the Council.” The latter part of the Prime Minister's statement provides the text for this paper. What is the National Joint Council? How has it worked out in practice? To what extent does it provide an acceptable alternative to collective bargaining?

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , November 1956 , pp. 509 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1956

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Footnotes

*

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association in Montreal, June 7, 1956.

References

1 Canada, House of Commons Debates, Feb. 21, 1951, p. 542.

2 Ibid.

3 Civil Service Review, 03, 1944, 26.Google Scholar

4 Canada, H. of C. Debates, Feb. 24, 1944, p. 778.

5 Ibid.

6 Constitution of the National Whitley Council, s. 16 (my italics).

7 Quoted from Treasury, H.M., Staff Relations in the Civil Service (London, 1955).Google Scholar

8 The National Joint Council of the Public Service of Canada, 1944–1954 (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1954).Google Scholar

9 Whitley Bulletin, July, 1953; excerpt separately printed, London, 1953, p. 2.

10 “Report of the General Secretary of the N.J.C.,” Civil Service Review, 03, 1952, 26.Google Scholar

11 Quoted in “Report of the General Secretary of the N.J.C.,” Civil Service Review, 03, 1954, 52.Google Scholar

12 Civil Service Review, 09, 1944, 334.Google Scholar

13 “Report of the General Secretary of the N.J.C.,” Civil Service Review, 03, 1952, 24.Google Scholar

14 “Report of the General Secretary of the N.J.C.,” Civil Service Review, 06, 1952, 202.Google Scholar

15 Ibid., 203.

16 Ibid.

17 Treasury, H.M., Staff Relations in the Civil Service, 18.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., 21.

19 “The New Insurance Plan for the Service,” Civil Service Review, 06, 1954, 117.Google Scholar

20 Canada, H. of C. Debates, May 26, 1954, p. 5103.

21 Canada, House of Commons Standing Committee on Banking and Commerce, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, 06 3, 1954, p. 1712.Google Scholar