While PIPSC, alongside our union partners at the National Joint Council Dental Care Board of Management, is still negotiating hard to improve the majority of our members’ dental plan (NJC Component 55555), I am very pleased to announce that we have nailed down the following significant improvements, effective January 1, 2019. The major and minor changes to the plans starting next month are as follows:

Major changes

The annual maximum coverage for routine and major services will increase 47%. The increase will be phased in from the current maximum of $1,700 per year to:

• $2,000 per year starting January 1, 2019;
• $2,250 per year starting January 1, 2020; and
• $2,500 per year starting January 1, 2021.

In addition,

• Dental implants will be covered in their own right. (Currently, implants are partially covered by deeming them to be another procedure, i.e., a bridge or dentures. This has often led to gaps in, or problems with, coverage.)
• Coverage for replacement fillings for children will be possible 12 months after the initial filling is done (instead of 24 months).
• Congenitally missing teeth will be covered until age 21 (up from age 19).
• Coverage during suspensions is improved.
• An allowable break in service to become eligible for the plan is extended from 5 to 7 days.  
• The new plan allows coverage for extra scaling to be approved retroactively. (Currently, this may only be approved in advance.)

Minor changes

• Charges for oral hygiene instructions will now be limited to once per lifetime per adult (and remain once per year for children).
• Coverage is eliminated for minor issues such as:
  • The assistance of a second oral surgeon.
  • Dental professional peer consultation.
  • Trauma control if done at the same time as treatment for caries or pain control.
  • Enlargement of the canal or pulp chamber as a part of dental treatment separate from doing a root canal.

For clarification on any of these plan changes please contact Dejan Toncic at dtoncic@pipsc.ca.

Better Together,

Debi Daviau
President

On October 29th the Federal Government announced proactive pay equity legislation which would require federally regulated workplaces to examine their compensation practices and ensure that women and men receive equal pay for equal work. PIPSC President Debi Daviau along with CLC President Hassan Yussuf shared their analysis of this legislation on PrimeTime Politics. President Debi Daviau emphasized the importance and urgency of this legislation as well as the need for adequate consultation to ensure effective implementation. Further, the President said her organization is confident the government, as an employer, "will show the way to all the private ones." 

See the full response from the labour movement as PIPSC President Debi Daviau, CLC President Hassan Yussuf, PSAC President Chris Aylward and Johanne Perron of the Pay Equity Coalition provide comments in a press conference following the legislative announcement.

On November 20, workplaces and communities across Canada and around the world will take the time to observe Transgender Day of Remembrance and commemorate those individuals who have lost their lives or faced violence and discrimination due to transphobia. It is also a time to consider the harassment and discrimination trans people face, and what we must do to eliminate it.

PIPSC encourages members to join commemorative events in their communities.

Note members are attending the Ottawa ceremony all in the region are welcome.

It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Iris Craig November 4, 2018. 

One of the Institute’s longest-serving Presidents, Iris Craig was first elected President on January 1, 1986 and retired on December 31, 1993. At that time, PIPSC represented 34,000 members under 52 separate occupational groups under 13 different employers.

Iris led PIPSC during difficult times when the public service was cut back to mid-1970s levels, and the government threatened to cut 2,000 jobs for every 1% gained at the bargaining table.

On the day the House of Commons resumed in September 1990, 20,000 public service employees converged on Parliament Hill to protest the government’s back-to-work and wage freeze legislation. In 1991, the CS group and the 4,000 members of the Auditing Group (who had just joined PIPSC in 1988) went on strike.

Under Iris’ leadership, the Institute lobbied for the creation of National Public Service Week in 1992.  

Under the theme, “Dialogue with Canadians,” a series of pamphlets, “They Work for You”—profiling the work of individual PIPSC members in different occupations – was published and distributed to every Canadian university, public library, and Member of Parliament.   

Appointed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to the Advisory Committee on the Public Service Superannuation Act, Iris defended members’ pensions as the Act was reviewed.

For several years, Iris presented an annual report, “Dialogue with Parliament,” to the federal government, which covered such issues as public service cuts, outsourcing, public science, pensions, pay equity, whistleblowing, and deprofessionalization of the public service. 

Iris championed members’ interests on pay equity, the regressive public service reform “PS 2000,” threats to the Superannuation Act, the government’s Universal Job Evaluation Plan, and many other challenges.

Before becoming President, Iris served as Vice-President for nine years and as Finance Chair for eight years.

Iris worked as a biologist at Agriculture Canada for 25 years. Her work involved fundamental and applied research in plant breeding on cereal crops, and her research was published in many scientific journals.

Active in the community, Iris served on the Board of Governors of Carleton University and the Board of Directors of the United Way for many years.

The Institute extends its condolences to Iris’ family and to the many friends and colleagues who were privileged to know her.

Condolences and memories can be expressed online.

Funeral services for Iris Craig will take place on Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 2 p.m. at the Capital Funeral Home, 3700 Prince of Wales Drive, Nepean, Ontario. Visitation: 12:30 p.m. November 10, 2018.

ServicePlus is pleased to announce our new partnership with GoodLife Fitness. For details and to start saving, visit ServicePlus.

The news last week that the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has won major improvements to its members’ dental plan has prompted many PIPSC members to ask if they can soon expect similar improvements.

PIPSC and PSAC negotiate with the federal government separately. While no PIPSC agreement has yet been reached, we hope the conclusion of the PSAC agreement will now allow us and other unions to successfully negotiate an agreement of our own.

