2025 Fall-Winter Newsletter

National Team Members

President - Dean Corda, NLMCC, HRUMCC, SUMCC, IITB NUMCC

Vice President - Lynn Ohlson, SUMCC

Vice President - Yvonne Snaddon, IITB NUMCC

Communications Lead - Daniel (Shih-Ho) Shen

W-T RUMCC - Lynn Ohlson, Terri Gobeil

Ontario RUMCC - Stephanie Turkington, Nicole Beckett

Atlantic RUMCC - Carolyn Hynes, Amberly Colter

PHSC - Tanisha Coultis, Dean Corda

An Update from your Consultation Team President - Dean Corda

Workforce Adjustment Preparations

Last year’s Refocusing of Government Spending initiative saw ESDC create a monthly “Financial Update and Staffing Strategies” meeting in January 2025 to keep unions informed about how the department was going to meet those targets.  The new Comprehensive Expenditure Review has since been introduced, and further spending cuts must now be found.  In September the department launched the “Workforce Adjustment Committee” and we continue to work with them on Terms of Reference.

PIPSC has Workforce Adjustment information available for members, and we encourage you to educate yourself in preparation for WFA should it be declared by ESDC.  This link will take you to the relevant section of the website.

Important developments on the WFA front include the creation of a departmental alternation system and the department indicating that a Voluntary Departure Program will be made available for individuals in affected groups of five or more people without a Guaranteed Reasonable Job Offer.

Duty to Accommodate and Prescribed Presence ADM Exceptions

Duty to Accommodate requests remains an area of concern with many Family Status applications and distance exceptions being denied. These are being addressed on a case-by-case basis, and you are advised to contact a Steward if you find yourself in this situation and wish to pursue the denial.

EMA Report - Lynn Ohlson

There are numerous issues amongst the EMA community that are being followed closely by your consultation team.

The Atlantic region continues to vigorously pursue the more than 80 grievances submitted regarding hours of work, and these are currently at level 3 status.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was proposed by the department to automate the adjudication of terminal illness applications. We strongly opposed this initiative at every juncture due to concerns it was not capable of the individual and subjective financial nuances determined by an MA such as date of onset, work capacity etc. We are happy to report that this initiative has been tabled indefinitely.

I am very happy to advise you that we now have two active EMA stewards in the Victoria office after a number of years without any EMA steward support in this office. We have also welcomed three new bilingual stewards hired in Moncton, New Brunswick.

RTO began for MA’s throughout the summer with 3 days per week becoming the expectation by September 2025. Due to capacity constraints, some offices are not able to support 3 in-office days per week and are in the office less. While we realize that this is inequitable and grievance may not be successful, it remains an avenue open to you.

IT Update - Yvonne Snaddon

The Training Fund is in its second year, and work has begun to identify use of the funds for year three.  The IT collective agreement expires December 21, 2025.  At that time all terms and conditions of the collective agreement will be frozen.  For the training fund this means we will receive another allotment of $4.725 million as of April 1, 2026.

The fund continues to provide online training through Pluralsight and Percipio, instructor-led training through the GC Digital Talent Site and exam vouchers for certification.  Exam vouchers and courses are not limited as long as the prerequisites are met.  Use of the funds by members in specific departments is being tracked by PIPSC as we’d like to ensure that IT members in all departments have the opportunity to take courses and request exam vouchers.

If you haven’t signed up yet, please take the opportunity to take advantage of these free offerings.

To access the training and learning opportunities, eligible IT employees are encouraged to:

1. Enroll in Navigar, a smart online skills development tool for free, self-paced learning with access to multiple platforms, including Pluralsight for technical skills and Skillsoft’s Percipio for behavioral skills.
2. Create your GC Digital Talent Platform profile to apply for instructor-led classes and bootcamps and request certification exam vouchers.

Eligible IT employees are encouraged to discuss their professional development needs with their managers and arrange time for training during work hours. Any training activities related to the IT Fund completed during work hours must be included in your Learning and Development Plan, in the Public Service Performance Management application.

Don’t forget to check out the list of exciting courses supported by the IT Community Training and Development Fund on GC Digital Talent.  Sign up here to receive updates by email.

For more details, visit the GC Digital Talent Platform and GCxchange.

Communication Report - Daniel (Shih-Ho) Shen

The e-bulletin board revival is in progress. A total of 4 updates to the e-bulletin board have been implemented with new links to PIPSC social media, member brochure, member benefits, ESDC Consultation, new flash and team news has been added. Members can now find most up-to-date useful information via the e-bulletin board. The content on the e-bulletin board will continuously evolve based on members’ needs, we encourage you to send any feedback or suggestions to esdcconsultation@pipsc.ca.

The team continuously works hard at engaging Stewards and Employment Relations Officers to stay connected in and out of the workplace.