Fellow members,

It has come to our attention that many of you who are trying to report overpayments by the January 19,2018 deadline cannot get through to Contact Centre staff because of busy signals or being put on hold for extended periods.

We have raised this issue with the employer and have asked for an extension of Contact Centre hours of operation to include weekends and evenings. Alternatively, Public Services and Procurement Canada is advising employees to submit a Phoenix Feedback Form to inform the Pay Centre of their situation.

We are also, along with other unions, calling on the government to require that employees only repay the net amount of their overpayments, not the gross amounts. 

Needless to say, we continue to express to the Employer the anger and frustration our many members feel at the government's response to this latest Phoenix foul-up.

We will keep you advised of developments on this important issue as soon as we obtain more information.

Better Together!

Debi Daviau,
President

Fellow Members,

Predictions are rarely 100% accurate. But some offer better-educated guesses than others. Here then are my forecasts (and a few resolutions) for the coming year.

Phoenix

2018 is a make-or-break year for the federal government’s credibility on the Phoenix payroll system. (Or is that “fix it or nix it”?) The government still claims it can fix Phoenix. We’re not so sure, as 87% of respondents indicated in a recent PIPSC survey. Public Services and Procurement Canada revealed in November that the system will reach its long-promised “steady state” by December 2018.

That’s still too late, but it at least provides us with a date by when to expect fixes to some major problems. While I’m doubtful, based on their track record, that the government will meet this new deadline, we will continue to do everything we can to assist fixes, while at the same time demanding that a new system that works be built by our members. We’ll also continue to press the government to either hire more staff to assist our members facing Phoenix problems, or expect more grievances.

The Budget

Sometime in the next few months the government will introduce another budget. Our hope is that it includes significant reinvestments in the federal public service, which is still struggling from the accumulated cuts of the previous government. According to the CCPA’s 2016 Alternative Federal Budget, “the federal government is the smallest it’s been since before the Second World War.” That needs to change if we’re to face the challenges of the future. But it’s unlikely that will happen without pressure from Canadians, including PIPSC members. That’s why we launched last fall a petition calling on the government to reinvest in the public service. It’s not too late to add your name!

Scientific Integrity

Among the areas in which we’re calling for significant reinvestment is government science. By our count, Canada is still short 1,500 scientists due to the Harper government’s cuts. But leaving Canada short-staffed on science isn’t our only concern. Having successfully fought to include in collective agreements the right of scientists to speak, we’re now focussed on negotiating scientific integrity policies with federal science-based departments and agencies. Expect to hear a lot more about scientific integrity in the coming year.

Tax Fairness

Budgets only work when everyone pays their fair share of taxes. The Paradise Papers once again revealed the extent to which Canada and other countries are victims of offshore tax havens. Setting up specialized teams at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to investigate the 3,300 Canadian names included in the Paradise Papers is an important first step towards ensuring everyone does pay their fair share. The government wants to help the middle class. One way to do so is to invest the resources the CRA needs now to ensure public programs are fairly and adequately financed in the future.

Outsourcing

Shortly before the last federal election, the Liberals committed to “reducing the use of external consultants, bringing expenditures closer to 2005/06 levels.” They have a long way to go to meet that promise. Spending on outsourcing has grown over $2 billion in the past two years alone to a projected $12 billion. But the high cost of outsourcing isn’t its only problem; a growing record of risks and failures among projects – from Phoenix to email transformation to website consolidation and cloud-based services – should be prompting the government to press the reset button on outsourcing. In 2018, we’ll be reminding the government at every opportunity to “insource first.”

Pay Equity

In 2016, the government promised to introduce new legislation ensuring pay equity in the federal public service. I presented PIPSC’s concerns on this issue in a presentation to the House of Commons Special Committee on Pay Equity. The government promised to deliver “proactive” legislation by the end of 2018. We will work hard over the coming year to ensure they do. Because it’s 2018.

Pensions

Finance Minister Morneau’s Bill C-27 was introduced in 2016, promising to close the door on defined benefit pensions and open it to more (and less secure) target benefit pensions. We’ve been strong critics of the bill and look forward to its defeat or withdrawal before the end of the year. Endangering retirement security didn’t make sense in 2016 and it certainly doesn’t make sense in 2018.

RCMP

In April, PIPSC will welcome 1,300 civilian members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as new members. PIPSC staff is working hard to ensure their transition is a smooth one. The recent announcement that further transfers of civilian RCMP employees to the Phoenix pay system are indefinitely on hold is a great relief. As already mentioned, we’ll continue throughout the year to lobby the government to either fix or nix the system.

These aren’t the only issues on which PIPSC will be focussed in the coming year. Negotiations for a new Employee Wellness and Support Program are also well underway. And, as we prepare for the next round of bargaining, issues such as more flexible work arrangements, including telework, will be on the table too.

One thing my experience as President has brought home is that on many, if not all, issues good government relations works. That’s why we’ve dedicated resources to continue our lobbying efforts again in 2018.

To you and all your family, I wish the very best for 2018.

Better Together!

Debi Daviau
President

Fellow members,

Canadians should not have to worry about their retirement.

But actions taken by the federal government raise questions about its commitment to enhancing retirement security for Canadians – a key promise in the last federal election.

Over a year ago, the Minister of Finance introduced Bill C-27, a dangerous piece of legislation that could end up in added risks and reduced benefits for retirees. This isn’t progress and it isn’t what people voted for in 2015.

Current bankruptcy laws (notably the Companies' Creditor Arrangement Act, or CCAA)  see Canadians exposed to similar risks. Retirees are in a particularly vulnerable position and federal policy makers are responsible for protecting them.

