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Friday, May 5, 2023

Kellie Loder, Jah'Mila, Lisa LeBlanc, more win at 2023 East Coast Music Awards - CBC.ca

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the East Coast Music Awards, and the first of two award nights took place in Halifax on May 4.

Newfoundland songwriter Kellie Loder was the only musician to come away with more than one award so far, for fans' choice entertainer of the year and songwriter of the year, while Nova Scotia-based reggae artist Jah'Mila nabbed one for global recording of the year. New Brunswick's Lisa LeBlanc came away with French recording of the year while P.E.I.'s the East Pointers, who tie Classified with the most nominations at six apiece, won songwriter of the year. The remaining awards will be given out on May 7.

The evening was hosted by This Hour Has 22 Minutes' Trent McClellan, and performance highlights included rap/hip-hop recording of the year winners City Natives' powerful "The Honour Song Remix," featuring Hubert Francis from Elsipogtog First Nation, followed by folk recording winners Fortunate Ones' bittersweet "Heavy Heart," and Aquakultre performing his hit "Africvillean Funk" alongside Trobiz, who is featured on the song, and a stageful of supports including African Canadian artist category winner Zamani. April Wine's Myles Goodwyn was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and featured a high-energy medley including Jimmy Rankin and Christine Campbell.

Earlier this year, Halifax promotions manager Jocelyn MacLean called the East Coast Music Association an "all-boys club" in an interview with CBC, pointing out "there are categories where there are no women represented." Those 2023 categories include rap/hip-hop, blues, dance, roots and jazz recordings of the year, as well as producer of the year, among others.

But at the May 4 broadcast, the ECMA winners hit more than gender parity, with eight awards going to acts with women-identifying or non-binary members, and seven going to acts with solely men. We'll find out how those numbers look during the second half of the awards on May 7, when the remaining 23 musician-related categories will be handed out.

Below, the winners so far are bolded, and the list will be updated on the weekend.

African Canadian artist of the year

Aquakultre
Jah'Mila
Maggie Andrew
Owen O'Sound Lee
Zamani Folade

<span class="youtube" data-testid="youtube">[embedded content]</span>

Album of the year

Andrew Waite, Andrew Waite (producer: Chris Kirby)
Classified, Retrospected (producer: Classified)
David Myles, It's Only a Little Loneliness (producers: David Myles, Joshua Van Tassel)
Fortunate Ones, That Was You and Me (producer: Joshua Van Tassel)
Jason Benoit, Time Traveller: Side A (producers: Jason Benoit, Clint Curtis)
Kristen Martell, Every Season (producers: Gabrielle Papillon, Dan Ledwell)

Fans' choice entertainer of the year

Classified
David Myles
Jason Benoit
Kellie Loder
Lisa LeBlanc
Madison Violet
Neon Dreams
Rich Aucoin
Robert Thomas and the Sessionmen
The East Pointers

Fans' choice video of the year

Andrew Waite
Braden Lam
Classified
Dave Sampson
Les Hotesses D'Hilaire
Moira & Claire
Neon Dreams
Nicole Ariana
Pineo & Loeb x Sparkee
The East Pointers

Directors' Special Achievement Award

Natalie MacMaster

Blues recording of the year

Allen Snow, The Quorum
Charlie A'Court & Witchitaw, When Country Gets the Blues
Mark Riley, PM Blue
Mike Trask, TV Dinner
Rev. Dave and the Sin Eaters, Beams of Love

Children's entertainer of the year

Bingly and the Rogues (with The Villains Theatre)
Heather Feather
Matt the Music Man
Pete

Choral recording of the year

Dr. Zoo Featuring South African Singers Choir, We May Win
Halifax Camerata Singers, The Last Evening
Luminos Ensemble, I Am an Island That Dreams
Men of the Deeps, Remember the Miner
Sirens, In Her Image

