Government of Canada employees are demanding new financial compensation for anxiety caused by recurring payroll problems, courtesy of the faulty Phoenix software launched 8 years ago.
“The government must swell the ranks of remuneration personnel to stabilize the pay system and definitively eliminate the backlog which continues to grow,” demands the common front of the three main civil servant unions, in a press release released Tuesday.
Instead of striving to settle the cases of tens of thousands of civil servants – the equivalent of approximately half of the 260,000 employees represented by these unions – the government “continues to waste its resources to recover Phoenix overpayments from civil servants before the expiration of the limitation period,” the accusation is made.
The duty documented this week the situation of a Laval civil servant whose retirement is compromised by a series of insoluble complications in her employee file. Like her, civil servants to whom the government owes large amounts find themselves obliged to repay sums of money, because of the chaotic management of their pay problems that arose over time.
Some federal public servants, such as those members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), were able to receive up to $2,500 in compensation for their compensation problems, according to an agreement reached in 2020. This time, this union is joining forces with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) for a second joint compensation.
Not finished
The Phoenix pay system is computer software ordered by the previous Conservative government from an external firm, the multinational IBM, to simplify the pay of its civil servants. Phoenix instead created a cascade of irregularities and concerns over their compensation when it was officially launched by the current Liberal government in 2016.
Despite its many well-documented flaws, Phoenix has still not been replaced. Old pay issues continue to have a chain of consequences for employees. Unions believe that this situation causes their members to fear accepting promotions or delay their retirement.
The AFPC estimates that 19,000 employees who have retired (or who have permanently left the public service) are still claiming bonuses or salary amounts due to them.
The President of the Treasury Board, Anita Anand, indicated Tuesday that her government is in negotiations with the unions regarding potential new financial compensation. “I take this issue very seriously and I will work very hard on it,” she promised after the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers.