PIPSC marks the 50th anniversary of the coming into effect of the Official Languages Act on September 7, 1969, and the 10^th anniversary of the Linguistic Duality Day celebrated annually on the second Thursday of September throughout the public service of Canada.

The act establishes the equality of status of French and English. Accordingly, it sets out broad principles with respect to official languages in the federal public service.

Our overall position is that PIPSC supports bilingualism both as an organization, as demonstrated by our Policy on Official Languages, and in the public service of Canada.

Specifically, we support:

• The protection of both official languages, as well as Indigenous languages.
• The rights of all workers to work in their official language of choice – including full-time or part-time public servants and government contractors.
• The obligation to provide services in designated government offices in both official languages – whether service delivery is effected by full time or part-time public servants or government contractors.
• The work of the National Joint Council (NJC) on the upcoming reopening of the Bilingualism Bonus Directive, with an aim to better support the use of both official languages amongst federal government employees.

On March 2019, the government undertook a consultation exercise to review the Official Languages Act where PIPSC shared its views on improvements needed. Also, PIPSC staff and elected officials have participated in a town hall and forums, as well as joined other stakeholders at the Symposium on the 50^th anniversary of the Official Languages Act.

At the June Board of Directors’ meeting, PIPSC established a Standing Committee on Official Languages responsible for advising and making recommendations to the Board. The committee’s mandate will be presented and adopted at 2019 PIPSC AGM in November.

PIPSC’s Committee on Official Languages welcomes your comments and questions. Email us at gtlo_tfol@pipsc.ca.

We are celebrating big wins!

You give your best in your workplace and to your family, each and every day. We went into these negotiations to get agreements that acknowledge and support this – and we got results.

14 groups across Canada have signed their new collective agreements:

Applied Science and Patent Examination (SP)

Audit, Financial and Scientific (AFS)

Audit, Commerce, Purchasing (AV)

Engineering, Architecture and Land Survey (NR)

Health Services (SH) 

National Energy Board (NEB) 

National Film Board (NFB) 

National Research Council – Research Officer/Research Council Officer (NRC-RO/RCO) 

National Research Council – Information Services (NRC-IS)

National Research Council – Library Science (NRC-LS) 

National Research Council – Translation (NRC-TR) 

Research (RE) 

Nuclear Regulatory (NUREG) 

Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) 
 

Each of these collective agreements will include all of the central bargaining wins.

Major Central Bargaining wins:

• A base wage increase of 7% for all groups over the next 4 years — in addition to the wage increase negotiated at your group’s table.
• A historic win of 10 paid days of leave for survivors and victims of domestic violence.
• Each member with a ratified contract will receive a $400 compensation for the extended implementation of this new contract.
• Language on harassment that for the first time in the Canadian public service enshrines the right of a worker to a workplace free of harassment and violence.
• PIPSC collaboration with Treasury Board to replace Phoenix is secured.
• Members returning to work from parental leave will no longer be obligated to repay top-up if they move between departments and agencies for a new role.
• If you are owed retroactive pay and you do not receive it within 180 days compensation of $50 will be award on day 181 and again every 90 days to a maximum of $450.

Some of our fellow union members continue their fight at the bargaining table. We stand together in enthusiastic solidarity insisting on a fair deal for every PIPSC member.

OTTAWA, September 16, 2019 – The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), in its election ad, is calling on federal parties to commit to closing corporate tax loopholes to pay for action on the climate crisis.

“We are facing a global climate crisis,” said President Debi Daviau, “and we have some of the best climate scientists in the world in our public service. They can give us the solutions to climate change that we need. But they need the resources to do the job.”

80% of Canadians and 90% CRA tax professionals agree: “it is easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to evade and/or avoid tax responsibilities than it is for average Canadians.” 

In a video released today, the union calls for closing the tax loopholes that allow corporate tax cheats to duck paying their fair share. 

PIPSC will be sharing the video directly with members and with the Canadian public through social media, calling on voters to make tax fairness and climate action the deciding issues of this election. 

“Visit our website, share the video, get informed on the issues and get out to ask candidates tough questions about the future of our country,” said Daviau. “We need to come out of this election with a government that protects public services and respects the people who provide them.”

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents 60,000 public service professionals across Canada. Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

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For further information: 

Johanne Fillion, 613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell), jfillion@pipsc.ca

1. What’s PIPSC doing for members?

Since Phoenix was launched in 2016 dedicated PIPSC stewards, staff and consultation team members have worked tirelessly to:

• Help hundreds of members resolve their pay issues, file individual grievances, and submit policy grievances on behalf of all affected members

• Lobby the government to hire more pay staff in workplaces to resolve members’ problems faster

• Demand the government adopt a new pay system that works – ASAP

• Rally members to promote one

• Advocate that a new system be led by members of PIPSC’s IT community

• Promote members’ concerns to the media

• Mobilize members to take action online

• Provide loans to members especially hard hit

• Insist the government pay damages to all affected members

• Fight for better access to emergency and priority pay, an end to regressive clawbacks of overpayments, coverage for all out-of-pocket expenses, and prompt payment of retro pay – to name only a few.

