Ordinarily, the announcement earlier this month that spending by the Department of Defence (DND) will grow from its current $18.9 billion to $32.7 billion by 2026 would be cause for Canadians (and especially PIPSC members employed by DND) to feel more secure. But references throughout Strong, Secure, and Engaged, Canada’s new defence policy, leave little doubt that continued over-reliance on outsourced services will form a major part of DND’s future. The policy is already raising alarms among other unions.

In addition, Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s commitment to kick in $35 billion of federal infrastructure money to attract even more private sector funding of federal projects suggests the trend could become permanent.

Rather than continue to increase the number of outsourced services, DND needs to commit to reducing them (and much sooner than 2026!) and to reinvesting in the staff it already employs. A good place to start would be by implementing the new provisions of the recent CS Group contract with PIPSC.

Decreasing federal reliance on so-called public-private partnerships (P3s), such as last year’s “multi-year $322 million contract to Uptime Infrastructure Partners for the expansion of Shared Services Canada (SSC) Enterprise Data Centre (EDC)” at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden, Ontario, should also be a priority.

I will be writing to Minister Harjit S. Sajjan in the next few days to encourage him to do just that.

Better Together!

Debi Daviau

President

Happy 150th birthday to the greatest country in the world!

From the 55,000 professionals across Canada’s federal and provincial public sectors who proudly serve Canadians every day and the union that represents them, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, a happy 150^th birthday to the greatest country in the world!

Better Together!

Debi Daviau,
President 

Dear Members,

Last week I was invited to speak with the cabinet-level working group on Phoenix to discuss potential solutions to the Phoenix pay system.

I brought to them a number of problems and possible solutions to help fix the disastrous Phoenix pay system. Public servants are still facing hardship and ongoing problems and we all desperately want to see relief and a solution soon.

I urged them to make sure all of their cabinet colleagues understood the severity of the problem and that priority pay was available to all employees wherever they work in the public service. I reiterated that problems like those faced in processing our SP Group members’ retroactive pay were unacceptable. I also offered the Cabinet Ministers a concrete plan to engage our government IT community. I proposed they train 30 to 40 CS Group members on the pay system. This would begin to build a strong in-house team to do the necessary upgrades and maintenance the Phoenix pay system requires. It would also help tackle the “end to end” issues, including the integration of HR systems. It would build on what a small team of our CS members have been doing since last November to help find long-term solutions to the problems plaguing the system. Last year we issued a call to CS members, jointly with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), and these brilliant members are now working in the office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at PSPC, getting results right out of the gate.

We know that the government’s decision to outsource this project wholesale to IBM was a mistake. I got the sense that the ministers are finally coming to the same conclusion and that's why they're starting to involve government IT professionals to find the necessary solutions. To that end, I expressed deep concerns about a Request for Information (RFI) for the ongoing maintenance of the Phoenix pay system, cautioning the government against outsourcing even further.

The Ministers were open-minded, listened and asked questions. They committed to action. Follow-up meetings have already been scheduled by the PMO at the staff level.

Though progress is painfully slow, we are beginning to see some results from our work with the Treasury Board. Most recently, after much urging by unions, cases involving missing pay for maternity and parental leaves are being resolved. We are also seeing more proactive measures being taken by departments to ensure employees get timely access to priority pay. We are still urging all levels of government to improve their communications to ensure that employees know what resources are available to them. Mandatory team meetings with standard information should be required.

In the event that your pay issue is not resolved, we continue to encourage you to contact your local Employment Relations Officer (ERO) in the regional office nearest to you to help resolve the issue, and to access emergency or priority pay.

In closing, I want to urge each and every member to wear our "Fix Phoenix" buttons. It's a small gesture, but helps to keep the focus on fixing the plagued pay system. It's thanks to your hard work and solidarity that we have managed to elevate our Phoenix pay issues to the list of cabinet priorities. We must keep up the pressure until we see a resolution to this crisis!

Better Together!

Debi Daviau
President, PIPSC