For Immediate Release
University of Ottawa IT Professionals (UOITP) considering possible job action this week
Ottawa, September 11, 2017 – University of Ottawa Information Technology Professionals (UOITP) represented by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) will be studying their options this week as a mediator tries to resolve a weeks-long impasse at the bargaining table.
For Immediate Release
Labour Day 2017: Labouring to Fix Phoenix
Ottawa, September 1, 2017 – Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) members attending this year's Labour Day parade* in downtown Ottawa will be encouraging the public and the labour movement to show their solidarity for public servants hurt by the Phoenix pay roll system. PIPSC’s float – a modified bus – will encourage the Labour Day crowd to "Get on board with fixing Phoenix," which has plagued public servants since it was rolled out in early 2016.
“Late pay, no pay, wrong pay. Our members are understandably in a less than festive mood. One in two federal employees is affected and there’s still no permanent fix in sight,” said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “Public servants never know what is next on the horizon when it comes to Phoenix. Our members deserve to know when its problems are going to be fixed once and for all.”
Some efforts are being made to improve the situation, such as the creation of an “Inter-Department Analysis Team” which will include representatives from various departments, the Treasury Board, vendors and unions. Improvements to the Call Centres are also welcome. But these efforts still fall short of the mark, as new problems with Phoenix continue to emerge. Most recently, issues with retroactive pay and the lack of pension and benefit statements for the year cast doubt on a quick fix.
“We recognize the government’s efforts to address these issues, but much more needs to be done to resolve these problems once and for all, and soon. Our public service was recently recognized as the best in the world. We need to keep it that way. A critical way to ensure it is to fix Phoenix,” concluded Daviau.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 55,000 professionals across Canada’s federal and provincial public sectors.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc).
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For further information:
Pierre Villon
(613) 228-6310 ext 4928 (office)
or (613) 794-9369 (cell.)
pvillon@pipsc.ca
(*) Parade starts at Ottawa City Hall (Elgin and Lisgar) at noon and ends at McNabb Park (Gladstone and Bronson), where there will be activities, entertainment, food and more from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
For Immediate Release
CRA GTA modernisation plan risks harming staff and service, says PIPSC
Ottawa, August 2, 2017 – Canada Revenue Agency’s plan to centre the expertise of its Greater Toronto Area (GTA) operations within four different locations risks harming staff recruitment and retention as well as taxpayer services, says the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).
For Immediate Release
Ottawa, May 1, 2017 – Following the government’s announcement earlier this year that civilian members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will be deemed to be appointed under the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) in April 2018, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) has submitted an application to the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board (PSLREB) to become the bargaining agent for some 1,360 of these employees whose primary duties fall within one of the bargaining units for which PIPSC is the certified bargaining agent.
This would allow these RCMP employees to be protected by a union and to have official representatives working on their behalf as soon as possible.
While there are some differences between the terms and conditions of employment for civilian RCMP members and their counterparts in the federal public service, PIPSC has taken steps to ensure its future members' rights are protected and terms and conditions preserved as they transition into the public service.
“We look forward to welcoming these new members into our community of dedicated professionals who serve Canadians every day. We believe we will be stronger together”, said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “Our goal is to ensure that they maintain their current terms and conditions of employment and that the deeming process goes as smoothly as possible as they transition to occupational groups represented by the Institute”.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 55,000 professionals across Canada’s federal and provincial public sectors.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc).
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For further information:
Pierre Villon
(613) 228-6310 ext 4928 (office)
or (613) 794-9369 (cell.)
pvillon@pipsc.ca
Press Release
Ottawa, April 28, 2017 – Representatives from several public service unions reacted cautiously yesterday to the creation of a government working group to tackle the Phoenix pay system.
The “Working Group of Ministers on Achieving Steady State for the Pay System”, will be chaired by Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and comprises several cabinet ministers, including Finance, Treasury Board and Public Services.
Public Service Alliance of Canada President, Robyn Benson, said that “PSAC welcomes any announcement from the government aimed at fixing Phoenix. We appreciate that the government is finally taking these problems seriously, but we need to see some action.” She added that public service employees need a system that pays them accurately and on time. “We have yet to see a timeline for when that will happen.”
“This announcement is the result of constant lobbying by public service unions on behalf of their members,” added Debi Daviau, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. “In the last federal budget, the government failed to respond to our request to pledge $75 million to help fix Phoenix. While this is not new money, the $70 million per year for the next two years that they have now committed to Phoenix is welcome news. We will continue to make sure that they spend that money to fix the system.”
Union representatives will work closely with this ministerial working group on Phoenix and will remind the government that it must compensate affected employees for pain and suffering, and compensate them for loss of interest as a result of delayed pay.
According to André Picotte, acting president at the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, “the Phoenix fiasco is the result of plan that did not take the interests of the public service employees to heart.
For his part, Jason Godin, president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers – CSN said: “We want to be positive and believe that this new initiative to settle Phoenix will be the right one, but we remain cautious. We still have new cases that pop up every two weeks, so it's hard to be very enthusiastic at the moment”.
Finally, public service unions also demand that the government commit to three things: hire more staff with full access to Phoenix in order to respond to the requests made by employees; hire permanent, not temporary, staff at the call centres who have the training and support to help our members and; keep the satellite pay centres open until all problems with Phoenix have been resolved.