Classical composer of the year

Andrew Staniland
Derek Charke
Edward Enman
Grej
Natalie Williams Calhoun

Classical recording of the year

Andrew Staniland, Reddened by Hammer: Earthquakes & Islands Remixed
Atlantic String Machine, A Single Juniper Post
Duo Concertante, Ecology of Being
Jennifer King, O Mistress Moon (Canadian Edition)
SHHH!! Ensemble, Meanwhile

Contemporary roots recording of the year

Carleton Stone, Papercut
David Myles, It's Only a Little Loneliness
Madison Violet, eleven
Rawlins Cross, Sunrise
The East Pointers, House of Dreams

Country recording of the year

La Patente, L'Illusion d'la perfection
Mallory Johnson, Surprise Party
Pretty Archie, Pretty Archie
Rev. Dave and the Sin Eaters, Beams of Love
Willie Stratton, Drugstore Dreamin'

Dance recording of the year

Alex Byrne, "Nothing but a Liar"
Bishu, "WYGD"
Cloverdale & DJ Susan, "Talkin'"
Corey LeRue, "IDTYK"
Pineo & Loeb x Joel Freck, "Hope" feat. Karl Wolf

Electronic recording of the year

It Could Be Franky, "Edena"
Maura Whitman, Introspection
Mear, Soft Chains
Rich Aucoin, Synthetic Season 1
Sparkee, Snack Pack

Folk recording of the year

Dylan Menzie, Modern Classic
Fortunate Ones, That Was You and Me
Julie Aubé, Contentement
Kristen Martell, Every Season
Madison Violet, eleven

Enregistrement francophone de l'année

Caroline Savoie, Bruits blancs
Laurie LeBlanc, Long Weekend
Les Hôtesses d'Hilaire, Pas l'temps d'niaiser
Lisa LeBlanc, Chiac Disco
Plywood Joe, Et les mangeux de baloni
P'tit Belliveau, Un homme et son piano

The Ten54:55Lisa LeBlanc - Chiac Disco

Host A Harmony is your guide to the Polaris Shortlisted album Chiac Disco by Lisa LeBlanc. This is The Ten

Global music recording of the year

Andru Branch & Halfway Tree, Weather the Storm
Jah'Mila, Roots Girl
Jing Xia, The Numinous Journey
Kubasonics, Kubasongs
Vineet Vyas, Satyam

Group recording of the year

Fortunate Ones, That Was You and Me
Moira & Claire, I'm not usually this forward but…
Pretty Archie, Pretty Archie
The East Pointers, House of Dreams
The Trews, Wanderer

Indigenous artist of the year

Deantha Edmunds
Gearl
Jason Benoit
Morgan Toney
Silver Wolf Band

Inspirational/gospel recording of the year

Dr. Zoo, 20
Elijah MacDougall, The Boy Who Would Be
Keith Mullins, Vets for Healings Song Camp 1
One8tea, Say Amen
Yvette Lorraine, Same Story

Instrumental recording of the year

Atlantic String Machine, A Single Juniper Post
Florian Hoefner, Desert Bloom
Quilting, Quilting
Sarah Hagen, Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations
Shannon Quinn & Tony Quinn, 20 Summers

Jazz recording of the year

Behrooz Mihankhah, Lydium
Big Space, In Relation To
Duane Andrews and the Hot Club of Conception Bay, Djangology
Florian Hoefner, Desert Bloom
Joyfultalk, Familiar Science

Loud recording of the year

Dali Van Gogh, New Blood, Old Wounds
Electric Spoonful, 2 Poor 4 a Two Four
Red Usurper, Abandon
Swimming, That's OK
Truce., Unentitled

Pop recording of the year

Caroline Savoie, Bruits blancs
Lisa LeBlanc, Chiac Disco
Maura Whitman, Introspection
The East Pointers, House of Dreams
Yvette Lorraine, Same Story

R&B/soul recording of the year

Aquakultre, Don't Trip
Boy T, Ride Your Name
Dee Hernandez, Remember Those Days
JRDN, Red Eye
Nicole Ariana, Crybaby

