Posted on

October 31st: PSAC members to send Liberal government a message

oct31

On October 31, PSAC members across the country will be reminding Prime Minister Trudeau to make good on his word to respect public services and the people who provide them.

“Last year, Mr. Trudeau wrote to all public service workers promising to treat them with respect and restore the cuts made by Stephen Harper,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “It has been a year since the election. The tone has changed, but it’s now time for action.”

Liberal government, Conservative agenda

Instead of moving forward in bargaining, the government has continued to push the Conservative agenda.

“Under the Liberals, Treasury Board has had five meetings with us, and almost a year to improve their offer to reflect Mr. Trudeau’s promise to show respect for the public service,” said Benson.

Haunted by Phoenix

As negotiations with Treasury Board for over 90,000 PSAC members remains unresolved, Phoenix continues to haunt public service workers. The pay system, launched in January of this year, is still causing problems for thousands.

The government had promised that by October 31, the 80,000 case backlog reported in June would be cleared. However, the government announced on October 19 that it would not meet this deadline.

In addition to this backlog, many more PSAC members have had pay problems since June that are also outstanding. The exact number is not clear, as the government has been unwilling to disclose this figure.

Public service workers deserve to be paid correctly and on time for the work that they do.

Come out on October 31

On October 31, join with other PSAC members across the country to deliver a strong message:

  • Dump the Conservative bargaining agenda
  • Start talking to us about real change for a better public service
  • Make good on your word – Canadians are counting on us

We encourage all PSAC members in the federal public service to participate. Please contact your local, or the closest PSAC regional office, to find out how you can participate.

Posted on

Phoenix taking its toll on workers at Miramichi pay centre

PhoenixToll

The Phoenix pay system debacle is being felt by public service workers across Canada, but nowhere more intensely than in the eye of the storm—the Miramichi pay centre.

That’s the message PSAC President Robyn Benson and Donna Lackie, President of the Government Services Union component, gave Minister Judy Foote at their August 19, meeting.

“Workers there, who are working long hours struggling to deliver pay, are carrying the weight of the entire public service on their shoulders,” says Lackie.

Pay centre workers tell their stories at a union town hall meeting

Members spoke about poor working conditions, lack of support resources, and problems with failing technology at a recent town hall meeting with Benson and Lackie. Compensation advisors are frustrated that they do not have the help they need to get all of the work done, while feeling a lot of stress because of the heavy workload and pressure to deal with more cases than they can handle.

“It’s heartbreaking to see someone at their wit’s end when they can’t do their job,” one worker said. “We used to be able to do our job and be confident in it and efficient.”

Another worker spoke about seeing “people crying at their desks, people calling in sick, and people crying in the bathrooms” because of the stress.

“You have a group of members that are working so hard to ensure that everybody gets paid and gets paid properly but they’re faced with a system that isn’t capable of doing it all,” said Benson.

The union is bringing the concerns voiced by the Miramichi workers directly to Deputy Minister Marie Lemay.

“Morale in Miramichi is at its absolute lowest,” said Lackie.

The union has asked the government to bring in mental health experts on site at the pay centre.

Miramichi workers’ messages to affected public service workers

Compensation advisors in Miramichi also had messages to share with other public service employees.

“Remember, the people that work at the pay centre are employees too. We also experience pay problems,” said one worker.

“Hang in there,” said another, “We are working as hard as we can. We are trying our best.”

PSAC tells Parliamentary committee about pay centre conditions

On July 28, Lackie testified before the House of Commons Committee on Government Operations and Estimates about the working conditions at the pay centre.

  • Most of the compensation advisors are recent hires and new to government.
  • Public service pay is complicated, involving 27 collective agreements and tens of thousands of rules.
  • Compensation staff were not given consistent or adequate training before the system went live.
  • Before Phoenix was rolled out, PSAC warned the department of problems and repeatedly asked that the project be slowed down.
  • When the system was rolled out, staff could not keep up with the files coming in while trying to fix the huge number of errors.
  • Throughout the training and testing, the compensation advisors could not rely on the technology, and had nowhere to go for answers to their questions.
  • However, the advisors have been very resourceful and creative, devising “work arounds” and sharing solutions to problems among their co-workers.
  • The union gets calls on a daily basis from “broken compensation advisors” who fear losing their jobs.
  • The workers are proud to work for the Government of Canada, but the pressure is becoming intolerable.
Posted on

Huge Victory for members of UNE and PSAC

SalaryProtection

The Union of National Employees and PSAC are proud to announce a great victory for members who transferred to the Department of Canadian Heritage from the National Capital Commission (NCC) in September 2013. A long-awaited decision was handed down by the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board (PSLREB) on July 4, 2016 which upheld the right to salary protection for the transferred workers.