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The 18 bargaining agents of the federal public service employees are:
For information:
Pierre Lebel, CAPE
plebel@acep-cape.ca
613-236-9181, ext 263 or 613-889-1027
Jonathan Choquette, PSAC
choquej@psac-afpc.com
819-773-2511
Johanne Fillion, PIPSC
jfillion@pipsc.ca
613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900
Katerine Desgroseilliers, CSN
Katerine.Desgroseilliers@csn.qc.ca
514-598-2163 or 514-265-4250
For Immediate release
OTTAWA, April 27, 2017 - The announcement today that the federal government will reallocate $140 million over two years to ensure federal employees affected by the Phoenix payroll system are properly paid is a welcome, if long overdue, commitment to fix Phoenix once and for all, says the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).
"We advocated for a special $75 million reserve fund in the current budget, so this shows the government is finally taking the severity of our members' concerns seriously," said PIPSC President Debi Daviau.
"We're also gratified to see that the government has agreed to reimburse charges for tax advisory services incurred by members due to Phoenix problems. This, after all, is only fair," Daviau added.
"It remains to be seen, however, how effective the government will be in controlling payroll errors in the future,” she added. “We’ve argued for a long time that overreliance on outsourced services – including introduction of the Phoenix payroll software and continued reliance on IBM – programs government functions to fail. We hope the ministerial working group also announced today takes these concerns seriously.”
PIPSC represents some 55,000 public-sector professionals across the country, most of them employed by the federal government.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc)
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For further information:
Johanne Fillion (613) 228-6310 ext 2303 (office) or (613) 883-4900 (cell.), jfillion@pipsc.ca.
For Immediate Release
Ottawa, March 22, 2017 – The federal government announcement that it is investing $529.9 million more to crack down on tax evasion and avoidance by hiring new auditors is good news for tax fairness, but the government’s much-heralded “innovation” budget is lacking in needed, strategic investments in more science staff, says the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). What’s more, the government continues to be slow in reducing the billions of dollars currently spent on outsourced services, and has offered no new money to resolve ongoing Phoenix Pay problems, despite union calls to do so.
“The new investments in the CRA will help make sure billionaires and corporations pay their fair share,” said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “But after years of job and program cuts under the Harper government, at least 1,500 science jobs still need to be reinstated to maintain adequate service levels and restore important expertise.
“Reducing the approximately $12 billion annually now spent on outsourced public services would simultaneously strengthen public services and cut down on corporate profits made at taxpayers’ expense,” added Daviau. “The government earlier promised to shrink expenses on outside consultants to 2005-06 levels within 10 years. We feel this can – and should – be done within its current mandate.”
“We are of course disappointed the government has chosen not to invest further in fixing the Phoenix Pay problem once and for all,” concluded Daviau, “surely one of the darkest – and longest – chapters in mismanagement of the federal public service. The silence on Phoenix is deafening.”
PIPSC represents some 55,000 public-sector scientists and other professionals across the country, most of them employed by the federal government.
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc)
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For further information:
Johanne Fillion (613) 228-6310 ext 2303 (office) or (613) 883-4900 (cell.)
e-mail.
OTTAWA, February 23, 2017 – On the first anniversary of Phoenix, the three largest federal public service unions are urging the government to include a $75 million Phoenix contingency fund in the upcoming federal budget.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) say the funds are critical to help ensure federal public service workers are paid correctly and on-time.
“Our members are growing increasingly frustrated with this situation. If departments don’t have the proper resources, pay problems will never be resolved,” said Chris Aylward, PSAC National Executive Vice-President. “The solution to the Phoenix debacle needs to go beyond the technological fixes. This fund will broaden the capacity of departments to address the challenges they are facing as a result of the new pay system.”
The unions have been working with the government to help fix Phoenix and find solutions to its numerous problems. Through this work, it has become clear that federal departments and agencies need more staff and training to deal with Phoenix. The $75 million contingency fund will give departments and agencies the resources they need to do this.
“It’s quite clear that Phoenix has not been the boon to either efficiency or cost savings it was intended to be,” added PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “Budgeting more money to address the system’s continued failings is the least the government should do after a year with this problem-plagued system. Our members and Canadians need Phoenix fixed."
“Our members have shown remarkable patience in regards to the Phoenix Pay problems; that’s a testament to how deeply our members care about the work they do on behalf of Canadians,” said CAPE Acting President André Picotte. “As a union, we’ve helped guide our members towards solutions, but ultimately it’s the government that has the power to fix this problem once and for all.”
The unions are also encouraging their members to participate in a variety of actions in order to draw attention to the one-year anniversary, such as contacting their MPs and writing to the Prime Minister.
For more information:
Véronique Breton, PSAC, 343-560-8882 or bretonv@psac.com
Johanne Fillion, PIPSC, 613-883-4900 or jfillion@pipsc.ca
Ben René, CAPE, 613-406-5962 or brene@acep-cape.ca
For Immediate Release
OTTAWA, February 21, 2017 – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) will hold a joint press conference to mark the first anniversary of Phoenix and make an announcement.
Thursday, February 23
1:00 PM ET
Press Conference with Chris Aylward, PSAC National Executive Vice-President, Debi Daviau, PIPSC President and a representative from CAPE.
Charles Lynch Room, 130-S Centre Block
House of Commons
PSAC, PIPSC and CAPE represent over 240,000 federal government employees.
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For further information:
Véronique Breton, PSAC, (343) 540-8882 (cell), BretonV@psac-afpc.com
Johanne Fillion, PIPSC, (613) 883-4900 (cell), jfillion@pipsc.ca