The vaccination is our best shot at getting out of this pandemic, and we can’t keep our federal frontline health care workers waiting any longer.

Unfortunately, many federal frontline health care workers are falling through the cracks of provincial vaccination calendars. In some jurisdictions, workers are waiting for vaccines to be available based on their age category, without consideration for their job’s risk factor.  In others, federal workers are being excluded from provincial priority vaccinations for essential workers. Outside of health care, critical federal professionals that must congregate around specialized equipment, like our meteorologists who faced a COVID-19 workplace outbreak last year, were not even included on the government’s priority list. The Treasury Board needs to take responsibility for the safety of their frontline workers by ensuring that they are quickly vaccinated.

PIPSC President Debi Daviau wrote to the President of the Treasury Board, Jean-Yves Duclos, to express these concerns about federal nurses, physiotherapists and other frontline health care workers who are still excluded from their local vaccination programs.

READ THE LETTER

We urge the Treasury Board to take the required leadership to ensure that frontline federal health care workers are vaccinated as quickly as possible. Protecting the health and safety of workers is a responsibility that cannot be passed off to provincial or territorial health agencies. As an employer, they must take responsibility for their employees’ vaccinations if they are in regular contact with clients, colleagues, or the public, or if they are critical for frontline operations.

We are exploring different options to resolve this issue. If you have concerns about the vaccination timetable for your age group and region, contact your PIPSC steward, or use our COVID-19 help form.

GET COVID-19 HELP 

The Premier of New Brunswick wants a one-year wage freeze and three years with only a 1% annual increase for public servants.

Wages and salaries should be determined through a process of good-faith bargaining. Imposing unilateral salary rates through the legislature is a violation of our members’ Charter rights. We will work with all other bargaining agents to push back against any such attempt.

Public service workers have worked hard to see the province through this pandemic. They deserve respect and a fair deal, not a unilateral imposition of new rates of pay by the Premier.

Premier Higgs has said these cuts are in preparation for cuts in funding from the federal government however federal funding remains stable at this time. Federal leaders have repeatedly stated publicly that austerity is not the solution to COVID-19 related economic downturns.

The provincial opposition members have suggested that Premier Higgs is taking this opportunity to forward his own agenda and implement unnecessary cuts to public service wages.

A wage freeze and years with only a 1% wage increase mean that our members will be earning less over time as their incomes will not even keep up with the cost of living.

This one-year salary freeze has already been implemented for non-unionized public servants in New Brunswick.

We are working with all other bargaining agents to push back against this wage freeze.

During the first wave of the pandemic, asymptomatic hospital employees who were required to self-isolate because of a suspected COVID-19 exposure were provided leave with pay.

Now, these same hospital staff are being forced to take leave without pay or other forms of leave, like vacation.

It is abhorrent to penalize essential service workers required to self-isolate to protect the hospital workforce and their patients during a global pandemic.

PIPSC President Daviau has written to the Ontario Minister of Health, the Ontario Hospital Association and the Chief Executive Officers of the provincial health care institutions where our members work – making clear that this change in leave with pay provisions is unacceptable.

If you are an Ontario hospital worker required to self-isolate due to possible COVID-19 exposure and you are not being provided leave with pay please get in touch with us now for support.

 Get union support

At this time, leave is being evaluated on a case-by-case basis. This type of management discretion guarantees inconsistencies and inequity, adding another layer of distress for thousands of workers, mainly women, who are Canada’s first-line responders to the pandemic crisis.

This is an unacceptable way to treat essential hospital workers.

We are calling on the government to reverse this decision and find a suitable solution allowing paid leave to continue to be used by our members in these exceptionally difficult circumstances.

We will provide more information to our members as we receive responses from the Minister of Health and hospital managers.

COVID-19 continues to put unprecedented stress on members like you. As the number of cases continues to rise across the country, balancing work and life responsibilities remains difficult. Many Canadians are now facing a new series of school and childcare closures. 

Yet, the Treasury Board has made it more difficult for members to access ‘Other Leave with Pay (Code 699),' granted in our collective agreements.

PIPSC has filed a series of policy grievances against the Treasury Board’s guidelines for the use of Code 699 – following similar actions by fellow federal public sector bargaining agents. In addition to filing these grievances, we are keeping up the pressure in consultations with the employer on weekly calls with the Treasury Board and in COVID-19 labour relations meetings. We have also written to the Minister of Finance and the Minister for the Status of Women asking for them to intervene given these changes to Code 699 we see as disproportionately impacting women and other caregivers.