Rap/hip-hop recording of the year

Albert Dalton, If I Can't Have It
City Natives, The People of the Dawn
Classified, Retrospected
Owen O'Sound Lee, 235
Reggie Morales, Regicide

Rising star recording of the year

Daniel James McFadyen, "Hot Sun"
Dylan Menzie, "A Piece of Me"
Isabella Samson, "Love Takes You Home"
Marian, "Astral Plane"
Moira & Claire, "South Shore"

Rock recording of the year

Dali Van Gogh, New Blood, Old Wound
Julie & Dany, Julie & Dany
Les Hôtesses d'Hilaire, Pas l'temps d'niaiser
Motherhood, Winded
Nick Earle, No More Hiding
The Trews, Wanderer

Roots/traditional recording of the year

Gina Burgess, ISNOW
Jing Xia, The Numinous Journey
Kubasonics, Kubasongs
Les Fireflies, Day by Day
Shane Pendergast, The House Before the Bridge

Solo recording of the year

Adam Baldwin, Concertos & Serenades
David Myles, It's Only a Little Loneliness
Jason Benoit, Time Traveller: Side A
Lisa LeBlanc, Chiac Disco
Owen O'Sound Lee, 235

Song of the year

Adam Baldwin, "Lighthouse in Little Lorraine"
Braden Lam, "Silence" feat. Wolf Castle
Brandon Howard Roy, "Give Me Love"
Daniel James McFadyen, "Hot Sun"
Lisa LeBlanc, "Pourquoi faire aujourd'hui"

Songwriter of the year

Andrew Waite
Kellie Loder
Madison Violet
Quote the Raven
The East Pointers

Artist innovator of the year

Carolina East
Classified
Dr. Zoo
Hillary Ladd
Jason Benoit

Live sound engineer of the year

Evan Cormier
John Ellingbo
Kyle Gallagher
Michelle Lacour
Peter Green
Steve Everett

Producer of the year

Chris Kirby
Classified
Clint Curtis
Corey LeRue
Mark Howard

Studio engineer of the year

Scott Ferguson
John D. S. Adams
Future Dad
Mike "Sheppy" Shepherd
Chris Iannetti
Thomas Stajcer

Video director of the year

Cecil Johnson
Harmz
Jamie Miller
Jeff Miller
Matthew Ingraham

Visual artist of the year

Alex MacAskill, Midnight Oil Print & Design House
Ashley Anne Clark
Heidi-Lyn O'Connor
Jud Haynes
Krista Power

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Kellie Loder, Jah'Mila, Lisa LeBlanc, more win at 2023 East Coast Music Awards - CBC.ca
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Thursday, May 4, 2023

Trading halted in shares of two more US lenders as fears of banking crisis mount - The Guardian

Trading in the shares of two more regional US lenders was temporarily suspended on Thursday amid a widening crisis for the country’s mid-sized banks.

Regulators stepped in to halt trading in the Los Angeles-based PacWest and Arizona’s Western Alliance following dramatic drops in their share prices.

It came after another mid-sized bank, First Republic, was sold to JP Morgan earlier this week. Depositors had pulled $100bn from First Republic, fearing their money was no longer safe.

PacWest had sought to calm markets on Wednesday and said it was in talks with several potential investors after its shares fell by as much as 60%. But the sell-off continued on Thursday and affected other regional banks.

Shares in the lender plunged in after-hours trading after Bloomberg News reported that PacWest was considering strategic options, including a sale or a fundraising round.

The bank sought to reassure investors by saying it had not experienced unusual deposit flows. “Recently, the company has been approached by several potential partners and investors – discussions are ongoing,” it added.

Western Alliance’s share price plummeted 45% after the Financial Times reported it was exploring strategic options, including a potential sale, which the bank strongly denied. Western Alliance called the story “absolutely false” and said it had not experienced unusual deposit flows after the sale of First Republic.

First Republic was the third US bank failure to be swept up in the crisis, the worst since 2008, after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature in March.