The policy grievance, filed by the PSAC on December 12, 2013, involved 44 members who were transferred by government order and then told they would be paid under the Treasury Board’s classification system, meaning that they would see their salaries reduced by up to $12,000 per year. PSAC successfully argued before the PSLREB that the employees had been reclassified and therefore should be covered under the salary protection clauses. The PSLREB decision means that all of the affected employees will be entitled to full salary protection under the PSAC and Treasury Board collective agreements effective from the date of transfer.

“This is a significant win for our members and sets an important precedent for all government employees who will be transferred in the future. We fought the employer’s decision to reduce our members’ salaries and the PSLREB ruled that the employer had violated the collective agreement,” said Doug Marshall, UNE National President.

After UNE’s informal requests for consultation were ignored, PSAC wrote in May 2013 to both Canadian Heritage and the National Capital Commission to create a joint committee.  The purpose of the committee was to ensure members’ rights were protected under the collective agreements and to institute a transfer process that was transparent to them. Both Heritage and NCC, however, continued their refusal to consult.  Instead of consultation, in November 2013, after the transfer took place, the employer proposed a Memorandum of Agreement, which we rejected because it still denied salary protection.

Shortly after the transfer took place, the UNE filed 87 grievances dealing with job content and classification. When the grievances were being presented to Heritage, they were denied, regardless of members being classified downward or their pay reduced.

As with any decision involving retroactive salary increases, members should expect that it will take some time before the proper amount of retroactive pay is calculated and the new salary rates are implemented. PSAC, UNE and Local leadership will work with Treasury Board to discuss implementation of the decision by the end of the summer.

Also affected by the decision were PSAC members who were transferred from the Canada Revenue Agency to Shared Services Canada.

Posted on

Are you using your employer’s email system for union business?

EmployerEmail

As elected officers of the union, your communication with the union and with the members you represent is important and confidential. The first thing you should do – if you have not already – is secure a personal email for all union correspondence.

“But I mostly deal with members at work, so why can’t I just use my work email?”

While it may appear convenient, the email system at your work belongs to the employer. Under some circumstances, that means they can access your emails – even union-related – which can result in an embarrassing situation if confidentiality between you and your members is compromised.

There is also a greater chance for error. You could type someone’s name and press send to someone with the same name as a fellow member but accidentally send the email to management. Your contact list at work is different from your personal contact list.

A personal email address protects you and anyone with whom you discuss union business.

There are many providers of free email access and most sites that host them are not blocked by your employer’s network. If you have questions about where to sign up, please feel free to contact us at communications@une-sen.org. We’re here to help keep your union communications confidential.

 

 

Posted on

Quebec Regional Seminar

RegSemQC600x375

Your regional seminar is fast approaching and it’s the best place to learn about our union and the many things we do.

This event is jam-packed with lectures and workshops to help you gain the knowledge and confidence you’ll need to help our members. It’s also a great place to meet active members just like you and forge long-lasting friendships.

For a sneak-peek at what else we have in store for you, check out the agenda.

Participants should arrive between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Friday, September 16, 2016 to register. You should select representatives from your Local to attend the seminar. The Union of National Employees will fund two delegates per Local as well as one youth:

  1. One delegate should be the local president or designate.
  2. The second delegate should be a member who has not previously attended a UNE conference or seminar.
  3. One delegate from each local should be a youth delegate. (A youth delegate is defined as a member who will be 35 years or younger on December 31, 2017.)

During the seminar, youth delegates will elect two of their peers to represent them as delegates to our 2017 convention.

You must register by Friday, August 12, 2016. Unfortunately, we cannot consider late registrations.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE

Should you have any questions, please contact Suzanne Boucher at: suzanne.boucher@une-sen.org.