With PIPSC in the lead, we are negotiating the dental plan in conjunction with other federal public service unions through the National Joint Council's Dental Board.

We will be certain to inform all affected members as soon as an agreement is reached.

On September 19^th the federal government officially began the process to replace Phoenix. Scott Brison, Treasury Board president, announced a procurement process to plan, design and purchase a new system suggesting a Spring 2019 implementation.

PIPSC has been pushing to replace Phoenix for almost a year and began working with the federal government in June to find an appropriate and reliable replacement.

“We've been calling to nix Phoenix and push the government to replace it with a pay system that works. I'm glad to see that our hard work is finally paying off and we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm also encouraged to hear Minister Brison refer to specific timelines for the selection of a new system," stated PIPSC President Debi Daviau. "Of course, the job is not done until everyone is reliably paid. In the interim, we would like the government to fully explore all potential solutions, like the CAS system at the Canada Revenue Agency. The existing CAS system could be deployed to pay public service employees more quickly and take pressure off the existing system.”

PIPSC continues to advocate for an urgent replacement of the Phoenix system by working with and pushing the government forward, winning the support of Canadians, as well as making the voices of PIPSC members heard.

You can read more about the September 19 Procurement day here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-potential-replacements-for-phoenix-pay-system-to-start-testing-soon/

Learn more about how you can join the campaign to nix Phoenix visit: https://action.pipsc.ca/nixphoenix.

Candidate Profiles for the PIPSC 2018 National Election are now available!

Voting will be open for the PIPSC National Election in just under a month.Take this opportunity to learn about the diverse and talented members who are running for PIPSC leadership this year.

Members will be voting to elect the PIPSC President, Vice-Presidents (full and part-time) and Regional Directors.

PIPSC continues the fight to nix Phoenix and to insist on viable solutions proposed by our membership. 2018 collective bargaining is also kicking into high gear. The upcoming election of the PIPSC Board of Directors is the opportunity for members to choose the leadership who will see PIPSC all through these challenges and the next three years.

Be sure to get to know your 2018 PIPSC National Election candidates!

All members will receive a ballot between October 12th to 15th and the voting period will be open until November 2nd at 12:00 PM ET. Visit the National Elections page for more information.

Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) is an annual national public education campaign coordinated by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) designed to help open the eyes of Canadians to the reality of mental illness.

Mental illness affects more than six million people across the country about one in five Canadians. (http://www.camimh.ca/mental-illness-awareness-week/about-miaw/) This week is an opportunity to shine a light on the stigmatization of mental illness and work to create a society where it is easy for people with mental illness to seek the help they need. Mental Illness Awareness Week seeks to highlight the hidden significant burden mental illness places on us all.

In order to raise awareness and decrease stigmatization, MIAW has shared Faces of Mental Illness featuring personal stories from individuals living with mental illness.

The PIPSC Mental Health Resource Guide is available as a resource. This Guide is a comprehensive tool-kit that will help you recognize the signs of mental illness, provides advice on starting these difficult conversations and includes information on where to access resources for support. We all have a role to play in break down stigma and making it easier for all of us to seek support for mental illness.

This week, Canadians marked our first Gender Equality Week. On June 21^st, 2018 Bill C-309 was passed legislating the fourth week in September as Canada’s annual Gender Equality Week.

The theme, “Everyone Benefits”, highlights the benefits that people of all genders enjoy when gender equality increases. Fairness, economic prosperity, health, happiness, peace, security and limitless possibilities are among the many benefits of gender equality promoted by the Government of Canada. Read more here: https://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/commemoration/gew-ses/about-apropos-en.html.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents 57,000 professionals across Canada's public sector, over 40% of whom are women, and the vast majority of whom work in the federal public service.

The right of women to equal pay for work of equal value with men has been reinforced by Canada's ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights instruments as well as by the Canadian Human Rights Act currently.

For nearly a decade, however, there's been a void in pay equity in the federal public service amongst its relatively higher percentage of unionized and increasingly female workforce. This translates for us into an urgent need for pay equity legislation that will provide true, proactive, and timely means to implement pay equity and operate in a manner consistent with, amongst other things, existing human rights obligations, lessons learned from past experience, and pay equity jurisprudence. It is the Institute's view that a proactive federal pay equity regime is a critical, albeit overdue, step in Canada's progress towards a fair and functional labour sector.

The Canadian Labour Congress also joined with PIPSC and women’s organizations across the country to call for an end to the gender pay gap in Canada.

“One of the most persistent barriers to gender equality in Canada is the gender wage gap. Women make up almost half of the Canadian workforce, yet women overall make 32% less than men. Women of colour, Indigenous women, and women with a disability (or who have any combination of these characteristics), earn even less than their white, able-bodied counterparts,” 

CLC President Hassan Yussuff points out in an editorial piece for the Toronto Sun. (https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/yussuff-time-for-government-to-walk-the-walk-on-pay-equity). The CLC is calling for the Federal Government to create an autonomous commissioner focused on pay equity that would be led by the Pay Equity Commission.

In the case of Indigenous women in Canada the pay gap is the most severe. Indigenous women in Canada earn 63 cents for every dollar earned by a non-indigenous man. (https://www.canadianwomen.org/the-facts/the-wage-gap/) This Gender Equality Week, the Native Women’s Association of Canada is calling for the inclusion of Indigenous women in the public discussion of gender equality in Canada.