Bill Ackman, chief executive of the New York hedge fund Pershing Square, warned that the entire US regional banking system was at risk. In a tweet before PacWest’s statement, he wrote: “Confidence in a financial institution is built over decades and destroyed in days. As each domino falls, the next weakest bank begins to wobble.

“We are running out of time to fix this problem. How many more unnecessary bank failures do we need to watch before the FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance corporation], and our government wake up? We need a systemwide deposit guarantee regime now.”

PacWest said total deposits were $28bn (£22.2bn) as of Tuesday. “Our cash and available liquidity remains solid and exceeded our uninsured deposits,” it said.

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Other, less well-known regional banks have also been affected. Shares in the Dallas-headquartered Comerica were down 13%, and Zions Bancorporation fell by about 16% on Thursday. Unlike in the UK, smaller, regional banks play a big role in the economy, accounting for nearly half of US consumer and business lending.

The sell-off came despite reassurances from the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, that the US banking system remained “sound and resilient”, after the central bank voted to raise interest rates to a 16-year high. The benchmark interest rate is now at a range of 5-5.25%.

On Monday, JP Morgan, the biggest US bank, stepped in to acquire a majority of First Republic’s assets in a $10.6bn deal after regulators seized the lender, which became the largest US bank failure since 2008. It was the second largest collapse in US banking history, beaten only by the 2008 demise of Washington Mutual, which was also sold to JP Morgan.

“You can’t ask JP Morgan to come to the rescue again,” said Neil Wilson, the chief markets analyst at the trading platform markets.com. He pointed out that Powell had said: “It’s probably good policy that we don’t want the largest banks doing big acquisitions.”

Wilson added: “No, but that is what happened, because it was the ‘best’ outcome for the banking system … The quicker the Fed gets to a point of cutting rates, the better for these mid-size banks, but there is a lot more time and likely a lot more pain before we get there.”

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Trading halted in shares of two more US lenders as fears of banking crisis mount - The Guardian
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'It doesn't make sense': Experts question the Kremlin's account of that drone strike - CBC News

When it comes to symbolic, made-for-TV moments, the alleged drone strike on the Kremlin early Wednesday morning ticks almost all of the boxes.

Foreign policy and defence experts say the dramatic, full-colour, unverified CCTV camera footage of some kind of object exploding in the predawn darkness just below a fluttering Russian flag is a propagandist's dream — at least for ultra-nationalists in Moscow worried about maintaining the morale of a war-weary public ahead of a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The fact that Russian media quickly claimed it was an attempt by Ukraine to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin (who was not at home in the Kremlin at the time) and the fact that the explosion caused no casualties and little damage have only deepened the experts' suspicion that the flag pole blast was (ironically) a false flag operation by Moscow's security services.

Ukraine vehemently denies it was responsible.

WATCH: Unverified video appears to show drone hitting Kremlin

Unverified video of drone striking Kremlin

22 hours ago

Duration 0:09

Ukraine has denied having any role in an alleged drone attack that appeared to explode just below a flying Russian flag over the Kremlin this week

President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, who is in Helsinki for meetings with allies, said he believes Moscow staged the attack to galvanize public opinion in Russia.

"We don't attack Putin or Moscow," Zelenskyy said. "We fight on our own territory."

What's interesting to many observers is how there are just as many disadvantages as advantages for the Kremlin in accepting Russia's version of events.

'Military failure' or false flag?

Yes, it could whip the Russian public into a frenzy ahead of the annual May 9 Victory Day celebrations, commemorating the Nazis' defeat in the Second World War. It also looks like an enormous embarrassment for a defence and security establishment that has sustained a series of humiliations since the full invasion of Ukraine began, said a Kyiv-based defence expert.

A drone crashing into the flagpole at the Kremlin — slipping through the air defences of one of the most heavily guarded districts on the planet — would represent a major "military failure" of the sort that typically leads to heads rolling, said Oleksandr Musiienko, the head of the Center for Military and Legal Studies in Kyiv.

