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Phoenix: Union meets with Minister Brison, senior government officials; PSAC members rally in Quebec

On May 1, PSAC National President Robyn Benson and National Executive Vice President Chris Aylward, along with other union leaders, attended a meeting with senior government officials regarding Phoenix. Benson and Aylward have been attending these regular meetings for months, in order to address the problems caused by the Phoenix pay system.

The President of the Treasury Board, Minister Scott Brison, briefly attended the meeting to hear directly from PSAC and the other unions. Minister Brison spoke about the new Phoenix working group of MPs and Ministers.

“If the task force of Ministers and MPs can ensure there are more resources put in place to fix this broken system and support employees who’ve been hurt, we’ll know that the government’s commitment to a solution is real,” said Benson after the meeting. “This debacle has gone on far too long, and our members need to see concrete action.”

Action needed

This meeting provided another opportunity for PSAC to reiterate its demands that the government follow up last week’s announcement with concrete action.

To get closer to a permanent fix, PSAC demands that the government:

  • Hire more staff at the pay centre in Miramichi and make sure this is stable.
  • Hire permanent, not temporary, staff at the call centres who have the training and support to help our members.
  • Make a commitment to keep the satellite pay centres open permanently.

Members rally

This past weekend, thousands of PSAC members across Quebec rallied in front of MP offices to protest the on-going problems with the Phoenix pay system.

“I am proud of our members for continuing to keep the pressure on the federal government to fix Phoenix,” said Benson.

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Emergency pay available to employees on maternity, parental or disability leave and experiencing Phoenix pay problems

 

Following the court action taken by PSAC, along with 12 other unions, the court obliged the government to provide better access to help for Phoenix affected employees on disability, maternity, and parental leave.

As a result, federal public service workers who are transitioning to maternity, parental or disability leave, and are not receiving benefit payments due to Phoenix, are entitled to a priority payment if normal wait times for processing these payments have been exceeded.

These workers are entitled to 66% of the total income they would otherwise receive, not only the top up portion.

If you are in this situation, send the following letter with the appropriate information included in an email to your manager and copy us at info@psacunion.ca.

Template email
 Click here to email your manager

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Dental Care Plan Negotiations

After an extensive survey of all members covered by the PSAC Public Service Dental Plan, we are going to the table to negotiate improvements to our Dental Plan. We have tabled our initial proposals and will be back at the table in May.

We expect for the Plan to be improved and updated to reflect your needs going forward.

This is a separate negotiations process from the one that we are using for our collective agreement.  If we are unable to get to an agreement, we have access to binding arbitration.

Click here to see the complete list of improvements tabled

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PSAC Members Ratify New Agreement With Treasury Board

Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada working for Treasury Board have accepted new collective agreements that contain no concessions for four bargaining units representing more than 100,000 workers.

The majority of members in the Program and Administrative (PA), Technical Services (TC), Operational Services (SV), and Education and Library Science (EB) bargaining units voted in favour of the new agreements.

“I am proud of our negotiating teams for standing strong during these two long, difficult years at the table,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “It is through the hard work and commitment of the members of our bargaining teams, along with the support and solidarity from the bargaining unit members, that we were able to reach these agreements.”

Significant breakthroughs

With these agreements, PSAC achieved some significant breakthroughs:

  • Sick leave: The sick leave articles of our collective agreements will remain unchanged. The parties have negotiated a Memorandum of Agreement to establish a Task Force to develop recommendations on measures to improve employee wellness.
  • Workforce adjustment: the most significant improvements to the Workforce Adjustment agreement since it was first signed as an appendix into PSAC collective agreements in 1998.
  • Helping workers meet family demands: It has been agreed that a committee will be established to look at childcare needs. Better family leave, including provisions for extended family, have also been negotiated.
  • Mental health task force: the memorandum that established the task force is also contained in this agreement. The MOU was agreed to earlier in the bargaining process, in 2015, and the task force has already been hard at work ever since

Monetary gains

The four-year collective agreements, which expire in 2018, provide for across-the-board annual wage increases of 1.25 per cent for each year, plus other wage adjustments made for specific bargaining units and classifications.

FB group

The Border Services (FB) group was unable to conclude a tentative agreement and is proceeding to a Public Interest Commission.

More information

For more information on the agreements:

For more information about what’s next:

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Managers who worked on Phoenix get bonuses while system is still broken

A recent media article noted that 340 executives at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the department responsible for Phoenix, got performance pay. On April 5, the government gave another update on the troubled Phoenix system and had to deal with questions from the media on the bonus payments.

“Words don’t even describe how shocked we are. The government is basically saying to our members that it doesn’t matter if they get paid or not, they are not important,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “If you are a manager and you’re not doing your job, you should not get paid bonuses.”

While Deputy Minister Lemay said that only some of the mid-level executives who received the payments worked on Phoenix, PSAC maintains that any payments like this should be put on hold until the system is fixed.

Update on Phoenix progress

The government gave its latest monthly update on the Phoenix numbers. Although some progress has been made since the last update, the number of cases overall has not changed. The government said that 285,000 late transactions are still waiting to be dealt with.

The good news for some public service employees: Lemay says that the pay centre has reached “steady state” for maternity and parental leave cases and is on track to do so for disability leave cases by the end of the month. “Steady state” is when 95% of transactions are dealt with within the 20-day service standard.

Phoenix and taxes

The government has said that all T4s have been issued, but revised T4s may still be coming. Public service employees must still file their taxes by the deadline.

