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Phoenix: More transparency needed

ACFO continues to receive reports from the FI Community about ongoing Phoenix issues. The Phoenix debacle is not improving at an acceptable rate and the government needs to be transparent about the scale of the problem and the real timelines for a fix. ACFO President Dany Richard expressed these concerns at a Public Services and Procurement Canada National Labour-Management Consultation Committee on January 13 with other National Joint Council bargaining agents.

Mr. Richard pushed for real numbers on how many public servants have truly been affected by Phoenix issues. Based on results from the Phoenix Impact Study ACFO conducted in November, we estimate this number is considerably larger than the backlog PSPC continually reports, which only includes cases from before July 1. Their reluctance to be transparent about how many members are being affected is a major issue. He also raised ACFO’s concerns that pay slips are unclear and our concerns about the many complications that could arise with T4 statements.

Senior management responded that compensation advisors continue to be trained, that they are ready for T4s and they are confident they are heading in the right direction. They also reported a more detailed pay slip can be viewed on the Compensation Web Application.

Since we cannot rely on PSPC to provide us with data that Phoenix is improving, we will be issuing a second FI Community Phoenix Impact Survey tomorrow to evaluate progress since November’s survey. The previous results were very useful in our discussions with departments, useful in the media and provided valuable intelligence for our group policy grievance.

In the meantime, we will continue to urge the government to resolve the Phoenix debacle, keep the FI Community up-to-date on any new information and provide any support possible should you continue to experience issues regarding Phoenix. If you would like assistance with Phoenix issues, please contact a Labour Relations Advisor at labourrelations@acfo-acaf.com.

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