Protests took place in nine cities across Quebec Saturday to denounce the pay system for federal employees.
Exasperated by mistakes from the Phoenix pay system, members of the Quebec region of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, held rallies in front of the offices of certain deputies and ministers — including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Protests were also set to take place in front of the offices of members of parliament Marie-Claude Bibeau, François-Philippe Champagne and Jean-Yves Duclos.
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Since last year, tens of thousands of employees were incorrectly paid or have not been paid.
The executive vice-president of AFPC-Quebec, Magalie Picard, explained the intention was to send an “unequivocal message to the government that it is really time to solve the pay problems.”
“We don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are extremely annoyed. Imagine going to work and not receiving a paycheck every two weeks, it’s unacceptable and unbelievable in 2017,” Picard said.
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Picard denounces the actions by the government and wonders why there is a “stubbornness” in continuing to use the system.
“Members of the RCMP and ministers have another pay system that works very well,” Picard said.
On Thursday, the prime minister’s cabinet announced the creation of a work group consisting of ministers to settle the failures of the electronic pay system for federal employees — a few days before the deadline for filing income tax returns.
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Trudeau indicated the special committee, led by the public security minister Ralph Goodale, will be in charge of “attaining the stability of the pay system.” The prime minister’s cabinet does not, however, specify a timetable for dealing with the problems once and for all.
Picard expressed her skepticism “someone is not making a decision and now they are talking about creating a committee,” she said. “It’s been more than a year that these problems are known. I am really looking forward to knowing who is accountable.”
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