For public service employees whose 2016 taxes have been impacted by Phoenix and have questions, there is help available:

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PSAC Award of Merit for Members

At the Union of National Employees, and at the Public Service Alliance of Canada, much of what we do would not be possible without the tireless work of our many volunteers. That is why I am proud to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thanks to those members.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Award of Merit for members was established as an acceptable method to recognize members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada who have rendered service of the greatest distinction and of singular excellence in any field of endeavour, benefiting the PSAC or its members.

Applications for the Award of Merit may be sponsored by a Local, a Component or a member of the National Board of Directors.  Please complete the application carefully. The eligibility criteria and application form can be found on the PSAC website at http://psacunion.ca/eform/submit/psac-award-of-merit-for-members

The deadline for the submission of applications to be considered in any one calendar year is November 30th.

In solidarity,

Doug Marshall
National President
Union of National Employees, PSAC

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Reminder – PSAC Pins and Certificates for Years of Service

At the Union of National Employees, and at the Public Service Alliance of Canada, much of what we do would not be possible without the tireless work of our many volunteers. That is why I am proud to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thanks to those members.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Award of Merit for members was established as an acceptable method to recognize members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada who have rendered service of the greatest distinction and of singular excellence in any field of endeavour, benefiting the PSAC or its members.

Applications for the Award of Merit may be sponsored by a Local, a Component or a member of the National Board of Directors.  Please complete the application carefully. The eligibility criteria and application form can be found on the PSAC website at http://psacunion.ca/eform/submit/psac-award-of-merit-for-members

The deadline for the submission of applications to be considered in any one calendar year is November 30th.

In solidarity,

Doug Marshall
National President
Union of National Employees, PSAC

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PSAC Pins and Certificates for Years of Service

At the Union of National Employees, and at the Public Service Alliance of Canada, much of what we do would not be possible without the tireless work of our many volunteers. That is why I am proud to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thanks to those members who have made significant contributions through union activism.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada has a tradition of honouring long-term officers of the PSAC with service pins and certificates. These pins and certificates can be awarded to those with 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service.

If your Local wishes to nominate a member, please complete the application form and enclose a complete service history of the individual. Please pay careful attention when completing the period of service section of the form. The eligibility criteria and application forms can be found on the PSAC website.

Nominations must arrive at the UNE office no later than April 28, 2017.

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Centre of expertise on mental health in the workplace launches web site

In 2015, the Government of Canada and the Public Service Alliance of Canada established a Joint Task Force to address mental health in the workplace. Together, they identified key areas of focus with the overarching need for the federal public service to create a culture that enshrines psychological health, safety and well-being in all aspects of the workplace through collaboration, inclusivity and respect.

One of the recommendations stemming from the Technical Committee Report was the creation of a single, enterprise-wide, Centre of Expertise on mental health in the workplace.

The Centre of Expertise’s web presence aims to facilitate easy access to resources and tools for organizations, managers and employees. It is intended to help guide organization efforts to build a healthy, respectful and supportive federal public service, provide access to documents and tools and collect and share best practices.

Source: www.psacununion.ca

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Tentative Agreement Reached with Canadian Museum of History

Just before 2:00 am on Thursday morning, after 12 months of negotiations, our Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement with the Canadian Museum of History. Our Bargaining Team unanimously recommends ratification of our new agreement. The agreement is a four-year collective agreement with an expiration date of March 31, 2020.

Wages

  • Market adjustments taking effect on April 1, 2016, to be applied to maximum of salary scale of $1,500.00 for E3, E4, E5 and E6, $1000.00 for E7 and E8 and $500.00 for E1, E2 (amounts pro-rated for 40-hour employees)
  • Increase in annual service pay to 2.5%.
  • Annual economic increases amounting to 5% over 4 years (1.25% per year).

Market adjustments and service pay increases implemented before annual increase.

  • All increases retroactive to April 1, 2016.
  • One-time, lump-sum signing bonus of $650.00 for all full-time employees on date of ratification, pro-rated for part time employees.
  • A joint committee to examine introduction of new wage grids for next round of negotiations.

Permanent Positions

  • Our agreement provides for the creation of 10 new permanent positions in Client Services, to be offered by seniority consistent with collective agreement.
  • Additionally, our agreement provides for the conversion of 6 part-time Client Services positions to permanent full-time
  • Temporary employees will now have the opportunity to achieve permanency after working equivalent of 2 years with museum. Employer has agreed to no artificial break in service for employees seeking to achieve permanency.

Leave

  • One-time week of vacation for all employees with 2 years of service.
  • Employees access 4 weeks’ annual vacation at 5 years of service instead of 6 years of service.
  • Employer to reimburse costs for medical certificates.
  • All time spent in public service and with other crown corporations to count towards vacation accrual.

Job Security

  • Significant new protections against layoff, including employer must make every effort to avoid layoff, as well as seniority options for voluntary departures.
  • Longer recall list, enhanced rights for employees receiving notice.

Scheduling

  • Client Services staff to now have option of working a 40-hour week, as well as many new protections with respect to how hours are scheduled.
  • New protections against permanent reduction in regularly scheduled hours for full-time employees.

Staffing

  • All vacant jobs of more than 6 months in duration that are being filled must be publicized so that union members might apply.

Classification

  • The union must now be notified in the event that a job is being modified, re-evaluated or reclassified.

For more information about our new contract and ratification, contact a member of our Bargaining Team – Patrice Remillard, Cathy Mitchell, Eric Pallotta. A full explanation of the new agreement, and a copy of the new language, will be provided at the ratification meeting. We’ll be sure to provide an update once we have a date and location confirmed for the vote.