President’s Evaluation Report – 2016

Fellow Members,

I am pleased once again to report on the Institute’s progress and accomplishments over the past 12 months. When I wrote to you last year at this time the outcome of the 2015 federal election was far from certain and worries that re-election of the Harper government might lead to even more job cuts, more elimination of federal public services, more muzzling of scientists and more targeting of unions weighed heavily on us.

What a difference a year makes. The election of the Trudeau government led almost immediately to announcements that the mandatory long-form census would be reinstated and that scientists were once again free to speak directly to media and the public – demands we had made with growing and repeated urgency in the lead up to and during the election. These were followed early in the new year by the announcement that anti-union bills C-377 and C-525 would, in the coming months, be repealed and that the new government would seek to establish more respectful relations with federal bargaining agents and public servants generally.

Of course saying what one intends to do and doing them aren’t the same thing, which is why we continued to insist that reversing Harper-era restrictions on collective bargaining (in particular, restoring our right to strike and to seek arbitration) was a necessary pre-condition to free and fair collective bargaining. In May, the new government announced its intention to repeal those Harper-era provisions as well.

These are all significant advances and commitments over the previous year and the previous government, and they attest to the enduring value of PIPSC’s continued strategy to engage on a wide range of issues and fronts both at and beyond the bargaining table.

Last winter and spring, for example, we argued both in our brief submitted to the federal Finance Committee and in an enormously successful day of lobbying of MPs on the Hill, that the government take advantage of its first budget to begin serious reinvestments in science and the Canada Revenue Agency and reduce its overreliance on outsourcing. In the end, Budget 2016 included significant hiring of new scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, substantial reinvestments in the Canada Revenue Agency, and projected savings of $170 million through reduced reliance on outside contractors. While these are a good start, much work remains to be done to restore and preserve professional services within the federal government, which is why promoting tax fairness, protecting scientific integrity, and reducing outsourcing – along with protecting sick leave and ensuring a fair wage increase – remain vital parts of our ongoing negotiations with the government.

The federal government may have changed but, in many ways, its bargaining position hasn’t. That’s meant that our efforts to educate and engage members and the public are as important as ever. While the Trudeau government is far preferable to the previous Harper government and continues to enjoy a long honeymoon in public opinion polls, its efforts to deliver on its campaign promises of last year ultimately depend on ensuring a strong and engaged federal public service. That must involve concluding favourable collective agreements fairly and soon.

In early June, following months of government delays in bargaining, we launched an exciting public awareness campaign with a well-attended, enthusiastic rally in downtown Ottawa, declaring, in the words of the signs many members carried, we’re “Ready” to bargain – “ready to protect sick leave, to increase salaries, to preserve scientific integrity, to promote tax fairness, and to stop outsourcing.” In June, we also launched a major survey report that begins to do for all our members on the issue of outsourcing what previous reports on muzzling and cutbacks have done for our federal science members – i.e., educate government and the public on how widespread over-reliance on outsourced services leaves the public service “Programmed to Fail.”

A recent, glaring example of this failure was the purchase and rollout of the federal government’s new Phoenix pay system, an off-the-shelf product that has impacted the pay of approximately one-quarter of all federal employees, some so severely that they have been forced to look for work elsewhere. I personally have spent many hours in recent months seeking both immediate and lasting solutions to this issue with government officials, including Public Services and Procurement Canada Minister Judy Foote and Treasury Board President Scott Brison. While PIPSC’s primary job has been to ensure our members are properly compensated for lost pay and out-of-pocket expenses due to the Phoenix fiasco, we have also taken every opportunity to remind the government that adequate investment up front in federal employees and services is vital to ensuring that such fundamental failures do not occur in the future – either to employees or to the general public. The ongoing delays, cost overruns, and security problems that have plagued the outsourced consolidation of government email systems and development of the government’s new Canada.ca website – to say nothing of recent government plans to move information and services to private IT cloud providers – make investing in government services and reducing outsourcing an issue of national urgency.

One area in which we were pleased to see some movement is in the area of pay equity, though our enthusiasm was dampened by the government's timelines. Our submission this spring to the House of Commons Special Committee on Pay Equity outlined the longstanding problem of the pay gap between men and women and the need to at long last ensure “a fair and functional labour sector.” We were therefore pleased when the government promised this fall to introduce legislation – but disappointed that they would only do so by the end of 2018. Pay equity is among the most studied legal issues in our country. That fact alone gives strength to the even longer-held observation that “Justice delayed is justice denied.” We will continue to seek opportunities to intervene on the issue.

On pensions, we continue to support our New Brunswick members in their fight against the provincial government’s move from a Defined Benefit pension plan to a Shared Risk Plan. The recent decision by the Canadian Union of Public Employees to intervene in our legal action against the province greatly strengthens our efforts to ensure members can retire in dignity.

The past year has been a watershed for PIPSC and I am confident that, with continued pressure, we will make meaningful progress at the bargaining table in the coming months. This is a pivotal moment for us. With a new federal government in place there is an opportunity to repair the damage from the Harper years and emerge as a leader in defending professionalism in public service.

We have a unique role to play in shaping public policy and setting a new tone with the government. The key to success will be in making the strategic investments we need in order to maintain existing services and program for success. This year's Annual General Meeting will vote on an important resolution in support of a dues increase of $10 per month. I urge you to support this resolution because the additional funding will help us continue building a strong and modern PIPSC that fights for your jobs, for your livelihood and for professionalism in public service.

In furthering all this work, I wish to thank my fellow Board members, elected Group and regional officials, stewards, volunteers and PIPSC staff for their dedication and service to our members.

It has been my honour to serve you as President of the Professional Institute for another year, and I look forward to presenting our plans for another challenging year at our upcoming Annual General Meeting.

Debi Daviau
President