2.Can’t we go back to using the old pay system?

The Harper government dismantled the old system and fired the pay professionals who managed it before the Trudeau government flipped the switch on Phoenix. This meant there was no contingency plan in place to address pay problems.

3.Why don’t we just strike?

It is illegal for any union or its membership to strike during the life of their collective agreement. Members who take illegal job action could be fined, disciplined or even terminated.

4. Why can’t we sue the government?

As a union, we have a legal contract with the government that stipulates how disputes are to be processed. By law, union members are not allowed to join class action lawsuits against their employer. Together with other unions, however, we are aggressively pursuing the Treasury Board for payment of damages to all affected members.

Members like you play an important part in building, protecting and progressing communities across Canada. In celebrating the Institute’s 100th anniversary and the contributions of our members to our community, we’ve invited Ottawa artist Ryan Smeeton to create a special mural to honour the diverse impact of our members.

Ryan will paint the mural near our main office located at 250 Tremblay road. He has been a part of many inspirational public art installments and designed dozens of murals which can be identified by his unique style.

The mural will prominently display our 100th anniversary logo and be a source of beauty and inspiration for our work as a union. This is how the artist describes his concept for this mural:

"When I learned of the issues PIPSC has fought for, I was struck by the importance of your work … My goal is to create a mural that captures the spirit of PIPSC's purpose: building community to act collectively to improve its members’ lives. I represent this in my design with a linear composition featuring three figures; the first figure is seen pouring seeds from her palm, the second is seen holding a sapling, and the third is seen gazing out into the future.”

He said this concept represents the process of a PIPSC accomplishment from conception to implementation. First, the seeds of an idea are planted, then those seeds are nurtured so they can grow and gain momentum. Finally, the outcome is achieved – better conditions for members – and all those who collaborated to make those changes happen get to look towards a brighter future.

“As focal points within a composition, I strive to use figurative imagery that is stimulating, representative, and accessible,” Ryan said. “My goal is to create an engaging, eye-catching piece that will ultimately become a landmark in the area and will serve as a celebration of PIPSC’s successes, a source of pride for its members and staff, and an inspiration to continue Leading Progress."

As this year’s AGM marks the kick off of our 100th anniversary celebrations, there will be many projects and events coming up to celebrate our past and future success. The work on the mural will begin on September 9. The completed mural will be unveiled in late September 2019.

We thank our neighbours at Dustbane for their support for this project and their permission to use one of their walls for this mural.

Ottawa, September 9, 2019 -- Dr. Margaret Haydon, a scientist who was fired by the government for blowing the whistle on Health Canada's approval process of a controversial veterinary drug, has filed an appeal to the unfair compensation provided by the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board in her case.

In July 2004, the government fired Dr. Haydon and her colleagues Dr. Gerard Lambert and Dr. Shiv Chopra for going public with their concerns about the approval of the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), used to increase milk production in cows. The drug could have leached into Canadian dairy products and impacted public health. Their efforts to keep bovine hormone growth out of Canada’s milk supply were ultimately successful – but at a personal and professional cost.

“Every time you drink a glass of milk, you should thank Dr. Margaret Haydon, Dr. Gerard Lambert and Dr. Shiv Chopra for ensuring it isn’t laced with harmful drugs,” said PIPSC president Debi Daviau. “But what did these scientists get for preserving your food safety? Fired. The government dragged their reputation and careers through the mud. It was unconscionable and we can’t allow that to ever happen again.”

After years of administrative tribunals, Dr. Haydon won her case before the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board. But the Board limited the return of lost wages to only a period of 10.5 months.

“The compensation awarded by the tribunal was unfair and not enough to deter future governments from conducting reprisals against public service professionals who speak truth to power,” said Daviau. “Not only are we going to continue to fight for a fair compensation for Dr. Haydon, we’re going to fight for a better Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act to actually protect whistleblowers and the public.”

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents 60,000 public service professionals across Canada.

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The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Finance launched its pre-budget 2020 consultations. As we have done in the past, PIPSC submitted a series of recommendations to make the next budget work for government employees. From ensuring the Phoenix replacement is brought in smoothly, to monitoring research metrics, we all win when large-scale projects are planned ahead and costed out. We invite you to read our 11 recommendations for Budget 2020.

READ OUR BUDGET 2020 RECOMMENDATIONS

Due to the upcoming federal election, there will be limited time to prepare Budget 2020. We expect the next government will not rush through the process and do the right thing by listening to Canada’s unions - our recommendations have been crafted to help the government avoid some of the costly errors made in the past. 

In the coming weeks, PIPSC will be launching our federal election toolkit that will enable members to learn what candidates support our priorities. We will be encouraging all Canadians to elect a government that protects public services and respects the people who provide them.