In November, we surveyed our members to understand how they’ve accessed Code 699 and other types of leave to manage with caregiving responsibilities or if they cannot access their work equipment to do their job. In the preliminary results, the vast majority of our members who accessed Code 699 since the pandemic began identified that it was for childcare duties. Of those members, the majority were women. 

The Treasury Board’s new guidelines leave it up to individual managers who may force employees to exhaust other forms of leave, such as vacation, sick leave, or leave without pay, inappropriately. As our survey has found, this is a discriminatory change that will have a larger impact on women, and caregivers, in the public service. 

The pandemic continues to wreak havoc – we must ensure those who need to access it are provided with fair access. We must protect those who are vulnerable to discrimination.

Get the help you need

If you have been denied access to Code 699 or forced to use inappropriate leave such as vacation, sick leave, or leave without pay, please reach out for support: 

COVID-19 HELP FORM

In its November 30, 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the government announced a simplified tax process for Canadians claiming home office expenses:

“The CRA will allow employees working from home in 2020 due to COVID-19 with modest expenses to claim up to $400, based on the amount of time working from home, without the need to track detailed expenses, and will generally not request that people provide a signed form from their employers.” (Fall Economic Statement, section 4.8.3)

The CRA has provided more information about the simplified process for claiming the home office expenses for Canadians working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tens of thousands of PIPSC members who have been working from their homes since March may incur substantially more than $400 in expenses in the 2020 fiscal year. For this reason and until more details are provided by the CRA, members should continue to save their receipts and track work-related expenses. Proper accounting of these expenses is essential should additional tax measures be announced in the future. Please remember, employees must seek prior approval before purchasing work-related equipment. The Treasury Board has published guidelines on which telework tools can be provided and on the procedures to request them.

We will communicate more information to our members on this important matter as it becomes available.

On November 2, National Joint Council bargaining agents sent a strongly worded letter to Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos expressing their anger over the recent introduction of new guidelines on the use of “Other Leave With Pay (699)”.  

This is our third letter to senior government ministers on this issue over the past few weeks. We first brought it to their attention in late August, and followed up in early October. While some improvements were made to the original draft guidelines, they still fail to take into account the very difficult circumstances that so many of our members still find themselves in. 

As unions, we have a responsibility to stand up for all our members, particularly the most vulnerable amongst us. We are asking the employer to hold off implementing these changes until at least January 2021 so our members can carry on with their existing parental or caregiver commitments, and to allow for further discussions with bargaining agents over that period.

If the government fails to address our remaining concerns over Code 699, public service bargaining agents will have little choice but to pursue formal recourse. We remain hopeful, however, that what should have been an entirely avoidable dispute will be resolved soon. Our members’ focus should be on continuing to serve Canadians, not on having to choose between work and personal or family obligations.

COVID-19 has put unprecedented stress on members like you. Balancing work and life responsibilities, setting up workspaces at home, dealing with school and daycare closures, and caring for loved ones has been a very difficult transition. 

The vast majority of federal public servants have been able to work through this crisis requiring no extra leave. However, those who needed more flexibility to attend to caregiving duties or deal with health risks, or those who could not perform their tasks at home when their offices closed, accessed ‘Other Leave With Pay (Code 699).’

To date, the use of Code 699 has been minimal. When it's needed – it's needed

Women, caregivers and those with health risks still need access to Code 699 leave to cope with the pandemic. 

It is a great disappointment that the Treasury Board has decided to change its guidance for management on the use of Code 699.  Even after conducting a GBA+ analysis on this change – identifying that the burden of child care and financial repercussions in the COVID era has disproportionately fallen on women – they decided to move forward. 

This updated guidance, which will be effective November 9, 2020, sets up new barriers that make this type of leave less accessible to employees. It emphasizes that Code 699 should be granted on a case-by-case basis, and only after remote or alternate work, or flexible work hours have been considered, and generally only after other relevant paid leave has first been used by the employee. 

Once all available options have been considered, and managers have consulted with their Labour Relations advisors, Code 699 could be available to an employee. 

However, this leaves it up to individual managers to force employees to exhaust other forms of leave, such as vacation, sick leave, or leave without pay, inappropriately. 

Get the help you need

We’re extremely concerned about the decision and limited access to Code 699. 

If you have been denied access to Code 699 or forced to use inappropriate leave such as vacation, sick leave, or leave without pay, please reach out for support: 

COVID-19 HELP FORM 

We’re fighting back

Public servants are fundamental to a successful recovery from the pandemic. We must support these workers to support Canadians. 

Last week we sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, The Honourable Maryam Monsef, urging them to insist that this decision is reversed. The government’s response to the pandemic and its treatment of federal workers has been very commendable so far – this approach must not be changed now to the detriment of women and families. 

