We are pleased to announce the following groups have voted in favour of ratifying their new collective agreements:

• Audit, Financial and Scientific – CRA (AFS)
• Audit, Commerce & Purchasing (AV)
• National Energy Board (NEB)
• National Film Board (NFB)
• Engineering, Architecture and Land Survey (NR)
• National Research Council - Information Services (NRC-IS)
• National Research Council - Library Science (NRC-LS)
• National Research Council Research Officer and Research Council Officer (NRC-RO/RCO)
• National Research Council - Translation (NRC-TR) 
• Nuclear Regulatory (NUREG)
• Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)
• Research (RE)
• Health Services (SH) 
• Applied Science and Patent Examination (SP)

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.

The Department of Employment and Social Development is considering amending the labour code to provide menstruation products in federal workplaces. This would benefit about 480,000 public service workers.

Currently, under Part II of the Canadian Labour Code an employer is required to provide supplies including toilet paper, soap, warm water and a means to dry hands. This proposed change would add pads and tampons to this list.

Menstruation products are a basic necessity and essential to the health of women and people that menstruate. We responded to the federal government’s notice of intent and made clear that we support having a variety of menstrual products available in federally regulated and federal government workplaces.

Read our submission

We agree that menstrual products such as pads and tampons are essential to the health of Canadians, allowing them to participate fully in the workforce and society. Including menstrual products in workplaces is a concrete action that the federal government can take to move toward gender equity. Providing these supplies will decrease the menstruation stigma that is pervasive in our society and support better health outcomes.

It will take 18 to 24 months to complete the regulatory process of changing the Canada Labour Code, well beyond the federal election expected this October. This decision will be made by the next parliament.

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) recently announced the creation of the Nursing Services Response Centre (NSRC), an important initiative aimed at addressing key issues faced by PIPSC nursing professionals working in remote regions of the country, including:

• Recruitment and retention
• Isolation
• Safety
• Workload
• Connectivity

The need to introduce innovative solutions to these problems, which have impacted the delivery of health services to remote northern communities, has been recognized for some time. Beginning in the spring of 2018, a series of joint employer/union consultations were held with hundreds of our members at some 75 work sites across Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and Québec. ISC Consultation Team Co-President Ginette Tardif has been instrumental in this process of gathering feedback from front-line nurses and in the development of an effective plan to better assist them.

The current multi-tiered support system is based on a number of separate departmental resources, each of which uses a different set of processes and procedures. Response times and service standards are those of the traditional federal government workplace and have little in common with the realities of Northern Canada. In addition, the transition from Health Canada to ISC has had an adverse effect on the timeliness of support available to nurses in remote regions, exacerbating an already difficult situation.

In contrast, beginning this fall the NSRC will take its first steps towards ultimately offering a virtual, “single window” approach to providing nurses with a range of integrated, dedicated services and resources. Substantial enhancements will progressively be made to critical areas such as technical support, security, patient safety, receiving/triage, staffing, procurement, business support, training and the wellness of staff.

Nurses need the right tools to provide quality health care services in Canada’s remote communities. The creation of the Centre is an important step forward in this regard and an excellent example of what can be achieved when the Employer takes the time to work with our union and our members towards a common goal.

After studying computer science at UQAC and UQAM, Jean-Philippe did his internships at the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC). “My internship assignments were interesting to me. But it's not meteorology that interests me as much as visualizing future scenarios,” says Jean-Philippe. The transfer of his knowledge and training in a feld with direct application for society attracted Jean-Philippe, who quickly found a job at the CMC after his internships in 1998.

With the CMC’s Environmental Emergency Response Section, Jean-Philippe helps develop sophisticated models that simulate the spread of hazardous materials on a given scale and location – in a city, a region or even across the planet. "Using supercomputers, we can access a large volume of data. This is extremely  exciting,” says Jean-Philippe. "The Canadian Meteorological Centre is there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We gather data in real time from around the world – and even from space."
 