It wouldn't even be the first time Russia has been embarrassed from the air. In 1987, a German teenager named Mathias Rust evaded Soviet air defences to land a rented Cessna light aircraft near Red Square — an event that prompted the sacking of a number of high-level Russian military leaders.

You want to tweak the Russian bear's nose? Okay, fair enough. But this doesn't seem to accomplish anything.- Sean Maloney

Both Musiienko and Sean Maloney, a historian and expert on Soviet Cold War tactics, said they don't accept the Russian version of events — including the claim that it was an attempt on Putin's life.

"It's either reflexive to deflect on their part, to deflect against weakness, or it's all part of something they've already pre-scripted. It's one or the other, probably," said Maloney.

He said the initial Kremlin reports were stilted and made little military sense.

"That's my gut feel on this. Looking at it ... it doesn't make sense," he said. "Like, why? If you're going to assassinate Putin ... what would you do? Fly that [drone] through a window? Like what room is he in? Like, come on."

Maloney said Ukraine would have nothing to gain and absolutely everything to lose from launching such a strike on the Kremlin.

"I don't think the Ukrainians did it," he said. "We're back to, what purpose does this serve? You want to tweak the Russian bear's nose? Okay, fair enough. But this doesn't seem to accomplish anything."

Musiienko said the alleged attack could accomplish more for Russia than for Ukraine. A statement from the Kremlin said Russia reserved the right to retaliate — and hardliners demanded swift retribution against Zelenskyy.

It all reopens the door to a darker prospect, Musiienko said — that Moscow staged the attack to generate a pretext for renewing the use of nuclear threats against the West and Ukraine.

A technician inspects a missile underneath a fighter jet. — In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, a Russian military technician checks a MiG-31K fighter of the Russian air force carrying a Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missile parked at an airfield. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/The Associated Press)

"They will say it was dangerous to the Russian state's sovereignty and they will look into their nuclear doctrine, Russian nuclear doctrine, and they will tell you that they have a right to use nuclear weapons," he said.

Musiienko said we should expect to see ultra-nationalists like Dmitry Medvedev, the former prime minister who now heads Russia's national security council, begin rattling the nuclear saber on social media.

The war has seen an increasing number of attacks within Russia and Russian-occupied territory in recent weeks. An oil refinery in Crimea was hit by a drone strike last weekend.

According to a batch of Pentagon documents leaked online over the last few months, American intelligence agencies believe Ukrainian agents have conducted drone attacks inside Belarus and Russia — against the wishes of their western allies.

Two documents, reported on by NBC News, suggest Ukraine launched provocative operations inside the neighbouring countries. Some allied nations have said any such actions might cause them to reconsider their ongoing support for Kyiv.

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'It doesn't make sense': Experts question the Kremlin's account of that drone strike - CBC News
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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

More U.S. Women Are Avoiding Unwanted or Mistimed Pregnancies - The New York Times

But a growing share of women over 35 say their pregnancies are coming later than they want, a new analysis found.

Births and pregnancies in the United States have been on a long-term decline. A new data analysis provides one reason: It’s becoming less common for women to get pregnant when they don’t want to be.

The analysis, released Thursday in the journal Demography by researchers at the Guttmacher Institute, estimates the number of pregnancies in the United States — there is no single official count — and examines women’s feelings about the timing of their pregnancies. In the past, most demography surveys have asked if pregnancies were intended or not, but that approach missed nuances like whether a woman was ambivalent about being pregnant — or wanted to be pregnant, but earlier or later.

The new analysis, covering 2009 to 2015, found that a growing majority of women said their pregnancies came at the right time. It uncovered a decline in the share of pregnancies that women didn’t want or that happened too soon, a shift driven by young women.

It also found that a significant and increasing share of women — particularly those 35 and older — said they were getting pregnant later than they wanted.

“This just bolsters that idea that people have more control over their reproduction, especially in earlier ages,” said Alison Gemmill, a demographer and epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins who studies reproductive health and was not involved in the new study.

It also reflects, she said, “a change in people’s ideals about when to have kids and norms around the ideal time — when we’re settled, when I have my career established.”

