Michelle saw baby guppies in her childhood aquarium and immediately fell in love with biology. After attending university to study science, Michelle was hired to work in the Experimental Lakes Area and kicked off her career in environmental studies and fieldwork.

After a successful career working as a laboratory technician, Michelle loves spending time with her family, travelling and being outdoors, so pursuing a career where she got to spend most of her days canoeing for water samples and scuba diving was a dream come true. Before her current position, she also worked in Manitoba’s virology lab testing for measles, mumps and rubella, along with other viruses.

If women weren’t as well represented in biology, Michelle says she may never have decided to go to university. As the first person in her family to earn a degree, she said that continuing to improve women’s representation in STEM is essential to empowering women and girls.

“I feel very grateful to work as part of a union because it shows to me the value in the advocacy of the union.”

This year, PIPSC bargained a historic win of 10 paid days of leave for survivors and victims of domestic violence, as well as a parental leave top-up of five weeks when both parents work for the federal public service. Michelle says that these important wins could never have been made possible without the advocacy of the union and the united efforts of women at the bargaining table.

“We have a long way to go in terms of Indigenous rights, women’s rights and the rights of the other,” Michelle says. 

“A better Canada is one where we realize we are all in this together.”

With amazing members like Michelle working to improve our communities and advocate for women’s rights, PIPSC will continue to make a difference in shaping a stronger Canada.

Today, Michelle works as a research biologist at the Canadian Grain Commission. On a daily basis, she helps establish and maintain science-based standards of quality for Canadian grain sold nationally and abroad.

“I use science to help farmers sell their grain. The testing I do is critical,” she says. “I’ve always tried to make a positive difference in my community that I hope will have a ripple
effect around the world.”

Michelle isn’t just an important part of the lives of Canadian farmers, but she’s also an important leader in her workplace and union. Michelle is an active, contributing member of the PIPSC Women in Science (WiS) taskforce that works to improve
equity and inclusion policies in public science.

“With respect to the WiS taskforce that I’m involved with… I see that evolving into really great projects and policies shaped by women in science.” For Michelle, the work she does in the WiS task force is more important than ever because of the way women have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

“The pandemic has hit women harder than men. Some women have had to leave their careers or scale back their careers because of the pandemic,” she says. “When we shape policy, we need to do it with all genders in mind.”

On February 23, 2021, President Debi Daviau testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) about our concerns with Bill C-224, which would create a single tax return for Quebecers to be processed by Revenu Québec.

She outlined the reasons why we oppose the bill:

• It will have a negative financial impact on taxpayers across Canada

• It will not result in tax processing efficiencies for residents of Quebec

• It’s a step backward in the fight against tax evasion

• It’s a move away from tax fairness

• It will lead to the loss of high-quality jobs in Shawinigan and Jonquière, two smaller provincial communities already hard hit by the pandemic

We are not the only ones to take this position.

Academic and expert literature on this issue demonstrates that there is no clear evidence that decentralization of Canadian tax administration to a provincial authority would result in greater aggregate savings, efficiency, compliance or accountability as compared to centralizing the administration of provincial taxes at the CRA.

Bill C-224 should not be adopted. A better way to go, if we want less paperwork, a lighter tax filing burden on individuals, and a guarantee that people get the benefits they are entitled to, would be automatic tax filing. This is something the Trudeau government has committed to implementing and we support that initiative. The CRA has the capacity to effectively process Quebec taxes, as it already does for the other provinces.

We continue to meet virtually with Members of Parliament on this issue and we will report back to our members on the status of the bill in the weeks ahead.

On February 19, 2021, President Debi Daviau wrote to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Commissioner Bob Hamilton regarding its recent decision to hire a third-party contractor to answer questions from taxpayers about emergency benefits and their impact on 2020 tax returns.

While the various programs introduced to help Canadians during the pandemic may well result in a substantial increase in the number and complexity of questions fielded by the CRA during the upcoming tax season, it is incomprehensible why public service professionals have not been asked to perform this work. CRA had many options to provide these services internally, including the hiring of term employees, and there is no good reason why it chose to look to an external provider to do so.