"Every day, I take the science developed by research and translate it into something useful for first responders," says the programmer analyst. Forest fires, chemical fires, toxic leaks, nuclear incidents, volcanic ash. Jean-Philippe helps scientists predict how hazardous materials can spread under various atmospheric and geographical conditions. For example, wind can play an important role in moving materials through the atmosphere and determining what areas will be affected.

And, in recent years, Jean-Philippe and his colleagues have been developing aquatic modeling capabilities, for events such as oil spills in water. "This knowledge is essential," says Jean-Philippe: “It is important for the protection of people and the environment. These various simulations provide advice to emergency response services so they can make the right decisions to deal with a variety of dangerous situations." Air currents, ocean currents, buildings and topography – Jean-Philippe must consider each of these elements in the scenarios he simulates. "We have modeled almost anything that can disperse in the air, even  butterflies!" laughs Jean-Philippe.

The ultimate goal is to acquire as much information as possible to improve the quality of forecasts and make the simulations as accurate as possible. “I am especially proud of my work because I am making a real hands-on contribution to the protection of the environment and to the safety of Canadians.

On June 18, 2019, PIPSC President Debi Daviau had the honour of addressing members of the Federal Black Employee Caucus (FBEC), an organization dedicated to combatting career obstacles in the public service such as racism, harassment, and under-representation.

Black employees, and other visible minorities, continue to face barriers after being hired in the public service, even though the educational qualifications of visible minorities are often higher than those of the average population.

That’s why PIPSC is proud of the fact that some outstanding visible minority candidates were recently elected to its Board of Directors. In particular, we saw the first Black woman elected to the Board, NCR Regional Director Jennie Esnard, and the first Black woman elected to the PIPSC Executive in its almost 100 year history, Vice-President Norma Domey.

The inclusion of underrepresented groups in the PIPSC leadership structure ensures that decisions, strategies, projects and member engagement reflect the needs of all our members.

The Institute values the diversity of the Canadian population and the unique talents and strengths that are inherent in a diverse workforce. Diversity makes our union stronger and we will continue to work toward increased active involvement and improved representation of visible minorities in Institute leadership roles. If we do not reflect our workplaces and communities, we will not survive as a union.

We are committed to working with our employers to create workplaces that are inclusive and barrier free. As a union, we have an active role to play in identifying and removing barriers that prevent any member from fully participating in all workplace activities and fulfilling their personal and professional dreams.

One key strategy pursued by PIPSC to achieve these objectives was to actively participate in the Joint Union/Management Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, which consulted with over 12,000 public servants and invested over a year in drafting its report. NCR Regional Director Waheed Khan was co-chair of its Technical Committee.

The Task Force provided 44 recommendations to promote diversity and inclusion in the public service. We need to ensure, however, that this important report doesn’t just gather dust on a shelf. PIPSC is keeping a close eye on developments on this front, and was pleased when the government announced the establishment of a Centre of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellness, which is similar to the Centre of Excellence recommended by the Task Force. The Institute will be happy to work with the Treasury Board to ensure that the proposed Centre is action-oriented and that all employees, particularly Black employees, benefit from tangible results.

In addition, PIPSC supports the key “Asks” that the FBEC has identified.

We agree that data gaps must be filled and that a support network be created permitting Black community members to accomplish their professional goals, i.e. to obtain senior government positions.

We also believe that the federal government should assign Champions in each of its Departments.

And of course that the federal government show respect for the International Decade for People of African Descent.

We have communicated our support for this Caucus’ objectives in a letter to Treasury Board President Joyce Murray. 

On May 1, 2019 President Debi Daviau communicated our strong opposition to moving RCMP civilian members to the failed Phoenix pay system. RCMP Commissioner Lucki responded May 16 indicating her plans to go ahead. 