Throughout this pandemic, you have fought for Canadians, and your union has fought for you. For months, we have pushed back against the Treasury Board when they initially proposed to eliminate Code 699 entirely. Though progressive changes have been made we are disappointed with the conclusion they’ve come to and we are ready to push back again.

There is still time for key government ministers or the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer to step in and stop this change. 

If this policy is implemented as is, we will take legal action by filing a policy grievance to demand this change be halted.

Code 699 is rarely used – we must ensure those who need to access it are provided with fair access. We must protect those who are vulnerable to discrimination.

Women are being pushed out of the labour market across the globe, we cannot allow that to happen here. We must stand up for each other through this crisis.

The Public Service Disability Insurance (DI) Plan will temporarily accept electronic forms and signatures for claims. 

To assist members, physicians and managers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sun Life will temporarily accept all 4 DI claim forms with electronic signatures, rather than handwritten signatures, by email at disabilityclaims@sunlife.com.

To apply for DI Plan benefits, 4 forms must be completed and sent to Sun Life:

• Employee’s Statement
• Attending Physician’s Statement
• Employer’s Statement
• Compensation Advisor’s Statement

All 4 forms can be found on the Sun Life DI Plan website.

Temporary acceptance of Employer Statement forms from a more senior manager 

On a temporary basis, a member’s more senior manager may complete and submit the Employer Statement form, provided they indicate to Sun Life that they are doing so due to the unavailability of the employee’s direct manager. 

In these cases, the name of the unavailable direct manager should be indicated on the form, on a separate sheet of paper, or in the submission email.

If completion by a more senior manager is not an option, the member is asked to call Sun Life at 1-800-361-5875.

Members who are having difficulty getting their Attending Physician’s Statement completed should also be instructed to call Sun Life to discuss their situation.

As always, should you or your attending physician have any questions or concerns, please contact Sun Life at 1-800-361-5875.

On August 19, 2020, we sent a letter to Minister Anand demanding a stop to the office conversion process until COVID-related health issues have been eradicated from federal workplaces.

Letter to Minister Anand

We have raised this matter on a number of occasions over the past few months. Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to obtain an answer regarding the failure of the Return to Workplace protocol to take the lessons learned during the pandemic into consideration in the design of future government workplaces.

The unions of the National Joint Council (NJC) Bargaining Agents share our concern and our letter was submitted on their behalf.

We have recently received information from our members that the federal public service is planning to continue with these conversions in years ahead. In one particularly alarming case, some of them were given a presentation about an upcoming conversion where they were told not to worry because “only half of you will be in these offices anyway” and “everything will be cleaned regularly so you’ll be fine.” This kind of cavalier approach is entirely inappropriate.

Planning for future conversions must also include much more rigorous health protocols, as well as meaningful consultations with Bargaining Agents. In the majority of cases now, we are not being consulted in the development of the open office design.

For years, we have opposed open office design based on the well-documented health, noise and productivity impacts on workers. In the context of the pandemic, we are now concerned that the federal public service is using this as an opportunity to further reduce its real estate footprint squeezing more workers into ever-smaller open areas. This will only exacerbate health and safety issues.

Parents and caregivers are making tough decisions as September approaches. For PIPSC members in the federal public service, every situation will be unique depending on your department and your children’s school.

It is important that you speak directly with your manager about your personal situation. Together with your HR department they will advise you on the leave available to you for childcare if your children’s school is only opening part-time or if your children are enrolled in online classes.

If management and HR are not offering proactive advice and solutions in this stressful time, our consultation teams are available for you. Contact the consultation team president in your department: https://pipsc.ca/labour-relations/consultation. They will have the most up to date advice and are meeting regularly with your department to discuss these important issues.

As schools reopen there are a lot of unanswered questions like, what happens if there is a COVID-19 outbreak at the school? What happens if the school closes? What do I do if my child is ill? What happens when my leave runs out? What leave will be made available to me if I choose to keep my children home from school?

PIPSC is now seeking answers to these important questions. We are working at all levels, with unions representing workers in the federal public service, to ensure you have access to the leave you need. This is a top priority for our discussions with the Treasury Board and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer.

We are working for temporary changes to your collective agreement to ensure that you’re able to weather the COVID-19 storm. We’re advocating for the continuation of the Leave Code 699 and more flexibility for your work schedule in order to give you the most appropriate, reasonable accommodation in your particular situation.

Many of our members who are parents and caregivers are choosing between taking care of their families and working. Women in the labour force have been set back nearly three decades. Safe and reliable childcare spots that workers can access now and as this crisis continues, along with safe and open public schools are the clear solution.

Our team is here to help if you do not get the support you need from your employer.