Private call centre staff are much likelier to provide incomplete or inaccurate information to taxpayers than CRA personnel. Their training is not of the same calibre and they are not held to the same standard of confidentiality as public service employees. Worse, many Canadians may not realize they are not speaking to a CRA professional and may inadvertently provide confidential information to these private-sector call centre agents.

This brings to mind the fiasco that ensued when hundreds of hastily prepared call centre agents were hired to provide assistance to federal employees experiencing complex pay problems caused by Phoenix.

We support our CRA colleagues represented by the Union of Taxation Employees and we call upon the Commissioner to immediately reverse this decision. Canadian taxpayers deserve the best service possible. Contracting out this critical work will once again prove more expensive and less effective than if it were performed by knowledgeable and experienced public service professionals.

The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Finance re-launched its pre-budget consultations for 2021.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has referred to the upcoming budget as the “the most significant one of our lifetimes.” The stakes are high; we want to ensure this budget works for PIPSC members and all Canadians.

READ OUR BUDGET 2021 RECOMMENDATIONS

Here are some excerpts:

Recommendation 1: Build an equitable and sustainable national recovery plan

The impact of public policy decisions made in the next few years will be felt for generations. Success means protecting people’s health today and their livelihood tomorrow while also addressing structural inequity and ecological imperatives.

Recommendation 2: Invest confidently in the public service

When markets failed, the public service was there. The crisis has proven that Canadians benefit from having a strong, efficient and professional public service. Now is the time to confidently invest in the future. The vital programs that save lives, protect the environment and grow our economy must remain in the hands of our non-partisan public service.

Recommendation 3: Protect workers as the country reopens

We need to move slowly, protect people and pull everyone up along the way.

Recommendation 4: $750 million grant for NAV CANADA in each of the next two years

The government must immediately support the company by providing it with emergency funding to get through this crisis.

Recommendation 5: Correct inequality with tax fairness

We cannot simply strive to return to the status quo; we must correct the deep inequality that has been exposed. A rigorous examination of the tax system will be critical to ensure there is a legacy of positive and meaningful change – allowing those who have profited from the crisis to lift up those who have been harmed.

The government is planning legislation to ensure greater diversity and inclusion in the federal public service, including at the highest administrative levels.

Racism, discrimination and lack of action are nothing new to many federal public service employees. A long-standing history of alienation among BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) public servants needs to be recognized and addressed.

The Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) has just published its audit report on employment equity representation in recruitment. The report reviewed the representation of employment equity groups at 5 key stages of the recruitment process: job application, automated screening, organizational screening, assessment and appointment. 

Its key findings are:

• The representation rate of Indigenous candidates decreased at the assessment stage

• The representation rate of persons with disabilities decreased at the assessment and appointment stages

• The representation rate of visible minority groups declined at the organizational screening and assessment stages

• Of the visible minority sub-groups examined in the audit, Black candidates experienced a greater drop in representation than members of other visible minority groups, both at the organizational screening stage and at the assessment stage

The audit provides 3 recommendations: 

• Deputy Heads should review their staffing framework and practices to ensure barrier-free appointment processes for all employment equity groups, including visible minority sub-groups

• The PSC should work with other central agencies and employment equity groups to identify specific factors that impact the success of employment equity groups and visible minority sub-groups within the hiring process, and to implement solutions

• The PSC should increase its efforts in developing and promoting systems, tools and guidance that support inclusive external recruitment processes, with a focus on the development of barrier-free assessment approaches

We have written to Clerk of the Privy Council Ian Shugart – the Head of Canada’s public service – on how to advance Diversity and Inclusion in the federal public service. He had recently sent an important memo to senior public service leaders directing them to take action on this issue.

While we welcome this long-overdue initiative, this is not the first time senior public service leaders have introduced similar projects. These have had little or no impact on public service demographics, which still do not reflect those of Canada.

