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.