PIPSC gets political in escalating feud with feds

Federal science will be part of the negotiating position of the union representing 15,000 government scientists as it sits down to hammer out a new agreement with the federal government. The unprecedented step was taken by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) to highlight the union's concern over cuts to federal science programs and the so-called muzzling of scientists in their interaction with the public and the media.

The decision to include science in its bargaining position is the latest salvo in an ongoing and increasingly bitter dispute between PIPSC and the Conservative government. The union also announced last month that it would depart from its "traditional strategy of remaining at arm's length from federal elections" and "engage in more political activity in the run-up to, and during, the next federal election", expected as soon as spring 2015.

The new commitment to activism was seen earlier this year with the release of two reports — The Big Chill and Vanishing Science — based on a 2013 survey of federal scientists (R$, February 24/14). It also participated in a Funeral Procession for the Death of Evidence to Parliament Hill in 2012 to protest restrictions on the ability of federal scientists to speak freely about their research.

PIPSC's proposal during current contract discussions will push the government to commit to reinvesting half of any revenues generated by federal labs back into federal research. It also calls for a reinstatement of a rewards program for innovators and inventors which was rescinded in 2010.

PIPSC will also push for: the right of federal scientists to speak freely; adequate national and international collaboration among scientists; a role for researchers in informing evidence-based public policy; and, preservation of government science knowledge and libraries.

In a expression of its new activist stance, PIPSC blasted the new Science-Technology and Innovation Strategy and its claim that the government is making record investments in STI.

"It beggars belief that a federal government science strategy could so blatantly and completely ignore government science," stated PIPSC president Debi Daviau.

R$