Past initiatives such as the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, spearheaded by the Treasury Board, have included significant contributions from PIPSC and other union representatives. Unfortunately, these have made only limited progress since they were first introduced.

Going forward, we would like to ensure the timely introduction and implementation of Diversity and Inclusion recommendations, including the allocation of sufficient resources.

It is critical to institutionalize such work and ensure its continuation after the individuals involved have moved on. We welcome the opportunity to work with the Treasury Board and individual government departments to develop a framework that will once and for all address the structural problems that contribute to D & I problems in the recruitment and overall staffing of Canada’s public service.

Bill C-224 aims to create a single tax return administered by Revenu Québec. We oppose and are actively working to stop this bill.

Many Audit, Financial and Scientific (AFS) Group members are understandably concerned about the impact it could have on their careers and positions.

Quebec residents are the only taxpayers in Canada that must file two separate tax returns, one federal and one provincial. Other provinces have agreements that allow the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to administer both federal and provincial taxes.

Sponsored by Bloc Québecois Member of Parliament Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bill C-224 was introduced last year but was not examined by Parliament because of other governmental priorities linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has just resurfaced and is expected to be reviewed in committee some time in 2021.

While there is no indication at this point that it will be adopted, we are not taking any chances. We are about to begin the lobbying campaign we would have conducted last year had there been no pandemic.

As a first step, President Daviau recently sent a letter to several influential MPs outlining our principal concerns with the bill:

• There is no clear evidence that decentralization of Canadian tax administration to a province would result in greater savings, efficiency, compliance or accountability.
• A shift from the CRA to Revenu Québec would require a significant expansion of the latter’s capacity, as well as an expansion of its administration budget. The CRA is already in a position to centralize Québec’s tax administration.
• International agreements aimed at fighting tax evasion are signed between central governments, and Quebec would not be in a position to perform the federal government’s work in this area.
• The proposed transfer would have a significant impact on 2 Quebec regions, Shawinigan and Jonquière, at a time of ongoing economic and social upheavals linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are urging these influential MPs to oppose Bill C-224 and have asked for virtual meetings with them as soon as possible. We will do our utmost to defeat this potential legislation and protect our CRA members’ jobs.

On January 26, 2021, Shared Services Canada (SSC)’s Shereen Miller (ADM Next Generation HR and Pay - NextGen) and Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO)’s Stephanie Poliquin (ADM, People Mgt Systems and Processes) updated the PIPSC Board of Directors and Advisory Council on the project’s progress.

The detailed presentation and Q & A session demonstrated how far NextGen has come over the past year thanks to the hard work and dedication of union and employer representatives. PIPSC is a key player on NextGen’s Joint Union Management Committee and has been actively involved in the project since the government first announced it in mid-2018.

SSC’s intention for the next 3 years is to work on a rigorous, open and transparent process designed to find a way forward on a new solution. Lessons learned over this period will form the basis of eventual decisions on the replacement of the legacy HR and Phoenix pay systems currently in place throughout the core public service.

If the inaugural pilot, currently underway at Canadian Heritage, is successful, it will lead to recommendations for the system’s eventual adoption and implementation. If not, problems will have occurred within a controlled environment and will provide a better understanding of how to move forward. The pilot and subsequent tests are being run in parallel with existing systems and will not impact our members’ pay.

A later stage will seek to prove that the proposed architecture, solution, processes and approach resolve the challenges encountered on the way, as well as demonstrate their scalability and flexibility. This will involve employees represented by approximately 40% of the federal government’s collective agreements. The final stage will see the proposed solution scaled and deployed to additional departments.

We are committed to turning the page on Phoenix and to continue working in close collaboration with ADMs Miller and Poliquin and their respective teams towards the successful implementation of NextGen.

Mahammadu has studied and worked in veterinary medicine all over the world, from Ghana to Australia. Today, he is a PIPSC member and veterinarian working in Berwick, Nova Scotia.

