The PIPSC Black Caucus is seeking volunteers to join the leadership team.

The Black Caucus will lead and implement strategies for combating anti-Black racism at PIPSC and with our employers by advising the Human Rights and Diversity Committee (HRDC) on issues and policies that directly relate to anti-Black racism. The caucus will identify and eliminate barriers to Black members’ success and create environments for members to reach their full potential.

The Black Caucus envisions an anti-racist PIPSC and anti-racist employers.

In August 2020, the PIPSC Human Rights and Diversity Committee (HRDC) announced the formation of the PIPSC Black Caucus under the leadership of Jennie Esnard, HRDC Chair, and Din Kamaldin, HRDC member.

Apply now

The Black Caucus welcomes Black PIPSC members from all communities to apply for the leadership team by September 21, 2020.

We’re seeking members who are ready to help the Black Caucus meet both its short and long-term goals. There are 4 available positions on the leadership team. The leadership team should be prepared to meet virtually regularly for the first couple of months, as applicable.

This is your opportunity to lead and implement policies and programs that support PIPSC’s Black members. You will have the opportunity to engage with anti-racist allies to build capacity in your union and workplace.

If you have any questions about applying for the leadership team, please contact Jennie Esnard and Din Kamaldin at Blackcaucus@pipsc.ca.

PIPSC President, Debi Daviau has reached out to all political leaders in New Brunswick to clarify their positions on issues that matter most to our members.

Read the letter

Several hundred PIPSC members live and work in New Brunswick. Our membership in the province includes Crown Prosecutors, Crown Counsel, Legal Aid Services employees, agrologists and agronomists, engineers, architects and land surveyors, as well as veterinarians and veterinary pathologists.

All who have continued to provide critical services to the people of New Brunswick during the COVID 19 crises. And many who have been on the front lines of the provincial and federal response to the pandemic.

President Daviau has asked each party to clarify what their position is on the following issues:

(1) If elected, what will your party do to ensure an effective, well-funded provincial public service continues to be in place in the years ahead?

(2) If elected, in light of ongoing health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, what will your party do to ensure the safety of our members returning to their regular work locations? And will your party support appropriate work-life balance accommodations for our members and their families given the continued uncertainty regarding what will constitute the “new normal” in the future?

(3) If elected, will your party ensure that our members receive fair compensation that is competitive with those of their counterparts across Canada? As you may know, public service professionals in New Brunswick are currently among the lowest paid in the country.

(4) With the move from a defined benefit pension plan to a shared risk pension plan, our members are now left with a retirement plan that delivers less and costs more. If elected, what will your party do to address this shortfall?

We are a non-partisan union and ready to collaborate with the next New Brunswick government to ensure that New Brunswickers continue to receive the excellent public services that they expect and depend on.

Many employees in the federal public sector are not aware of their entitlements relating to parental leave, family care and leave. These entitlements are in place to help employees with parental and caregiving responsibilities have a better work-life balance. Not knowing about their entitlements, however, means some employees don’t use these provisions.

Recognizing this issue, the Women in Science project team at PIPSC developed infographics depicting the general maternity, parental and family care leave entitlements, and return to work rights, available to federal public sector employees.

While the information in the infographics is almost exclusively from 5 collective agreements (RE, NR, SP, SH and AV) and Employment Insurance, most of the entitlements are common across different groups.

We hope that you will find the infographics to be a useful resource in helping you better understand and learn about your rights and entitlements as a parent and/or carer.

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.

On August 12, the PIPSC Board of Directors met in a special session to discuss the resumption of in-person meetings of PIPSC members. After extensive discussion, the Board determined that all in-person member meetings will be suspended until the end of 2020.

The Board recognized the important role that in-person meetings play in the life of our union and the strong desire to resume such meetings at the earliest possible date. However, they also recognized that ensuring the health and safety of our members and staff was their highest priority.

The member meeting status webpage has been updated to reflect this change.

The Board of Directors continues to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis while preparing for the eventual resumption of in-person meetings, and will revisit the situation prior to the virtual Annual General Meeting on December 5, 2020. 

In the interim, constituent bodies are encouraged to continue to conduct their business virtually through the use of Zoom or other video/teleconference means.

On June 10, 2020, PIPSC Vice-President and Science Advisory Committee Chair Norma Domey led our mobilization efforts on #ShutDownAcademia and #shutdownSTEM, an initiative developed by a multi-identity, intersectional coalition of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professionals and academics taking action for Black lives. 

That day, thousands of these professionals and academics across the world stopped working to engage in 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence in support of the fight against racism.

Vice-President Domey and the Science Advisory Committee then held an insightful conversation with science professionals across the country about being Black in Canada. She notably indicated that “We can no longer stand by in silence. Systemic racism must be actioned and called out on the spot. In this regard, allies like you matter. Canadians must eradicate racism together.”

PIPSC members can help win the fight against racism by taking a number of actions, including:

• pressing their elected leaders at all levels of government to be accountable for and act for the good of all citizens, not just a privileged few
• building bridges with individuals and families from different cultural communities
• teaching their children and grandchildren about this issue

Find out more about #ShutDownAcademia and #ShutDownSTEM.

Our union and our members’ employers must actively seek systemic change, foster inclusion for Black members, and build the capacity of anti-racist allies.

In May 2020, police in the United States killed George Floyd which triggered global protests in support of Black Lives Matter movements. The American experience forced a similar recognition of anti-Black racism in Canada. There is now a renewed focus that has encouraged organizations to proactively fight anti-Black racism.

PIPSC is taking up this call, with the leadership of the Black Caucus, a sub-committee of the Human Rights and Diversity Committee.

The Black Caucus envisions an anti-racist PIPSC and anti-racist employers.

The Black Caucus will lead and implement strategies for combating anti-Black racism at PIPSC and with our employers by advising the Human Rights and Diversity Committee on issues and policies that directly relate to anti-Black racism. It will work toward advancing equity for Black members through identifying and eliminating barriers to create environments for members to reach their full potential.

Black Caucus short-term objectives are:

• develop a three-year strategic plan in line with broader PIPSC’s strategy and the Human Rights and Diversity Committee’s work
• advance research, programs, and policies to facilitate the full participation of Black members in PIPSC union activities
• align and centralize existing work on anti-Black racism in the federal public service (research projects, committees, advisory boards) into a centrally accessible and connected mechanism or network

Black Caucus long-term objectives are:

• lead and implement policies and programs to support PIPSC Black members in their union and workplace
• engage with anti-racist allies to build capacity across the union and within workplaces

Jennie Esnard, PIPSC NCR Executive Director and Human Rights and Diversity Committee Chair says, “We should be leaders, working proactively to end anti-Black racism in our union and our workplaces”. She said “I’m proud to have worked with Din Kamaldin and Samah Henein to spearhead this initiative and I am proud to receive the full support of our union. I want Black members to be heard and lead our work to end anti-Black racism.”

Black members will be invited to participate as members of the Black Caucus by submitting an application (soon to be available) to the Human Rights and Diversity Committee.