The Institute is saddened to report the untimely passing of our friend and colleague Shirley Gillette. Shirley’s commitment to Institute members was deep and unwavering. We will miss her very much.
A loyal and hard-working member of the CS Group, Shirley liked to come to the aid of her colleagues. Shirley helped members deal with issues such as difficult work situations, getting answers to their questions and obtaining information concerning issues that affected them.
Shirley served Institute members with distinction in a number of capacities over many years, notably as a union steward at Global Affairs Canada in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Shirley was president of the CS Global Affairs Canada Sub-Group and president of the NCR Global Affairs Canada Branch.
For many years, Shirley served as a delegate to the PIPSC AGM. She also served on the Vision Committee of the Retired Members Guild and on the Global Affairs Canada Consultation Team.
Professional Institute members extend their heartfelt condolences to Shirley’s family and to the many friends who were privileged to know her.
Members in the core public administration whose collective agreements were ratified in 2019 may be eligible for a new payout that PIPSC negotiated.
In 2019, we negotiated a compensatory sum of $400 that was to be paid to you due to the extended implementation period of 180 days for your new agreement, which was necessary due to a new process being implemented. After many weeks of negotiations, and after activating a “catch-up” clause in the collective agreement, we’ve negotiated an increase to $500.
Members in the following groups are eligible for this $100 increase to their retro pay compensatory sum:
AV Group (CO and PG classifications)
NR Group (AR and EN classifications)
RE Group (DS, HR, MA and SE classifications)
SH Group (DE, MD, ND, NU, OP, PH, PS, SW and VM classifications)
SP Group (AC, AG, BI, CH, FO, MT, PC, SG-PAT and SG-SRE classifications)
If the 180-day implementation period is not respected, and your retro pay or part of it is still not issued, the Treasury Board is responsible for issuing you a penalty of $50 for each subsequent period of 90 days that the collective agreement is not implemented. There was previously a maximum of 9 penalty payments; however, following our negotiations, this limit has been removed.
This is positive news for members who are waiting for their retro pay. You work hard each day for Canadians, and we’re doing everything we can to ensure that your retro pay is calculated correctly and paid promptly. You can learn more about retro pay in our FAQs or in our webinar.
Please note that you will only receive this money if you are eligible for retro pay, if you were working after your collective agreement expired, and before your new agreement was signed. The AV collective agreement expired on June 21, 2018. The NR, RE, SH and SP collective agreements expired on September 30, 2018. The new agreements were all signed on August 30, 2019. If you were working in between these dates, then you’re eligible for retro pay. It’s unclear when the payments will be processed for each group.
PIPSC has concluded negotiations with the Treasury Board Secretariat regarding several top-ups to your Phoenix compensation.
As we indicated in July, another union signed a Phoenix agreement that we analyzed and ultimately determined had a higher monetary value to our own Phoenix agreement, which included up to 5 days of leave for all members paid by Phoenix. After many weeks of negotiations, we successfully applied our “top-up clause” that brings the value of your Phoenix compensation in line with the value of any superior Phoenix agreement concluded by other unions.
If you’re a PIPSC member paid by Phoenix in one of the following groups:
CP (formerly AV)
CS
NR
RE
SH
SP
NRC (LS, IS, RO-RCO, TR)
AFS (CRA)
OSFI
NUREG (CNSC)
CFIA (IN, S&A, VM)
CER
NFB
You’ll be eligible for up to $1000 in top-up payments, based on the number of fiscal years you were employed and part of the union (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20). This is in addition to the 5 days of leave you already received for Phoenix as well as the claims processes that have been launched.
You can be eligible for a payment of up to $1000, based on the years you were working in a position represented by PIPSC: $400 for 2016-17, and $200 for each of the 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 fiscal years. We negotiated these amounts as compensation for the late implementation of the 2014 collective agreements.
Further, current and former members whose annual salary is under $78,264 ($300/day) will be eligible for another top-up payment to their Phoenix compensation for each fiscal year that you were part of the union (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20).
This payment is associated with the 5 days of leave that were already received as general compensation for Phoenix. You can get as many top-up payments as you did days of leave for Phoenix. The amount of the top-up payment is equal to the difference between $300 and your daily rate of pay, which may be different for each of the fiscal years. The payment will only apply if the difference is more than $10.
Current members that meet the eligibility criteria do not need to take any further action to request the payment. Former (retired) members must submit a claim to receive this payment.
This is great news for PIPSC members, past and present, who have been hit hard with pay issues due to Phoenix. Whether or not your pay was directly impacted, the stress of a failed pay system has weighed hard on your professional life. The backlog of Phoenix cases at the pay centre remains an important concern for our members.
The Women in Public Sector Science Toolkit is a living library of resources, tools and best practices – all with the aim of advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in public sector science.
The objective of this toolkit is to equip women, non-binary members and allies to advance and support equity, diversity and inclusion in public sector science. “A challenged world is an alert world – and from challenges comes change. As the theme for International Women’s Day 2021 encourages us, let’s all #ChooseToChallenge,” stated PIPSC VP Norma Domey.
The Women in Science Task Force and the Lab participants’ wealth of experience and expertise have made this toolkit. Their voices are reflected in this toolkit. Together, we present this guide for those in public sector science who see themselves encountering barriers in their workplaces.
This toolkit is also for people in more privileged groups. We call on our allies to support our work to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in public sector science workplaces and to share the load so it is not only our burden to carry.
"A huge thank you to all our Women in Science member-led teams across Canada and PIPSC staff for producing an extensive toolkit towards addressing these systemic challenges,” said PIPSC VP Norma Domey.
The Women in Science Initiative is inclusive of racialized women, Indigenous women, nonbinary people, transgender women, women with disabilities, LGBTQI2S+ people and women experiencing any other system or form of oppression. When we say women, we mean all women.
Each section of our toolkit covers a barrier, experience or reality for women in science. You will find tools, resources and best practices to inform and inspire action.
The Women in Science team sees this toolkit as a living library of resources. It is a dynamic and community-led resource. We will continue to add to and expand this toolkit to meet new equity challenges in public sector science workplaces. We see this toolkit as a starting point, rather than a finish line.
If you have content that you would like to see in the toolkit, please send it to bettertogether@pipsc.ca to be included in a regular update.
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.”
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.
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.
