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The National Gallery of Canada (photo by Djof/Flickr)

The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa may lock out 175 of its employees next month if negotiations between the museum and the union that represents the workers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), are not successful.The museum’s management had previously scheduled two weeks of talks with the union for September, but canceled the negotiations the day they were due to begin. The National Gallery’s management then applied for conciliation, a provision that, per Canadian labor laws, would allow them to lock out the union workers beginning next month. The issues up for negotiation include increased wages and severance pay, according to a PSAC release.

“We were very clear at the bargaining table that we would not be applying for Conciliation.  We want to bargain, period,” Larry Rousseau, PSAC’s regional executive vice-president for the national capital region, told Hyperallergic. “We had scheduled with the Gallery two weeks of talks in September. On the very first day, they informed us that they were applying for Conciliation and called off the rest of the two weeks scheduled. We believe that the only legal point for management applying for Conciliation is so that they can legally lockout PSAC members on December 10th or later, if they wish.”....Continue Reading

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