The Government of Canada paused return to office plans due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Now, PIPSC and 12 other federal unions are advocating for clear and consistent telework guidelines from the Chief Human Resources Officer. Any workers that can perform their duties from home right now should be working from home. These guidelines should be applied equally across regions and departments.

Essential workers also need to be prioritized for vaccine booster doses. Booster doses are recommended to increase protection against the Omicron variant. Many critical and essential workers cannot get booster doses right now because they do not meet their province or territory’s criteria. The federal government needs to step up to help them get a booster dose without delay.

We sent a letter to Treasury Board President Mona Fortier to address these concerns.

READ OUR LETTER

You can also read the President of the Treasury Board’s response.

READ THE HON. MONA FORTIER'S RESPONSE

Vacation leave cash-out changes

The following changes affect the CP (formerly AV), IT (formerly CS), NR, RE, and SP groups. 

Vacation leave cash-out rules do not apply to the SH Group because SH group members have no limit to the number of vacation leave credits they can carry over.

Your collective agreement allows you to carry over up to 262.5 hours (35 days) of vacation leave to the next fiscal year. Anything over that, is usually cashed out – you get paid for the value of those extra hours rather than taking time off. 

In recent years, the excess vacation leave cash-out was postponed due to Phoenix troubles. As a result, you may have more vacation leave banked than you can carry over.

Starting in 2022, rather than a one-time cash-out on March 31, any excess vacation leave will be cashed out over 5 years (20% per year). 

This allows you to spread out the tax impact of a one-time payment and gives you more flexibility to use your vacation leave over the next four years (2022-2026).

See our FAQs on cash-out of excess vacation and compensatory leave for full information on what to expect on your cash-out.

The exact date you’ll be paid is not known, so watch for a notice from your manager or human resources team. The remaining 80% of your excess vacation leave will be carried over to the next fiscal year, and 20% of whatever is left each fiscal year will be automatically cashed out each year until 2026. At that point, all remaining excess vacation leave credits will be cashed out.

Remember – if you have up to 262.5 hours of vacation leave banked, you’ll still be able to carry over those hours. There’s no change.

Finally, note that the normal carryover limits in your collective agreement will be enforced in upcoming years. Starting on March 31, 2022, and on each March 31 going forward, you’ll receive a 100% payment for the earned but unused portion of your vacation leave (above your allowable carryover of 262.5 hours) accumulated during the ending fiscal year.

RE and CP group members should also note: your collective agreement states that excess vacation leave banks must be reduced by 75 hours per year. This rule is suspended and replaced by the 20% cash-out of vacation leave.

Compensatory leave cash-out

The following changes affect the CP (formerly AV), IT (formerly CS), NR, RE, SH and SP groups. For most groups, compensatory leave cannot be carried over to the next fiscal year. IT (CS) group members can, however, carry over up to 37.5 hours. 

IT (CS) group members only – your collective agreement allows you to carry over up to 37.5 hours (5 days) of compensatory leave to the next fiscal year. Anything over that is usually cashed out – you get paid for the value of those extra hours rather than taking time off.

In recent years, the compensatory leave cash-out was postponed due to Phoenix troubles. As a result, you may have excess compensatory leave that cannot be carried over.

In 2022, rather than a one-time cash-out on March 31, any excess compensatory leave will be cashed out over a 5-year period (20% per year). 

This allows you to spread out the tax impact of a one-time payment, and gives you more flexibility to use your compensatory leave over the next four years (2022-2026).

Please see our FAQs on cash-out of excess vacation and compensatory leave for full information on what to expect on your cash-out.

The exact date you’ll be paid is not yet known. Watch for a notice from your manager or human resources team. The remaining 80% of your excess compensatory leave on  March 31 of each year will be carried over to the next fiscal year, and 20% of whatever is left each fiscal year will be automatically cashed out each year until 2026. At that point, all remaining excess compensatory leave credits will be cashed out.