After a successful career working as a laboratory technician, university teacher and veterinarian abroad, Mahammadu now works for the federal public service. As part of his job, Mahammadu ensures the humane treatment of animals and the safe exportation of meat products all over Canada and the world.

For him, it’s important that this work is done by the public sector so that producers follow the highest health and animal rights standards.

Mahammadu embodies these ideas in the work he does everyday, and started fighting for the rights of workers early in his career. When he started working in Ontario, immigrant veterinarians were hired at lower wages than workers educated in Canada.

“Here in Canada, what happened when I was hired is I was put at the lowest salary. Canadian trained graduates were put right at the top of the scale,” he says.

Mahammadu and his colleagues aren’t the first ones to experience this pay disparity in the workplace. He got in touch with his PIPSC representative and together we fought to ensure all veterinarians received the same fair wage. As a union, we work together to protect our fair pay scales and to ensure safe working conditions.

“I didn’t know much about unions; those days we didn’t have stewards but Employee Relations Officers,” he says. “Today as a steward, I get confidence in myself that I can stand up for my colleagues. I have seen the safeguarding of promotional standards and members know that there are always people around like me to stand up and help them.”

For Mahammadu, his work as a veterinarian and his work in the union are both important. Being in a union is important to him because collective advocacy promotes equality within Canada, starting at the community level.

“The union has been actively involved in advocating for our leave, pay structure, the Phoenix issue, and our work standards,” he said. “They guide us, get answers to our problems, and are strong advocates for our rights and equality.”

Mahammadu has been a trusted leader and change-maker in his workplace ever since he started advocating with the union for fair wages. From small-town Nova Scotia to the broader regions of Canada, our community veterinarians like Mahammadu make a big impact on our world.

“We as members form the union, and the union ensures that the values we stand for are maintained and preserved,” he says. “The union is there to support, advise, and stand up for our rights.”

Mahammadu has been an essential part of his group’s bargaining team, he works as a steward to help his colleagues resolve conflicts and issues at work, and he also contributes as an active member of the PIPSC Human Rights and Diversity Committee.

“A better Canada needs mechanisms in place that will promote equality and eliminate the barriers to equality; set standards for poverty reduction, provide proper education, good healthcare and the safeguarding of our pensions,” he says.

With members like Mahammadu at the forefront of advocacy, together as a union we are building more inclusive workplaces, and a more inclusive Canada.

Black History Month is a time to celebrate the historical achievements of Black Canadians while acknowledging the many inequalities they face.

As labour leaders, we must take action to combat anti-Black racism. We must foster environments where Black Canadian workers can thrive in their workplaces and in everyday life.

This Black History Month, join PIPSC for a look into the realities faced by Black Canadians.

Watch the Black Canadians in leadership roles: challenges, opportunities and successes webinar that aired February 18.

We, the public service unions and the National Association of Federal Retirees of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), demand that the Treasury Board come to the table ready to discuss changes to the plan.  

The PSHCP covers most workers and retirees of the federal public service and has not been meaningfully reviewed since 2006. In 2018, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed committing the Treasury Board to complete a review of the plan by March 31, 2019. The Treasury Board has not begun discussions with us.

Public service unions and the National Association of Federal Retirees believe that changes are needed to reflect recent medical advances, the increase in cost of living, and emerging technology. Together, we surveyed our members in 2018 and we are prepared to advocate for the changes you need in your health care plan. We have done the work to understand what our members need and how the PSHCP can respond to them. Continued delays are a serious neglect of the Treasury Board’s duties under the Financial Administration Act and its commitment to collaborate with public service unions and the National Association of Federal Retirees.

Along with our colleagues from other National Joint Council unions, we have cosigned a letter to the Treasury Board. We are prepared to commence legal proceedings to bring the Treasury Board to the table.  The National Association of Federal Retirees has submitted a separate letter of support.

Read the cosigned letter

Learn more about your group’s current extended health care plan: https://pipsc.ca/labour-relations/health-plan