Union seeks to use contracts to ensure scientific integrity

A union that represents more than 15,000 federal scientists in Canada has announced plans to table a proposal that would require the government to negotiate scientific integrity policies as part of collective bargaining agreements.

The proposal would require enforceable policies to be negotiated that ensure federal scientists have the right to speak about their work, advocate reinvestment in research programmes, make international collaboration easier, preserve government libraries, and guarantee a role for scientists in informing policy.

“It’s sad, frankly, that it’s come to this,” said Debi Daviau, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. “But negotiating provisions in our collective agreements seems to be the only way to get this government’s attention and adopt meaningful, enforceable scientific integrity standards.”