In solidarity,

Your regional team:

Yvon Beaudoin, Regional Vice-President, Québec
Yann Boudreau, Assistant Regional Vice-President, Québec
Géraldine Fortin, Assistant Regional Vice-President, Québec
Keith Lemoine, Regional Representative for Human Rights, Québec

Posted on

Parks bargaining team raises pay issues, rejects short term disability proposal

ParksBargainUpdate

Our Parks negotiating team met with the employer’s team on June 28 and 29, 2016.

We opened our discussions by expressing our dismay and anger toward the agency regarding the ongoing pay issues. We concluded our discussion by advising the agency that pay day should be not be a stressful event. Meanwhile, PSAC, along with other federal government unions representing thousands of federal government employees filed a Notice of Application with the Federal Court directing the Respondent to implement a pay administration system that meets its obligations under the FAA and the Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment.

The agency tabled a revised short term disability proposal to replace our current sick leave provisions. Similar to the proposals tabled with other groups recently, the agency’s proposal would remove sick leave provisions from the current collective agreement and short term disability would be administered as an agency policy. Our negotiating team remains committed to resisting this concession and rejected the agency’s proposal.

Negotiations are set to resume on October 24-27 and November 14-17, 2016.

Our negotiating team thanks you for your ongoing patience and support.

Posted on

Unions file court application to force federal government to pay workers impacted by Phoenix pay system

FixPhoenix

PSAC, along with other federal government unions representing thousands of federal government employees filed a Notice of Application with the Federal Court today.

The unions are seeking a court order directing the Respondent to implement a pay administration system that meets its obligations under theFAA and the Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment.

The federal government is responsible for paying public service workers on time for the work they do. The unions are demanding that the federal government meet its legal duty to provide timely and accurate pay for public service employees.

Pay system not working

The new Phoenix pay system is not working and hurting many public service workers. It is also putting excessive stress on the employees who process pay under the new system. Since its implementation, Phoenix has exhibited ongoing and significant systemic problems in the administration of pay for public service employees.

The application states Phoenix has resulted in the following pay system problems

  •          Outright failure to pay employees
  •          Delayed and inaccurate payments
  •          Failure to pay overtime and extra duty pay
  •          Failure to process information necessary for disability insurance, employment insurance and pension payments.

The unions argue that these ongoing circumstances raise concerns that affect all public service employees, constitute a breach of the employer’s duty to provide timely and accurate pay for public service employees.

Unions involved in this application

Association of Justice Counsel, Canadian Association of Professional Employees, Canadian Federal Pilots Association, Canadian Merchant Service Guild, Canadian Military Colleges Faculty Association, Federal Government Dockyard Chargehands Association, Federal Government Dockyard Trades and Labour Council (West), Federal Government Dockyard Trades and Labour Council (East), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Profession Association of Foreign Service Officers, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Research Council Employees’ Association, Unifor

Background: PSAC letter writing campaign

PSAC has called on its members and public service workers to send a letter to Minister Foote urgently calling for the Phoenix pay system to be fixed immediately. So far more than 2000 letters have been sent documenting serious issues.

Posted on

Canadian Multiculturalism Day

CanadianMulticulturalismDay2

By: Shirley Torres

Diversity, unity, solidarity, mosaic, community, society, harmony, togetherness, equality: These are only some of the many words that are parallel to multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is a blend of different languages, religion, race, colour, custom and tradition. Multiculturalism is the world.

Canada is a world within the world. It is a melting pot of different cultures. It is home to many people of diverse ethnic backgrounds but people having the same aspirations and dreams. They live and work here to build their future, to pursue their dreams, striving, working hard and sometimes struggling to achieve their goals and by doing so, contributing to the development of their communities, the society and the country, culturally, economically and politically.

In 1971, Canada, the first in the world, adopted multiculturalism as an official policy. This was formalized when on July 21, 1988 the Canadian Multiculturalism Act was passed “to promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society”. By Royal Proclamation, on November 13, 2002, June 27 of each year was designated as Canadian Multiculturalism Day. We celebrate this day to learn more about each other’s culture, to be proud of our own and to have a better understanding and acceptance of the diversity in our society.  This is a celebration of diversity, Canada’s strength.

June 27 is a day of recognizing, appreciating and celebrating each other’s culture. It is a day to pay tribute to everyone’s continuous contribution in building a stronger, united, diverse Canada.

Happy Multiculturalism Day!

Shirley Torres is the UNE Human Rights Representative for the B.C. and Yukon region.