Public Service Employees Rally to “Nix Phoenix.” Let’s build a new federal pay system that works.

For Immediate Release

Ottawa, February 28, 2018 – Hundreds of members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and other unions are gathering in Ottawa today to protest the inability of the federal government to Fix Phoenix.

The rally is being held from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. in front of the government offices at 90 Elgin Street in Ottawa. Speakers include PIPSC President Debi Daviau; Robyn Benson, National President, PSAC; Chris Aylward, National Executive Vice-President, PSAC; and Greg Phillips, President, CAPE.

Budget 2018 committed $16M towards the building of an alternative pay system to replace the problem plagued Phoenix. “I see this as a glimmer of hope in a long two years of constant stress and financial worry for our members”, said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “We told them our members had lost confidence in Phoenix. We said Nix Phoenix - we deserve better and they have listened”.

The project promises to engage experts and unions in the development of a new system. PIPSC will work hard to ensure that our own government IT professionals are tasked with building a pay system that works.

Budget 2018 also makes significant investments in the current system promising to hire more pay and compensation staff in the pay centre and within departments and agencies. “We know that more people are needed to make the system work so we are worried that the funding appears to be only for a year” explained Daviau. The Institute remains concerned that the bulk of these funds may be going to Phoenix developer IBM.

“Although we finally see a glimmer of hope when it comes to Phoenix we will be working hard to keep up the pressure. We won’t stop until all of our members come to expect to be paid correctly and on time – all of the time” said Daviau.

Other rallies are also planned today across the country.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents approximately 55,000 public service professionals across Canada, including 13,000 federal IT professionals.

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For further information:

Johanne Fillion

613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell)
jfillion@pipsc.ca

Published on 28 February 2018