The new data is one of the clearest indicators that the drop in fertility during the Great Recession was not just a temporary delay, as often happens in recessions. Instead, it seems to have coincided with a broader shift in what women wanted, and increased access to contraception.

The analysis combined reports and surveys from the National Center for Health Statistics; abortion data from Guttmacher; and estimates of total pregnancies and miscarriages.

The data is from before two seismic events that affected fertility: the pandemic, followed by the Dobbs decision that ended the nationwide right to abortion. It’s unclear what long-term changes those will bring. There is early evidence that at the beginning of the pandemic, many people delayed getting pregnant. There could also be an increase in the share of unwanted or mistimed births in states with new abortion bans.

The United States has long had one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancy in the industrialized world. It has declined 23 percent in the last three decades, and 46 percent of pregnancies are now unintended. In Western Europe, by comparison, 36 percent are unintended, and the rate has not changed much.

The new analysis suggests that during the period of the study, American women rapidly gained more autonomy over their family planning, and had fewer abortions because of it.

The data indicates that “far fewer individuals were becoming pregnant in 2015 than in 2009, and that abortion incidence went down because individuals did not get pregnant, not because their pregnancies continued to a birth instead of an abortion,” wrote the paper’s authors, the Guttmacher researchers Kathryn Kost, Mia Zolna and Rachel Murro.

In 2015, just under a quarter of women said their pregnancy came too soon, a decline of 18 percent from 2009. There was also a slight decline of 5 percent, to 17 percent, in the share of pregnant women who said they did not want a baby at all. These declines were driven by younger women having significantly fewer unwanted pregnancies.

During this period, birth control became more easily accessible, largely because of a provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring it to be free for patients. Research has shown a big increase in the share of women using more effective long-acting reversible contraceptives like IUDs. A program in Colorado to provide free long-acting birth control led to a 40 percent decline in births to teenagers and young adults.

There is also data showing that young people are having less sex, perhaps because they are socializing online more and engaging in fewer risky behaviors overall.

The fertility rate has been increasing among the oldest childbearing women, ages 35 to 44, and in one sense, researchers said, this indicates that women are exercising more control over the timing of their pregnancies. Highly educated women have been delaying pregnancies until they complete their educations and start their careers, and more recently, that has become true of women of all educational backgrounds.

Yet the analysis also shows something new — that for many women over 35, their pregnancies are coming later than they want. The share who said so increased 84 percent, while the share who said they occurred at about the right time dropped 26 percent. (The new data does not include women who never became pregnant.)

This could be because they run into fertility troubles at older ages, the researchers wrote, and suggests a “substantial, and growing, unmet need for fertility treatment services.”

It could also indicate, researchers said, that for some, family planning was driven by financial uncertainty — they may have waited to get pregnant until they found their financial footing but wished it had been earlier. It could suggest that, in hindsight, they regretted having waited. Or it could signal that more women are having difficulty finding suitable partners.

“To see it increasing, we started thinking this isn’t just about difficulty becoming pregnant at an older age,” said Ms. Kost, who has a Ph.D. in sociology and is director of domestic research at Guttmacher. “We are also wondering to what extent is this a reflection of economic constraints and realities people are living through, and the increasing burdens people are feeling in the ability to have families on the timeline they want.”

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More U.S. Women Are Avoiding Unwanted or Mistimed Pregnancies - The New York Times
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PSAC deal: What the tentative agreement says about remote work - Global News

A tentative agreement with “new protections around remote work” reached between the federal government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada could set a precedent for working from home in the country, experts say.

PSAC and the Treasury Board came to an agreement early Monday, putting an end to a nationwide strike for over 120,000 union employees after nearly two weeks of picketing.

As of Monday morning, Treasury Board workers were required to go back on the job, PSAC announced in a statement. Canada Revenue Agency workers are negotiating their own deal and remain on strike.

According to PSAC, the deal provides “significant new protections around remote work” — which was one of the main sticking points in the labour dispute.