This is why the Institute supports Member of Parliament (MP) Scott Duvall’s newly-introduced private Member’s Bill C-384 to protect the rights of retirees when a company goes bankrupt. It’s completely unacceptable for retirees to have to scramble to adjust to reduced - or no - benefit payments because employers are allowed to push them to the back of the line under current bankruptcy laws. The recent example of Sears Canada readily comes to mind in that regard.

When workers devote decades to a company and actively contribute to the prosperity of the Canadian economy, it’s only fair that their employer and their government have their backs when they retire.   

The proposed changes contained in Bill C-384 are important because they will provide retirees with added protection and peace of mind at a crucial time in their lives. This is progress, a step in the right direction.

I encourage you to write to your Member of Parliament asking them to actively support this Bill, and to sign the petition sponsored by MP Duvall calling for changes to Canada’s bankruptcy laws. It can be found online at:

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-1261
 
Together we can make a difference in the lives of millions of current and future Canadian retirees.

Better Together !

Debi Daviau,
President

Fellow members,

We have received several inquiries about the impact of the Phoenix pay system on retroactive pay for members who signed new collective agreements this year.

The government is in no position – despite its previous commitments to the contrary – to guarantee that full, accurate retroactive pay will be paid on time for its employees, including those represented by the Institute.

In response, PIPSC has filed 3 policy grievances on Phoenix-related issues, accusing the Treasury Board of failing to implement the terms of the AV, RE and SP Group collective agreements within the specified time frames. This includes but is not necessarily limited to the implementation of our members’ Annual Rates of Pay.

In these grievances, we are asking the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) to order the Treasury Board to immediately implement the terms of the AV, RE and SP collective agreements, and to compensate employees for all losses, financial or otherwise, resulting from the breach of the agreements. We will be filing other similar policy grievances given that the Treasury Board will also not meet the upcoming deadlines for the CS and SH agreements. Once their respective deadlines have passed, the Treasury Board will be in violation of these collective agreements and PIPSC will proceed with the filing of further policy grievances.

We also recommend members affected by the Phoenix debacle file individual grievances in support of the policy grievances if they have not been successful in getting action on their pay issues so far. Please review the process outlined at http://www.pipsc.ca/news-issues/phoenix-pay-system first, then talk to your local steward about your situation.

We will continue to update you regularly on this critical issue.

Better Together!

Debi Daviau,
President

Radio-Canada and the CBC have reported this week that Phoenix was “doomed from the start.” The reason? The business case prepared in 2009 under the previous government “lacked proper risk analysis and was politically motivated.” In the words of former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, “You look at this business case, you can drive trucks through some of the holes under the risk analysis.”

In a follow-up story the next day, our public broadcaster revealed the apparent conflicts of interest at the heart of the same business case, based as it was on research conducted by IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers, who subsequently received a combined $200 million in contracts related to Phoenix.

None of this will come as a surprise to many of our members. The previous government’s eager addiction to costly outsourcing contracts – often undertaken, they claimed, to save money, and always at the expense of our members – is well known. The real surprise is that of the 17 “lessons learned” contained in an “independent” analysis of the pay transformation initiative, and also reported this week, none addresses outsourcing.

In fact, the study concludes that "there is a need to assess how much can be taken on internal to government (given current capacity and capabilities) and to creatively engage the private sector to bring global expertise and to fill the gap in capacity and capabilities." In effect, the report promotes more not less contracting out. Is anyone surprised anymore that private-sector consultants would recommend more of what has been demonstrably bad for the public service?

The current government continues to rely far too heavily on outsourcing to provide IT services that ought to be handled by the public service – whether email consolidation, website amalgamation, the construction of new IT cloud-based services, or Phoenix. In fact, the surprise is not that the outsourcing of pay modernization (i.e., Phoenix) was so poorly handled, but that it was allowed to go ahead at all and against the warnings of so many, including, prior to its roll-out, unions like our own.

In response to Radio-Canada’s and CBC’s revelations this week, Parliamentary Secretary Steven MacKinnon was quoted saying, “We will fix this problem to everyone’s satisfaction and we will fix it using public employees.”

Words to live by. Words to live by.

Debi Daviau
President

Fellow members,

In light of the Phoenix fiasco and as part of a commitment made to bargaining agents to make it easier for their members to obtain information about their pay, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSCPC) has just released its Pay Bulletin for September. It can be found at:

http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/remuneration-compensation/services-paye-pay-services/centre-presse-media-centre/bulletin-paye-pay-bulletin/index-eng.html

The Bulletin contains information on topics of importance to our members, such as how to access and understand pay stubs, the status of retroactive payments, and how to get help with Phoenix-related pay issues.

Better Together!

Debi Daviau,
President

Fellow members,

The Institute has just filed two new policy grievances on Phoenix-related issues, accusing the Treasury Board of failing to implement the terms of the AV and SP Group collective agreements within the specified timeframe (120 and 90 days respectively).

This includes but is not necessarily limited to the implementation of our members’ Annual Rates of Pay.

The Institute is asking the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) to order the Treasury Board to immediately implement the terms of the AV and SP collective agreements, and to compensate employees for all losses, financial or otherwise, resulting from the breach of the agreements.

This past May, the Institute filed two other policy grievances on Phoenix-related matters. The first accused the Employer of continuously violating the terms of our collective agreements since the implementation of the new pay system. The second grieved the Employer’s problems paying disability benefits and maternity/parental leave benefits as violations of our collective agreements and the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA). Both grievances have yet to be heard by the FPSLREB.

These actions are in line with PIPSC’s ongoing commitment to help resolve once and for all the completely unacceptable problems caused by the Phoenix pay system and experienced by thousands of its members.

Debi Daviau
President