Government Operations committee  Leaving aside the original decision to go with the system in the first place, because what's done is done and though it has created a disaster, I don't think anyone wants to focus on the past.

Government Operations committee  Leaving that aside, we feel as though the government has been taking progressive steps toward fixing this issue. Nonetheless, with all of those steps—the addition of resources in Miramichi, the creation of the temporary pay centres and the call centre, the additional training, th

Government Operations committee  That's just from my membership, yes.

Government Operations committee  Honestly, when that figure came out—that 77—we had already filed more than 77 formal grievances just from PIPSC. So I was astounded. I couldn't figure out where that number came from. It just seemed—

Government Operations committee  If the question is to me, absolutely not. I happen to come from an informatics background and, as I mentioned, you can't test over 70,000 rules on an off-the-shelf product that you configured for... You can't even find a comparison for this kind of project. But a system that ha

Government Operations committee  I'd like to begin by also thanking the committee for the opportunity to testify today on what has probably become the single most important and pressing issue facing our members today, and I don't take that lightly given that we are also in a crucial round of collective bargainin

Pay Equity committee  We still need a long-term plan, but we also need short-term fixes. We believe that your easiest short-term fix is to eliminate PSECA and move forward with a more proactive legislation.

Pay Equity committee  I'd just like to add to that. If that were a model to be considered, it's taking anywhere between 10 and 30 years to resolve complaints through that system, although admittedly it's a better complaint-based system than the one being proposed under PSECA. But what we are really pr

Pay Equity committee  For us it looks like under-representation of all those groups in the federal sector, under-representation of aboriginals, disabled persons, people of colour. Then obviously there are all those issues exacerbating the whole wage gap for women when women are also in those various g

Pay Equity committee  No. I think it's unfair hiring practices, and it goes way beyond the issue of pay equity. It goes to the very structure of government and staffing.

Pay Equity committee  I'm not saying.

Pay Equity committee  What we know is that this government has certainly not been immune to the use of professional services and external providers. You can bet that in an area where they had little or no expertise that they have, of their own volition, in privacy, availed themselves of this expertise

Pay Equity committee  I'll jump in on the tail of Robyn Benson, because we come from a very similar predicament, if you will. On the issue of costing—I'll start there, because the other two are related for me—we've just come through a government of 10 years during which almost the only considerations

Pay Equity committee  Under PSECA it takes forever. We can't rightfully get through these complaints. Our common goal is not met. What we need, as mentioned, is a proactive model. But that means having a tribunal, a deciding body with expertise. It means engaging the stakeholders, the unions, in the s

Pay Equity committee  All I wanted to do is refer you to page 4 of our submission, where we define some of the work that has been done over the years in the federal public sector, specifically around classifications. We only hope that this work would form part of the considerations for any future plan