On July 26, 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new cabinet. This highly anticipated shuffle is Trudeau’s largest one since October 2021, and a new Treasury Board President has been appointed.

PIPSC is eager to welcome the Honourable Anita Anand as the new Treasury Board President. There’s a lot to get done, and we’re ready to get to work. We are looking forward to a more collaborative approach from the employer.

PIPSC members have been working tirelessly to support this government during the most unprecedented times but they have also been continuously undermined. We urge Minister Anand to commit to collaborative efforts with unions, and to work to build a more modern and inclusive workplace within the federal government.

PIPSC represents over 72,000 public service professionals working for the federal government as well as some provincial departments and agencies. We are better together and we are ready to work with all newly appointed ministers to rectify the key issues our members are dealing with. As they settle into their new roles, we hope to continue making strides on the following points:

• Prompt correction of on-going pay errors due to Phoenix, which have plagued our members for 7 years
• A review of the return-to-office (RTO) orders to focus on 'presence with purpose’
• Pay rates that reflect the value of public servants’ work and the skyrocketing cost of living
• Recognition and respect for expertise and professional roles our members play
• Reducing outsourcing within the federal government
• Address critical shortage of health care professionals including Northern nurses
• And more

Although we’ve had some setbacks with the hasty return-to-office order and witnessed the largest strike in Canadian history, we wish the Honourable Mona Fortier well in continuing to serve her constituents in Ottawa–Vanier.

PIPSC thanks all the ministers for their impactful work in their previous roles. We are looking forward to also working with Ministers Jean-Yves Duclos (Public Services and Procurement) and Marie-Claude Bibeau (National Revenue) as they transition into their new roles.

In a long-awaited and unequivocal decision, the federal Pay Equity Commissioner has ruled in favour of all the unions that opposed Treasury Board's June 2022 request for a multiple pay equity plan.

The pay equity exercise for some 252,000 employees will have to be carried out by comparing all female-predominant job classes with male-predominant classes, regardless of whether the job is within the same bargaining unit or not.

Originally, Treasury Board had requested authorization from Commissioner Straznicky to divide job categories into three distinct plans:

• Public Service Alliance of Canada
• The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
• All other unions and unrepresented employees.

Had it been granted, such authorization would have limited the comparison of the female job categories represented by the Institute to the male job categories also represented by PIPSC.

It should be remembered that the purpose of pay equity legislation is to correct the wage gap between men and women by ensuring that the total remuneration of predominantly female jobs is compared with equivalent predominantly male jobs. 

By forcing Treasury Board to create a single-pay equity committee, the committee will be able to ensure that it is not limited in its choice of male comparator jobs, and select those that are most appropriate, regardless of its original accreditation.

This is a major victory for the recognition of work performed mainly by women, and the first step towards closing the wage gap that still persists!

It’s with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague, Martine Lacroix.

Martine passed away on June 11, 2023 at 61 years old.

Martine was a dedicated union member. Before her retirement, Martine worked as a nurse within Correctional Services Canada (CSC) and was a steward for many years.  During those years, she contributed to the dynamism and vitality of the union as a member of the Quebec Regional Executive and of the Regional Training Committee. She was also an active member of the CSC union-management consultation team. 

Martine will be dearly missed. The Institute extends its condolences to Martine’s family, friends, colleagues, and fellow union members. 

The Lacroix family welcomes you to pay your respects on Sunday, July 2, 2023 from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Magnus Poirier Funeral Home located at 2480 Boul. du Curé-Labelle, Prévost, QC J0R 1T0.

Donations to the Canadian Cancer Society will be collected in Martine's honour. 

Sympathy wishes can be sent online.

Ottawa, June 15, 2023 – More than one-third of public service professionals are so unhappy with the government's one-size-fits-all return to office order that they are considering leaving their roles. For workers under 30 – a demographic most concerned with cost of living, childcare and the environment – that number jumps to almost 50%.

“When nearly one in five members of the federal public service is over the age of 55, approaching retirement age, we cannot afford to lose half of our youngest workers,” said PIPSC President Jennifer Carr. “The government won’t be able to deliver the services Canadians rely on if it’s not able to address the major recruitment and retention problem it’s created with its own flawed return to office policy. These numbers add up to a public service in peril.”

In his statement in support of National Public Service Week this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is supporting the career development of Indigenous, Black, and racialized employees, and building an inclusive and equitable public service. But workers who identify as Black are more than twice as likely to be concerned with discrimination and harassment now that they have been ordered back to the office. 

People with Disabilities are also twice as likely to be concerned with discrimination and harassment in the office, and more than twice as likely to report that their workstations do not meet their needs. Seventy percent said that their mental well-being has gotten worse as a result of not being able to work remotely. 

The RTO policy also puts an increased burden on women workers, who are more likely to be balancing caregiving responsibilities at home – often responsible for both their children and their aging parents. More than half of women report their caregiving responsibilities have gotten worse under RTO. 

“This government claims it wants to prioritize recruiting younger workers, workers with disabilities, Black workers, and women,” said Carr. “But at the same time, they are implementing an RTO policy that makes it harder for these groups to be successful in the workplace.”

