1. What’s PIPSC doing for members?
Since Phoenix was launched in 2016 dedicated PIPSC stewards, staff and consultation team members have worked tirelessly to:
• Help hundreds of members resolve their pay issues, file individual grievances, and submit policy grievances on behalf of all affected members
• Lobby the government to hire more pay staff in workplaces to resolve members’ problems faster
• Demand the government adopt a new pay system that works – ASAP
• Rally members to promote one
• Advocate that a new system be led by members of PIPSC’s IT community
• Promote members’ concerns to the media
• Mobilize members to take action online
• Provide loans to members especially hard hit
• Insist the government pay damages to all affected members
• Fight for better access to emergency and priority pay, an end to regressive clawbacks of overpayments, coverage for all out-of-pocket expenses, and prompt payment of retro pay – to name only a few.
2.Can’t we go back to using the old pay system?
The Harper government dismantled the old system and fired the pay professionals who managed it before the Trudeau government flipped the switch on Phoenix. This meant there was no contingency plan in place to address pay problems.
3.Why don’t we just strike?
It is illegal for any union or its membership to strike during the life of their collective agreement. Members who take illegal job action could be fined, disciplined or even terminated.
4. Why can’t we sue the government?
As a union, we have a legal contract with the government that stipulates how disputes are to be processed. By law, union members are not allowed to join class action lawsuits against their employer. Together with other unions, however, we are aggressively pursuing the Treasury Board for payment of damages to all affected members.
Members like you play an important part in building, protecting and progressing communities across Canada. In celebrating the Institute’s 100th anniversary and the contributions of our members to our community, we’ve invited Ottawa artist Ryan Smeeton to create a special mural to honour the diverse impact of our members.
Ryan will paint the mural near our main office located at 250 Tremblay road. He has been a part of many inspirational public art installments and designed dozens of murals which can be identified by his unique style.
The mural will prominently display our 100th anniversary logo and be a source of beauty and inspiration for our work as a union. This is how the artist describes his concept for this mural:
"When I learned of the issues PIPSC has fought for, I was struck by the importance of your work … My goal is to create a mural that captures the spirit of PIPSC's purpose: building community to act collectively to improve its members’ lives. I represent this in my design with a linear composition featuring three figures; the first figure is seen pouring seeds from her palm, the second is seen holding a sapling, and the third is seen gazing out into the future.”
He said this concept represents the process of a PIPSC accomplishment from conception to implementation. First, the seeds of an idea are planted, then those seeds are nurtured so they can grow and gain momentum. Finally, the outcome is achieved – better conditions for members – and all those who collaborated to make those changes happen get to look towards a brighter future.
“As focal points within a composition, I strive to use figurative imagery that is stimulating, representative, and accessible,” Ryan said. “My goal is to create an engaging, eye-catching piece that will ultimately become a landmark in the area and will serve as a celebration of PIPSC’s successes, a source of pride for its members and staff, and an inspiration to continue Leading Progress."
As this year’s AGM marks the kick off of our 100th anniversary celebrations, there will be many projects and events coming up to celebrate our past and future success. The work on the mural will begin on September 9. The completed mural will be unveiled in late September 2019.
We thank our neighbours at Dustbane for their support for this project and their permission to use one of their walls for this mural.
Ottawa, September 9, 2019 -- Dr. Margaret Haydon, a scientist who was fired by the government for blowing the whistle on Health Canada's approval process of a controversial veterinary drug, has filed an appeal to the unfair compensation provided by the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board in her case.
In July 2004, the government fired Dr. Haydon and her colleagues Dr. Gerard Lambert and Dr. Shiv Chopra for going public with their concerns about the approval of the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), used to increase milk production in cows. The drug could have leached into Canadian dairy products and impacted public health. Their efforts to keep bovine hormone growth out of Canada’s milk supply were ultimately successful – but at a personal and professional cost.
“Every time you drink a glass of milk, you should thank Dr. Margaret Haydon, Dr. Gerard Lambert and Dr. Shiv Chopra for ensuring it isn’t laced with harmful drugs,” said PIPSC president Debi Daviau. “But what did these scientists get for preserving your food safety? Fired. The government dragged their reputation and careers through the mud. It was unconscionable and we can’t allow that to ever happen again.”