Finally, note that the normal cash-out provisions of your collective agreement are being enforced starting in the 2021-22 fiscal year. However, since these credits are not normally cashed out on March 31 – you have a bit more time to use compensatory leave credits per the following chart:

ANNUAL (NORMAL) COMPENSATORY LEAVE CASH-OUTS

Based on the chart above, you can expect to receive a 100% payment for the earned but unused portion of your compensatory leave accumulated in 2021-22 and during each fiscal year going forward. 

For IT (CS) group members – you will receive a 100% payment for hours accumulated above your allowable carryover of 37.5 hours during the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Revised May 3, 2022.

Our PIPSC executive members gathered for a video screening and an intergenerational panel discussion on November 18, 2021.

We viewed an excerpt from “First Contact,” an APTN series. In the video, a group of white Canadians visit one of Canada’s longest-running residential schools. 

With the video and panel discussion, we learned about what Indigenous children faced while residential schools operated. Indigenous children were taken from their families and put in schools like the one in the video. What the state-sanctioned educators made the children go through was akin to torture. Sexual, physical and verbal abuse were common.

The panel was broadcast live from the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN) studio in Winnipeg. Vera Houle of Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation moderated the discussion. It featured youth ambassador Taylor Galvin of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and Elder Belinda Vanderbroeck (Ininiw; Soki Kapikiskwet Osawi Omisiw).

Our Indigenous representative to the Canadian Labour Congress, Greg “Wolf-Star” Scriver, thanked APTN and the panelists for their generosity in meeting with us.

To take action for reconciliation, contact our Human Rights and Diversity Committee.

In a respectful ceremony, PIPSC formally acknowledged the traditional unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory that our national office sits on.

For centuries, Indigenous peoples have been the stewards of the lands that Ottawa now sits on. 

On November 5, 2021, PIPSC Indigenous Representative to the Canadian Labour Congress, Greg “Wolf Star” Scriver, led a smudging ceremony at the PIPSC national office. Smudging is the burning of 4 sacred medicines in an open shell: cedar, sage, sweetgrass and tobacco.

Once the air was cleared, PIPSC Vice-President Steve Hindle placed a plaque in our main lobby. This plaque enshrines our honour and thanks towards the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation.

PIPSC members are committed to reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. This is demonstrated by our partnership with Indigenous Day Live, the work of our Indigenous Caucus, and now our territorial acknowledgement in our office.

We recognize the important role of the labour movement in reconciliation. We must listen to the demands of Indigenous leaders. We can support Indigenous-owned businesses. And we can support Indigenous culture and languages through education and art.

To take action for reconciliation, contact the Human Rights and Diversity committee.

You can also write to the Prime Minister of Canada to join the Canadian Labour Congress’ call for real commitments and concrete justice for Indigenous peoples and communities.

Leading Progress: The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada 1920–2020 by Dr. Jason Russell, Canadian labour historian, is now available to all members in an e-book (epub) format.

Published on the centennial of PIPSC’s founding, Leading Progress is the definitive account of our evolution from 1920 to now – and a rare glimpse into an under-studied corner of North American labour history.

Author Dr. Jason Russell draws on a rich collection of sources, including archival material and oral history interviews with dozens of current and past PIPSC members. The story that unfolds is a complex one, filled with success and struggle, told with clarity and even-handedness.

After decades of demographic and generational shifts, economic booms and busts, and political sea change, PIPSC members will look towards our next hundred years with the same important mission that has guided us thus far: to advocate for social and economic justice that benefits all Canadians.

Get your free copy

Download your free copy of the e-book (epub) today: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d1BtjV_vUd4AK3PyevR5y4HbtnC3NlAK?usp=sharing

Share it with your colleagues. 

Contact LAllan@pipsc.ca for a printed copy of the book.

About the book

The book has garnered praise:

 “Jason Russell’s stirring and comprehensive history of the first century of PIPSC’s innovative organizing among public professionals tells a marvelous story about the power of unionism – not just to lift the standards of work, but to build a stronger economy and society.”