PIPSC believes in the principle of “presence with purpose” – being at the office when justified by operational needs. The union continues to advocate for what was originally promised by the government: a hybrid-by-design approach that considers employees’ unique circumstances and job requirements. 

“Flexibility is now the centerpiece of a modern and progressive workplace,” said Carr. “Our union is ready to work with the government to develop policies that make sense.” 

In May 2023, PIPSC conducted an online survey of more than 68,000 of its members working for Federal Departments or Agencies, to assess how the members feel after returning to the office. More than 17% responded to the survey.

PIPSC represents over 72,000 public service professionals working for the federal government as well as some provincial departments and agencies.

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For more information: Johanne Fillion, 613-883-4900 (mobile), jfillion@pipsc.ca

Ottawa, June 12, 2023 – Today is the first day of National Public Service Week, a time meant to “recognize the value of the services rendered by federal public service employees.” But recent data pulled from a survey of members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) shows that the majority of these employees are not feeling valued – particularly when it comes to Return To Office (RTO) policies. 

“Six months into the implementation of a one-size-fits-all return to office order, our members report that the policy has undermined their productivity, increased their cost of living, forced them to waste time in traffic – and it hasn’t improved collaboration,” said PIPSC President Jennifer Carr. 

Seventy percent of survey respondents reported being dissatisfied with how RTO policies were implemented – citing issues like the commuting time and cost, work-life balance, and environmental impacts as top concerns. 

And contrary to the Treasury Board’s rationale behind the order, positive outcomes are hard to identify. Sixty-one percent of respondents said productivity has gotten worse, and most respondents said the impact on collaboration is at best neutral. 

Furthermore, 80% of meetings are still happening virtually. 

“Public service professionals have been ordered into an office to be part of a Zoom or Teams call they could have dialed into from home,” said Carr. “The proposed benefits of returning to the office are nowhere to be found.”

One key issue is that, in spite of having been issued a RTO directive, the majority of federal employees no longer have dedicated offices to return to – in fact, 65% of respondents are still sharing workstations. 

“At PIPSC we support the principle of “presence with purpose”: being at the office when justified by operational needs. We continue to advocate for what was promised: a hybrid-by-design approach that considers employees’ unique circumstances and job requirements,” said Carr. “It’s time for the government to work with us and develop a modern workplace that includes flexible work arrangements, properly equipped work spaces, and a high priority on health and safety.”

PIPSC represents over 72,000 public service professionals working for the federal government as well as some provincial departments and agencies. In May 2023, PIPSC conducted an online survey of more than 68,000 of its members working for Federal Departments or Agencies, to assess how the members feel after returning to the office. More than 17% responded to the survey.

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For more information: Johanne Fillion, 613-883-4900 (mobile), jfillion@pipsc.ca

National Public Service Week begins on June 11, and we have a lot of things to shine a light on this year – particularly the hard work of PIPSC members delivering important public services from coast to coast to coast.

I have been so proud to see you all continue to go above and beyond for Canadians during what continues to be such a difficult and unusual time. And I was deeply moved by your demonstrations of incredible solidarity towards your fellow public servants on picket lines across the country.

For National Public Service Week, we will be celebrating all of that and more. 

We’ll be teeing up these celebrations with a series of Telephone Town Halls. On these calls, we’ll discuss the outcomes of the recent PSAC strike, get an update from our Labour Relations team on the bargaining landscape, and have a question and answer session to give me a chance to hear from you. 

Joining the town hall will be easy – all you have to do is answer the phone when we call.

The schedule for these Telephone Town Halls is:

• English East Coast Call - June 5 at 6pm Eastern Time 
• French East Coast Call - June 6 at 6pm EasternTime
• West Coast Call - June 7 at 5pm Pacific Time

If we don’t have your number – or if you miss our call – you can connect by dialing 877-229-8493 and entering ID Code 112851.

You can also tune in to the livestream at this link.

Thank you so much for all of the agility and dedication you have shown this year. I know we have a lot to talk about.

I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say.

PIPSC President Jennifer Carr has released the following statement:

I am proud to see that union activism has moved Canada’s largest employer to offer a better deal to PSAC workers. The improvements made to this deal will benefit every worker in this country - public or private, unionized or unrepresented. 

The federal government tried to force PSAC to accept an offer that was not only bad for PSAC workers, but bad for workers everywhere. But PSAC workers fought back – for all of us. And they secured a better deal. 

For PIPSC members, the fight for a better deal continues. We will pursue our members’ priorities at our negotiation tables. I’m proud of the solidarity shown by PIPSC members marching alongside their PSAC colleagues on those historic picket lines. The same energy will carry us forward as we continue our negotiations in the months ahead. 

The PSAC strike at Canada Revenue Agency continues while the two sides negotiate. We continue to stand in solidarity with our Union of Taxation Employees colleagues until they have reached a fair deal. 

I also thank the Canadian public for their show of support to striking workers. Canadians defied the expectations of certain politicians and commentators, showing a strong level of support for public service workers’ demands - from fair wages to remote and flexible work options. The growing solidarity among workers from all sectors sends a strong message to all employers that Canada’s workers expect a fair deal that respects their contributions to our economy.