After years of administrative tribunals, Dr. Haydon won her case before the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board. But the Board limited the return of lost wages to only a period of 10.5 months.
“The compensation awarded by the tribunal was unfair and not enough to deter future governments from conducting reprisals against public service professionals who speak truth to power,” said Daviau. “Not only are we going to continue to fight for a fair compensation for Dr. Haydon, we’re going to fight for a better Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act to actually protect whistleblowers and the public.”
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents 60,000 public service professionals across Canada.
The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Finance launched its pre-budget 2020 consultations. As we have done in the past, PIPSC submitted a series of recommendations to make the next budget work for government employees. From ensuring the Phoenix replacement is brought in smoothly, to monitoring research metrics, we all win when large-scale projects are planned ahead and costed out. We invite you to read our 11 recommendations for Budget 2020.
Due to the upcoming federal election, there will be limited time to prepare Budget 2020. We expect the next government will not rush through the process and do the right thing by listening to Canada’s unions - our recommendations have been crafted to help the government avoid some of the costly errors made in the past.
In the coming weeks, PIPSC will be launching our federal election toolkit that will enable members to learn what candidates support our priorities. We will be encouraging all Canadians to elect a government that protects public services and respects the people who provide them.
In the latter part of 2020, the CS classification will become the IT classification.
We have been working with the Treasury Board to ensure the new Information Technology (IT) classification will reflect professional IT work and the current environment in which you work.
As of August 27, 2019, Phoenix compensation days should be in your leave bank.
If you worked at least one day in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and were paid by Phoenix, you are entitled to compensation. You should have received two days of leave for 2016-17 and one day of paid leave for each year of the subsequent fiscal years.
You will also receive a compensation day for 2019-2020 after the end of this fiscal year.
If you believe an error was made in applying the compensation days to your leave bank please contact your department's human resources team. You should have an email from your department with this contact information.
Retired and former employees, as well as estates of deceased employees will be able to make a claim to receive the cash equivalent of the leave days. This process will be available in the coming weeks.
We are working now to ensure this deal is extended to members who work for the House of Commons and the Senate. These members have not yet received compensation days.
Individual cases of Phoenix errors continue to be treated and employees will still receive the pay they are owed. An expanded claims process for financial losses that were caused due to Phoenix will be released in the coming weeks. There will also be a simplified process for resolving more serious damages caused by Phoenix.
For more information please visit our frequently asked questions.
Now, more than ever, workers must come together and take a stand for a living minimum wage, safe work conditions, adequate health benefits and a secure retirement.
We have had a big year of wins at the bargaining table, advancement on Phoenix and real progress on protecting our sick leave.
PIPSC members are celebrating our collective strength in Calgary, Ottawa, and Vancouver.
Medicare, minimum wage and parental leave were won thanks to working people across Canada. This is why every year on Labour Day, Canada’s unions celebrate working people as we all continue our work to improve the lives of all Canadians.
Unions across Canada are welcoming you to Labour Day events, parades and picnics.
Unions across Canada have joined together to call for a national child care plan.
We are calling the federal government to make affordable high-quality early learning and child care available to all families. This will grow our economy, promote gender equality, increase women’s labour force participation and enhance children’s well-being.
National child care is a tried and tested policy that is long overdue in Canada.
All children – regardless of where they live, their ability, family circumstance or culture – deserve access to affordable high-quality child care.
Child care in Canada is underfunded, too expensive and hard to find. The financial burden on families and the losses to our economy are too great to ignore – we need child care for all, now!
Take action today:
Sign the petition
We are pleased to announce the following groups have voted in favour of ratifying their new collective agreements:
Congratulations to all the bargaining teams that have worked so hard on these deals. Thank you to all the members across the country who supported their teams and helped make these deals possible.
Because of the Phoenix pay system’s inability to implement changes in a timely manner, the new collective agreements will take up to 180 days to implement. Members of the above groups will receive $400 in compensation for the delay.
Some groups, including the CS Group continue their important bargaining work. Learn where your group stands by visiting your group page.