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday that the agreement supports “fairness, equity and modernization” when it comes to remote work.

Alexandra Samuel, a digital workplace expert, said details of what was exactly agreed upon will shape the future of remote and hybrid work, not just within the federal government, but for the whole country.

“The most important part of this agreement is the idea that we are returning to a model where individual teams, individual managers, individual departments will be able to have specific agreements rather than a single one-size-fits-all policy across the government,” she told Global News.

In December, Fortier announced that public service workers will spend two to three days per week in the office starting in January, to be fully implemented by April.

As it stands, that flexibility remains for public servants to continue, where applicable, having the option of working up to three days from home per week.

What is the remote work agreement?

Under the tentative agreement, managers will be required to assess remote work requests on an individual case-by-case basis — not by group — and then provide written responses.

This will “allow members and PSAC to hold the employer accountable to equitable and fair decision-making on remote work,” the union said.

This could inspire other unions who are currently negotiating their own deals to ask for similar provisions, said Christina Santini, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“It can be a concern if it sets a precedent and … (puts) pressure on other employers to do the same who don’t necessarily have the capacity to do the same,” she said.

Some jobs are more efficiently done in person, so it is important to treat this on a case-by-case basis, Santini said, adding she would like to see more clarity on the number of federal workers who will be heading back to the office so that it can inform business decisions.

Click to play video: 'PSAC ends strike as union reaches tentative deal with Treasury Board'

2:04 PSAC ends strike as union reaches tentative deal with Treasury Board

PSAC had been pushing for more transparency around remote work policies with the ability to negotiate remote work written into its collective agreement.

While the full details of the tentative deal have yet to be released, the language around remote work is not part of the collective agreement but is instead stated in a separate letter of intent.

This means the union won’t be able to voice any grievances, Samuel said.

As stated in a letter of intent outside the collective agreement, a joint review will update the Directive on Telework that was agreed upon during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the federal government.

Click to play video: 'Canadians split on PSAC strike — but most aren’t paying attention: poll'

4:59 Canadians split on PSAC strike — but most aren’t paying attention: poll

An additional mechanism with departmental panels will also help address individual employee concerns, such as around cultural or management issues, Fortier said.

This does raise hopes of a more equitable and fairer approach and increased transparency around who’s getting remote work opportunities and why, Samuel said.

“We want this to be the new normal, frankly, in lots of organizations,” she said.

Samuel said the panel on telework may provide a “hugely useful template for other organizations who want to bring employees back to the office.”

However, much still remains to be seen how all of this will be implemented.

Samuel said she would like to see some guidelines at the government level and departmental level about the circumstances in which it makes sense to have a team or an individual work remotely.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

PSAC deal: What the tentative agreement says about remote work - Global News

PSAC and the Treasury Board came to an agreement early Monday, putting an end to a nationwide strike for over 120,000 union employees after nearly two weeks of picketing.

As of Monday morning, Treasury Board workers were required to go back on the job, PSAC announced in a statement. Canada Revenue Agency workers are negotiating their own deal and remain on strike.

According to PSAC, the deal provides “significant new protections around remote work” — which was one of the main sticking points in the labour dispute.

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday that the agreement supports “fairness, equity and modernization” when it comes to remote work.

In December, Fortier announced that public service workers will spend two to three days per week in the office starting in January, to be fully implemented by April.

As it stands, that flexibility remains for public servants to continue, where applicable, having the option of working up to three days from home per week.

What is the remote work agreement?

Under the tentative agreement, managers will be required to assess remote work requests on an individual case-by-case basis — not by group — and then provide written responses.

This will “allow members and PSAC to hold the employer accountable to equitable and fair decision-making on remote work,” the union said.

“It can be a concern if it sets a precedent and … (puts) pressure on other employers to do the same who don’t necessarily have the capacity to do the same,” she said.

2:04 PSAC ends strike as union reaches tentative deal with Treasury Board

PSAC had been pushing for more transparency around remote work policies with the ability to negotiate remote work written into its collective agreement.