Updates

At the request of the employer, the CFIA bargaining session for next week has been postponed. The parties will be back at the table on May 30. This is the second time a bargaining session has been cancelled by the employer.

Following the court action taken by PSAC, along with 12 other unions, the court obliged the government to provide better access to help for Phoenix affected employees on disability, maternity, and parental leave.

As a result, federal public service workers who are transitioning to maternity, parental or disability leave, and are not receiving benefit payments due to Phoenix, are entitled to a priority payment if normal wait times for processing these payments have been exceeded.

Following the recent ratification of new agreements by the PA, SV, TC and EB Treasury Board groups, the following steps will be taken:

• Signing of new collective agreements
• Retro pay and implementation of wage and special monetary increases
• Implementation of collective agreement provisions

Signing of new collective agreements

In the coming weeks, PSAC will meet with the employer to sign the new collective agreements. With the exception of wages, which are retroactive, the new negotiated provisions come into effect on date of signing, unless otherwise specified.

Ottawa, April 28, 2017 – Representatives from several public service unions reacted cautiously yesterday to the creation of a government working group to tackle the Phoenix pay system.

The “Working Group of Ministers on Achieving Steady State for the Pay System”, will be chaired by Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and comprises several cabinet ministers, including Finance, Treasury Board and Public Services.

Establishment of Asian Heritage Month

Asian Heritage Month was first officially recognized in December 2001, when the Canadian Senate adopted the month of May as Asian Heritage Month.  This is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the long and diverse history of Asian Canadians and their contributions to Canada, as well as the many struggles they face.

History of racial discrimination

Since the arrival of the first immigrant of Asian descent in the 1800s, they faced racism and racial discrimination in the forms of immigration laws, the denial of the right to vote, segregation and other basic human rights abuses.