Public service professionals are integral to a prosperous economy and a safe, healthy, and compassionate society. We are assets to the Canadian public – skilled experts who choose to devote our working lives to helping, protecting and innovating in the interest of the public good. Professionals speak truth to power and ensure the government is responsive, informed and evidence-based.

The Professional Recognition and Qualifications Committee (PRQC) is a body of fellow PIPSC members mandated to guide our union’s decisions on issues within the intersection of professional standards and public services.

In recent years, we have felt that professionalism is in crisis. We want to chart a path forward where employers cultivate an environment of continual career development and training for their employees. We want to ensure a trustworthy government that makes evidence-based decisions in the public interest and meets professional and academic standards.

On behalf of the PRQC, I invite you to take a confidential survey to help us identify the key issues our members face in preserving professionalism within the public service.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY 

or

Copy and paste the following link into your browser search bar:

https://survey.alchemer-ca.com/s3/50260968/PRQC-Survey

Your responses are strictly confidential.

Please complete the survey by June 21, 2024.

In solidarity,

Waheed Khan
NCR Regional Director

It’s National Public Service Week 2024. 

While the employer tries to win us over with trivial gestures this week, we all know the truth. 

We're grappling with nonsensical Return to Office mandates, bad bargaining practices, rampant outsourcing, and more. Some of us still aren’t getting paid properly after almost a decade of disaster with the Phoenix Pay System. 

These aren’t trivial or side issues. These are core issues that affect our pay, our benefits, our professional status, and our mental well-being.

This year, we won’t be placated by superficial acknowledgments. We demand genuine respect, fair working conditions, and a trustworthy employer, not a hot dog lunch or a pat on the back.

This is why PIPSC is boycotting National Public Service Week employer events.

A Troubling Pattern of Disrespect

We want to be clear: this isn’t about one single issue. This is about a troubling pattern of disrespect and bad employer decision-making that profoundly impacts our working conditions and directly undermines our capacity to serve Canadians.

It’s about nurses in northern communities providing life-saving services while earning a fraction of what contract staff make doing the same work in the same workplace. 

It’s about workers losing their homes because their employer cannot pay them properly and on time. 

It’s about a government that claims to value diversity and inclusion while implementing policies they know negatively impact equity-seeking groups the most. 

Despite all this, our members still show up every day because we’re proud public service professionals, and that’s what we do. 

We know that Canadians rely on us to deliver – from life-saving vaccines to crucial programs like CERB to Canadian cultural institutions like the National Film Board. 

Your Union Has Your Back 

Just as you show up every day for Canadians, unions show up for you, championing fair treatment, good work conditions, and a just society. Unions have historically been the force behind many of the benefits many now take for granted, such as weekends off, parental leave, and sick days. 

These gains were not simply handed down. They were demanded, fought for, and won. 

Unions like PIPSC play a crucial role in negotiating better wages and demanding better work-life balance, setting higher standards, and resulting in better conditions for all workers. 

We can make change when we stand united because remember: your union has your back, not your boss. 

Any union, including PIPSC, is only as strong as its members, who are engaged and operate from a place of principle and solidarity.

Help show that #SolidarityMatters on National Public Service Week

Join us in making a clear statement during National Public Service Week. You can:

• Boycott employer-organized NPSW events. Send them a message that we don’t want hotdogs or pats on the back unless they come with improved public service working conditions.
• Join our flyering events to take our message to the doorstep of thousands of voters in key ridings in the NCR.
• Show your support visually: Download the #SolidarityMatters Teams/Zoom background to display during meetings.
• Spread the word: Print and distribute #SolidarityMatters flyers about how our working conditions are crucial to the strength of public services Canadians count on.
• Attend a local PIPSC event if one is being organized by your branch for National Public Service Week, and let’s celebrate each other as PIPSC union members.
• Join events hosted by our friends at other unions, including this rally outside the Treasury Board on June 11 at lunch hour.

We need a future of work that works for all. Let's keep standing united and staying engaged. Let’s build this future together. 

This National Public Service Week, skip the superficial employer events and join a movement that makes a real impact. 

Join a flyering action in key NCR ridings to increase our visibility and tell our story about how the issues that threaten our working conditions – like RTO mandates and rampant outsourcing – also threaten public services. 

Why Join?

Solidarity from the public is key. Our flyering events in strategic ridings will amplify our call for improved public service conditions, build public solidarity with public servants like you, and let MPs know that their constituents care about these issues too. 

We're making it clear: our working conditions are crucial to the strength of public services. #SolidarityMatters

Choose Your Event:

Select the day and location that work best for you and make a real difference. We will flyer for about 1–2 hours. 

Monday, June 10: Ottawa-Centre
Meet at 4:00 PM at the northeast entrance of Dundonald Park in Centretown

Tuesday, June 11: Carleton Riding
Meet at 5:00 PM at Alexander Grove Park in Stittsville – the parking lot near the corner of Forest Heights Ave and Stitts St. 

Thursday, June 13: Hull–Aylmer
Meet at 5:00 PM at Parc des Cèdres in Aylmer, in the parking lot on the corner of rue Arthur Croteau and rue Xavier.

