Evidence of meeting #24 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was paid.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
All right. I will suspend for about two minutes just to confer with my clerk to make sure that this is procedurally in order, and then we'll either go to commentary or straight to the vote.
We'll suspend for two minutes.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
We are back in session, Mr. Weir.
On the advice of my clerk, this would be considered in order. It is substantively different from the original motion.
Is there anyone wishing to speak to the motion?
Mr. Weir? It's fairly self-evident.
5:30 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Yes, I think it's pretty straightforward. Essentially, it's calling for a more fulsome study of the Phoenix pay debacle. We've had a good meeting here today, but I think we definitely need to look at other issues and hear from more witnesses.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
All right. Thank you.
Are there any other questions or comments?
(Motion agreed to)
Thank you.
Now, I'm sorry, Madame Daviau.
5:30 p.m.
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
I just beg the committee's indulgence for one more minute, despite your not asking me a question.
It's great that you're going to study it, but I think Donna and I both had the same question—to what end? What we're after is, number one, getting our members paid; and then, number two, going forward with a system that works. Maybe that wouldn't normally be defined at this phase, but if the committee could make sure that it's turning its mind to the very serious questions of how we get money into the people's pockets today as the number one priority, and only secondarily, what went wrong and how do we fix it for the future, if you will, that would be greatly appreciated.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Certainly. I know you're both well aware of how committees work, and now that we've agreed to commission a study, there will be a report that will be tabled in the House of Commons once the study has been completed. I would assume that the members here, during that study, would like to be able to recommend solutions or some remedies. Also, they have the ability, of course, to call witnesses forward to assist in developing remedies. I'm sure you will be back before this committee in the very near future, that said.
Now, if I'm reading the table correctly, since we've dealt with that, are there any other speakers?
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Ladies, again thank you for bearing with us and your patience. Going forward, who's the front person within your organizations, with the government, when these things are coming up? We hear that you're meeting with the unions often, which is great, etc., but it sounds like you're still hearing of issues that the government is not hearing. What mechanism can you see being set up for communicating those issues that you're hearing about that the government side's not hearing, so that we can get the people paid faster and get these problems solved?
5:35 p.m.
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Marie Lemay mentioned that she had set up an address of one gathering place where we could send these issues to. Those are over-arching issues, not individual issues. On individual cases, after some months of people not being paid, we went and asked for another solution. We're sending our cases directly to the Secretary of the Treasury Board, who is then sharing those cases with various deputy ministers, which one would think would give it the kind of urgency and priority it needed to be resolved. But our experience thus far, unfortunately, has been that those cases are not necessarily being resolved in a more timely way than any other case.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
5:35 p.m.
National President, Government Services Union
I have the opposite example. I do have the ability to reach into the PSPC, into the accounting, banking and compensation branch, to resolve ours on a case-by-case basis. We have been relatively successful in addressing each one of our members' cases and plights as they present them to us. We have been able to move those issues forward on behalf of PSAC.
Some of them are much more complicated. Disability management cases, for example, are very complicated. People who are going off on Sun Life and long-term sick leave are very complicated, so they take longer to do. But we do have points of contact for addressing each one of our cases within the PSAC.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Hearing no more questions, I will entertain a....
I'm sorry, Mr. Weir.
5:35 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Just given that our witnesses were very patient this afternoon and that we did interrupt their testimony with some committee business, I would just ask whether either has anything to add.
5:35 p.m.
President, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
No. As I say, we just want to get our members paid. We're willing to do anything. We're willing to help out in whatever way, to give of ourselves in any way that we can help. We're really pleased that the committee is also very serious about getting us through to a resolution. Thank you so much for the time.
5:35 p.m.
National President, Government Services Union
As well, this has been an opportunity for us to bring our members' issues before this committee. This has been a very serious problem as you can appreciate. This is mission critical for us, getting people paid, and representing these people who turn to us almost as a last resort when they can't deal with their employer. We appreciate this opportunity. We will continue to work with the departments to ensure that the pay is timely. We are a stakeholder in this process. We support the pay transformation, and we'll do whatever we can to get them paid.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much, Madame Daviau and Madame Lackie.
Before I entertain a motion to adjourn, I mentioned at the outset that I wanted five minutes for committee business. However, I know that many of you have planes to catch. It would have been an update on some of the future studies we have agreed to. I've asked the clerk, however, rather than taking more of your precious time, to send you email updates. One of these will be coming out no later than Monday of next week to give you a status update of what's happening this fall.
I will now entertain a motion to adjourn.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
I don't think we need a seconder for that.
(Motion agreed to)
Thank you very much everyone. I know I said this about a month and-a-half ago but, once again, have a great summer. We are adjourned.