We are not backing down, and President Daviau has responded making that clear below:
 

Brenda Lucki,
Commissioner Royal Canadian Mounted Police
RCMP National Headquarters
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0R2

July 25, 2019

Commissioner Lucki,

Thank you for your prompt reply to my May 1, 2019 letter regarding the eventual transfer of some 1300 Civilian Members (CMs) of the RCMP represented by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada to the Phoenix pay system.

I recognize that the RCMP, the Treasury Board Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) have taken a number of steps to mitigate the effects of the disastrous Phoenix system on federal employees. These actions have proved insufficient in resolving the pay issues experienced by hundreds of thousands of public servants across Canada. Progress in this regard has been incremental at best.

The size of the backlog of unresolved pay issues at the Public Service Pay Centre, the recent signing of several large collective agreements without the last round of agreements even yet being fully implemented, and the government’s own ongoing search for a replacement system unmistakably signal the need to stay away from Phoenix, not to add to its already unmanageable workload.

Given this sad state of affairs, I can only disagree in the strongest terms with your statement that “it would be premature to make decisions concerning the pay system”. On the contrary, the ability to pay its employees correctly and on time should be an immediate concern for the RCMP, not an afterthought.

Nearly 600 PIPSC members working at the RCMP have emailed you urging that all plans to switch Civilian Members to the disastrous Phoenix pay system be abandoned. I hope you will take into consideration their grave concerns and make the right decision.

This issue must be resolved as soon as possible, and I have asked my staff to contact your office in order to set-up a meeting in the days ahead. 

Sincerely,

Debi Daviau
President
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

If you receive disability payments currently or have received disability payments in the past, you may be entitled to a retroactive benefit payment adjustment from the Sunlife or Industrial Alliance disability plan. 

New collective agreements mean retroactive salary increases for many members. This entitles some members to retroactive increase in disability pay.

This retroactive payment will be automatically calculated and you do not need to apply.

MORE INFORMATION

The retroactive payment project is extensive and will run to the end of the year. If you have not received a retroactive payment that you believe you are entitled to, it may be issued later this year.  

Should you not have received an expected adjustment by January 2020, please reach out to your union representative. 

The RCMP Civilian Member (CM) bargaining team has finalized a memorandum of agreement to transition RCMP CMs into PIPSC collective agreements upon deeming.

On July 19, a webinar was held to go over the highlights of the agreement and answer your questions. If you were unable to join us live, watch the recording.

RCMP Civilian Member Webinar - July 19, 2019 - 11 AM session.

RCMP Civilian Member Webinar - July 19, 2019 - 3 PM session.

Webinaire avec les membres de la GRC - 19 juillet 2019.

The recent adoption in Québec of Bill 21, which is ostensibly aimed at imposing “secularism” on the province’s public service and on the people who receive them, is a disgrace and a blatant violation of civil liberties and basic human rights. The law should immediately be repealed.

While current employees have been given some exemptions, the law prohibits the wearing of religious symbols by new public servants in positions of “authority”, such as teachers and police officers.

Not only does this law create two classes of pubIic servants, it violates unionized workers’ collective agreements by permitting discrimination based on prohibited grounds. Worse, it can only lead to further isolation and marginalisation of visible minorities in the province.

Canadians know that legal cover does not legitimize systemic discrimination of minorities on one pretext or another. That is why Canada has acknowledged the dark chapters in our history and has apologized for the Residential Schools of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the head tax on Chinese immigrants under the Chinese Immigration Act (1885), the turning away of the Komagata Maru with 376 South Asians in 1914 and the internment of Canadians of Japanese origin in the 1940s. In the 21^st Century, Canada can ill afford to enact and implement a regressive and discriminatory law like Bill 21 that targets Canadians of Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths, who are guaranteed the freedom of practicing their religion and culture by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As a staunch supporter of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), PIPSC applauds the campaign led by progressive organisations and labour unions who refuse to accept second-class citizenship for thousands of individuals across the cultural and religious spectrum.