Federal Government Argues Phoenix Failure as an Honest Administrative Error

The federal government argued that the Phoenix pay problem is an honest administrative mistake before the labor tribunal in the hearing in the Public Service Labor Relations Board. The tribunal was attended and testified by union representatives, senior officials and the associate assistant deputy minister who is responsible for the launching of the new governmental pay system. According to Rosanna Di Paola, the main cause of the entire problem is lack of training and not really the technology.

Last June, the Public Service Alliance of Canada had submitted a complaint that affirms that the Treasury Board of Canada violated the law for the failure to pay the government workers properly and on time after the launching of Phoenix.

During the closing arguments in the tribunal, the legal officer for PSAC, Patricia Harewood stated that the suffering and struggle in this case is legit and real. She said that she listened to the stories of government workers and their plight due to inaccurate payments or worse, nothing at all. On the other hand, Sean Kelly, the government’s lawyer said that the case is purely a contract dispute that is not supposed to be dealt through a board hearing, thus the labor complaint is in the wrong place and should be dismissed.

Adjudicator must decide now

According to the union, the government committed a violation of the Public Service Labor Relations Act that prevents an employer to alter the employment’s terms and conditions during a collective bargain with the union.

The union demands the labor board to issue a written statement ordering the government to do the following:

• Pay government workers properly and on time.
• Accept workers security clearances and disregard bad credit ratings caused by Phoenix-related financial struggle.
• Pay workers for psychological harm inflicted by the payment problem.