What to expect

1. Fill out the form below to sign up for one or more flyering events. Sign up for the flyering action closest to you, or maximize our impact this National Public Service Week by signing up for them all. 

2. Show up at the meeting location provided above.

3. PIPSC staff will meet you at the location to brief you on the plan, hand you a neighbourhood map, and distribute flyers for you to drop in peoples’ mailboxes. Each team will have a volunteer support person to help you with whatever you need. You DO NOT have to knock on doors or speak to anyone directly if you don’t want to. Like a postal worker, you’re just delivering a message into peoples’ mailboxes.

Sign Up Form

Paul Pilon passed away peacefully on January 14, 2024, at Perley Health Center, Ottawa, at the age of 74. He was the son of the late Edouard Pilon and the late Bibianne Pilon.

He was a member of the Computer Systems (CS) and AFS groups. For many years, Paul served as a Steward and CS (IT) executive member at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). He was also an active member of the Ottawa South branch. His favourite leisure pastimes were ocean cruises and practicing at the RA Gun Club.

Paul leaves behind his wife Bonnie Pilon, his two children: Dan (Karen) and Chantal (Brandon), his grandchildren: Asher (Kenzy), Dylan, Jacob, and Declan, his niece Sarah (Andrew), his cousins and many friends.

He was predeceased by his brother Joseph Pilon. The family would like to thank Perley Health Center for the excellent care provided. A Celebration of life is to be held at a later date.

In memory of Paul, donations to the Perley Health Foundation would be appreciated.

During the last round of negotiations in the federal public service, PIPSC Groups* secured a $2,500 lump sum payment applicable to all members of the AFS, IT, SP, RE, and NR bargaining units** employed when their agreement was signed. The lump sum was pensionable for members in the AFS, NR and IT Groups, whereas for members in the SP, and RE Groups, the lump sum was non-pensionable. 

Several of the PIPSC agency Groups, like the NEB, NRC-RO/RCO, NRC-IS, NRC-LS, NRC-TR, OSFI, and NUREG also negotiated a lump sum payment.

It has come to our attention that this payment has been clawed back for some members who were receiving Employment Insurance benefits when they received the lump sum. This most notably applied to employees who were on parental or maternity leave. It may also apply to members who were on leave without pay due to illness or injury and who were receiving EI sickness benefits. 

Misinterpretation of the payment 

This clawback occurred for some members because Employment and Social Development Canada interpreted the lump sum payment as additional income when these members were receiving EI benefits. Specifically, the issue lies with the Commission’s categorization of the lump sum payment as a “signing bonus” rather than as a payment for the performance of regular duties and responsibilities for periods when the employee was actively employed, not on leave. 

PIPSC maintains that this interpretation is not in line with what was intended or negotiated at its various tables. Indeed, the $2,500 lump sum payment was replicated from across the federal public sector, specifically from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), where the language explicitly specifies that recipients are entitled to the lump sum for the performance of regular duties and responsibilities for the period when they were actively working, not while in receipt of EI benefits. 

Recently, a member of CAPE successfully challenged the interpretation of the EI Commission to the Social Security Tribunal of Canada. Unfortunately, the Commission has appealed this decision. 

The appealed decision of the Social Security Tribunal of Canada found that “the true nature of the employer’s payment… was for services performed before she began maternity leave and claimed Employment Insurance.” It also ruled that “the Canada Employment Insurance Commission incorrectly identified this money as a signing bonus and allocated it to a week during the [member’s] EI claim.”

What to do if you’ve already been impacted by this 

If you have been affected by this issue, submitting a Request for Reconsideration of an Employment Insurance (EUI) decision is crucial. In Section 3 of the form, “Reason for Request for Reconsideration,” please use the following information: 

The $2,500 one-time lump-sum allowance was not a ratification signing bonus. The $2,500 lump-sum allowance was received by all federal public service employees as part of a global compensation package for the performance of duties, not signing of the collective agreement. Indeed, the payment was for performance of duties before I went on leave and started collecting EI benefits. When money is paid for performance of services, the money should be allocated under s. 36(4) of the EI Regulations to the period before my leave began. 

There is a time limit of 30 days to request a reconsideration. However, EI allows extensions under certain circumstances. If it’s already been 30 days since you received this decision, you can request an extension by saying you were gathering information about what the payment was for from your union. If you receive a denial on the reconsideration, you have 30 days to appeal to the Tribunal.

Note for members who have received EI benefits 

Some members may not have been notified of this situation yet. If you were receiving EI benefits at the time your collective agreement was ratified or in the months before the lump sum payment was issued, you may still be contacted in the future for repayment.  

Review your EI statements, monitor your account, and follow the steps above if you receive the request for repayment. 

* The Health Services (SH) Group and Commerce and Purchasing (CP) Group have not reached tentative agreements; bargaining is ongoing. 

** RCMP Civilian Members (CM) who are pay-matched to PIPSC bargaining units at IT, SP, RE, or NR have also received a lump sum payment and may be impacted.