On June 1, 2017 the Institute and the employer signed the RE collective agreement. This marks the conclusion of a successful and historic round of bargaining that focused the RE Group’s efforts on public interest bargaining issues such as the muzzling of government scientists.
Employees of the Government of Canada will be celebrating National Public Service Week (NPSW) from June 11th to June 17th.
Our AFS Members should be proud of the important work that we do on behalf of all Canadians to maintain the integrity of our self assessment tax system that funds virtually every federal government program.
Hello,
On April 28, the 2014–2018 AV collective agreement was signed and is therefore in force. You can find your collective agreement here.
Currently the Dorchester Branch is not in good standing as it has not met the requirements outlined in PIPSC By-Law 11.2.4. Atlantic Regional Director, Kim Skanes is convening this Annual General Meeting in an effort to revive the Branch and elect an Executive. Failure to do so will result in the dissolution of the Dorchester Branch as per PIPSC By-Law 11.2.5.
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Delta Beauséjour,
750 Main St, Moncton
At the close of nominations on March 31st, 2017, the NAV Canada Election Committee had received seven valid nominations for three member-at-large positions on the NAV Executive.
Therefore, an election has been conducted and closed on May 25th, at 4 PM, Ottawa time.
After the vote counting, the Election Committee congratulates the following elected candidates:
The term of the persons filling the executive positions is from 05 June 2017 to 31 May 2020.
The announcement this week that the federal government will temporarily hire an additional 200 staff, invest a further $142 million over three years, and introduce even more measures to expedite fixing Phoenix is welcome, if long overdue, news.
Given the ongoing cost to government, taxpayers and federal employees, however, one has to ask if Phoenix was ever really worth it to begin with. It wasn’t.
Compounding this problem is the likelihood that a speedy fix will be difficult – especially since new resources take time to be effective – a fact that Parliamentary Secretary Steven MacKinnon seemed to acknowledge in his remarks on Wednesday.
While the additional $142 million will be spent over the next three years, no new time lines for fixing Phoenix were provided in this latest announcement – something employees are anxious to know. A technical briefing planned for next week may reveal more.
In short, while we should be cautiously optimistic that progress is being made, we should also be wary of governments bearing new fixes – especially those that come without clear timelines and that enhance an already-flawed contract with IBM.
In fact, one glaring omission in this week’s announcement was any mention of what PIPSC considers to be a root cause of the Phoenix troubles – outsourcing IT transformations to multinational companies such as IBM, who have a vested interest in additional, ongoing contracts.
After everything that we’ve seen so far, now is the time to look in-house and ensure that the government's own IT workers are managing the system going forward. We will never reach the government’s long-promised “steady state” without them. Only then can we – and all Canadians – really say whether the fixes are worth it.
Better Together.
Debi Daviau
President
PIPSC is proud to announce that its Head Office building located at 250 Tremblay Road in Ottawa is the recipient of a Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada BOMA BEST Silver certification, which recognizes excellence in energy and environmental management and performance in commercial real estate. BOMA BEST is Canada’s largest environmental assessment and certification program for existing buildings.
The Institute’s Head Office had previously been certified at the Bronze level. These awards not only confirm the quality of the building, they demonstrate the care taken by PIPSC in managing this valuable asset on behalf of its members. Real estate professionals, including those employed by the federal government, use the BOMA Best program as a benchmark when evaluating properties for potential tenants.
The PIPSC NAV CANADA Group Bargaining Team was in meetings with the company from May 8-11, 2017. On Friday May 12, 2017 our team worked in closed meetings on our bargaining priorities. The parties continued discussions on numerous items and positive progress was made. Both parties presented comprehensive packages however no final offers have been made. The parties will be meeting on June 5 and 6, 2017 in a smaller group to work on a comprehensive package in hopes of resolving our remaining interests.
PIPSC expresses its solidarity and support for members of the RCMP who are experiencing difficulty accessing front-line mental health services.
The Professional Institute applauds federal Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s recent report into the state of mental health support for members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The report is very timely, coming out only days after the Canadian Mental Health Association’s 66th annual Mental Health Week.
As the Institute prepares to welcome civilian members of the RCMP in the months ahead, we urge Canada’s national police force to redouble its efforts to ensure its officers and staff get the help they need, when they need it.