• Jim Stanford, Economist and Director, Centre for Future Work

“Public sector unions remain one of the most vital structures for the protection of workers’ rights, but they also underpin many important values of our democratic institutions, including independence, neutrality, the unbiased use of evidence, equal treatment, and inclusion. In this excellent history, Jason Russell reminds us that we cannot rely on politicians alone to protect the values of our democratic system, and PIPSC exists to defend not only their hard-won rights, but also the rights of all Canadians.”

• Ken Rasmussen, Director, Professor and Graduate Chair, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina

“Leading Progress fills an important gap in labour studies literature, as it considers public employees and professionals, two constituencies whose unions are often understudied. By looking at the history of PIPSC inside and out, it gives a voice to many staff, leaders, and members of the organization through extensive interviews, showing that a union is not only a structure but also the reflection of workers’ identities and the ways they relate to their jobs as well as their communities.”

• Thomas Collombat, Associate Professor of Political Science, Université du Québec en Outaouais

From coast to coast, PIPSC members planted hundreds of trees to celebrate our 100^th anniversary.  PIPSC members are proud to promote environmental stewardship, which is more important than ever as we attempt to address the climate crisis by reducing our carbon footprint.

PIPSC partnered with Tree Canada, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees. For 25 years, they’ve engaged communities, governments, corporations and individuals in the pursuit of a greener and healthier living environment for Canadians.

Since 1920, PIPSC members have held an integral role in collecting data that has confirmed we’re facing a climate crisis. Whether it’s surveying the health of our forests, mapping the stars, or protecting the vitality of our marine ecosystems, the services provided by PIPSC members are services that all Canadians rely on.

The federal pay equity process is underway to ensure that workers in women-dominated jobs receive equal pay for work of equal value. 

On August 31, 2021, all federally regulated employers became subject to the new proactive pay equity legislation. The new legislation replaces an ineffective complaint-based pay equity model.

PIPSC worked with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to develop the regulations that will implement the legislation.

Under the legislation, employers and unions must work together to establish a pay equity committee that will develop and implement a pay equity plan by 2024. PIPSC classification agents will be coordinating pay equity projects and representing your interests throughout the process.

Pay equity process

As a first step, employers must post a notice setting out their pay equity obligation by November 1, 2021. Joint employer-union committees will then develop pay equity plans to check that employees are receiving equal pay for work and to resolve any pay gaps.

A Pay Equity Commissioner will provide further support to the committees and offer any dispute resolution services should the need arise. 

Finally, the plans will be reviewed and updated at least every 5 years, ensuring the employer’s compensation policies remain free of gender bias.

How to get involved

If you have any concerns or want to inform us of developments in your workplace, please email compensation@pipsc.ca. We will keep you updated as the process unfolds.

The Institute is saddened to learn of the passing of Marie-Claude Lavigne on November 18, 2021. Marie-Claude worked as a psychologist at Correctional Services of Canada in Québec. She was a dedicated employee and an active PIPSC steward from 1985 to 1996 at the Leclerc Institution in Laval. 

Marie-Claude looked after the well-being of her colleagues and defended them passionately. Marie-Claude took on many challenges and was a great source of inspiration.

At the time of her retirement in 2007, Marie-Claude was working for the Parole Office. She will be dearly missed. We offer our sincerest condolences to her family and friends.

Condolences and memories can be expressed online.

On November 16, 2021, President Debi Daviau met with recently appointed Treasury Board President Mona Fortier to discuss the way forward on our members’ key issues.

The discussion focused on scientific integrity, equity and diversity, Public Service Health Care Plan improvements, and the potential resumption of negotiations on the Employee Wellness Support Program.

Although she had not received her mandate from the PM yet, Minister Fortier identified her top 3 priorities in her new role:

• good faith negotiations
• open communications
• collaboration

The Minister was very complimentary of the work PIPSC had done with the government and previous Treasury Board Presidents, and shared that she had received many positive comments from colleagues about us.

We look forward to further discussions with Minister Fortier on these and other issues of significant importance to our members, such as flexible work arrangements, safe workplaces, and the next round of collective bargaining.