Veterans Under Attack by Provincial Government

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION    September 4, 2015 

 

 

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI – Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) local 90140 employed by the NB-PEI Division of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires who are contracted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Prince County Hospital are outraged that the provincial government is outsourcing their job to a Vancouver security firm and therefore issuing lay-off notices to 40 commissionaires.

 

A member of the PSAC local, who wishes to remain anonymous to protect his employment, had the following to say: “Words cannot express how I feel.  We don’t make the big bucks working as commissionaires and now we are told we have to re-apply for the same job and get a lower wage.  How can our government treat us that way?”

 

Jody LaPierre, Provincial Director for PSAC-PEI explains his disapproval: “These members made considerable concessions at the bargaining table in order to secure their jobs and now 40 members of that local are being told that they will be laid-off.  Never in my life, have I ever witnessed so much disrespect towards our veterans all in the name of the mighty dollar.”

 

The not-for-profit group, Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, was created in 1949 to provide meaningful employment for retired Canadian Armed Forces, ex-RCMP and security personnel. About 60 per cent are veterans.

 

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Contact: 

Sébastien Bezeau, Regional Political Communications Officer, PSAC, (cell) 902.266.8589