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News - March 2009

The headlines for news items published during this month are listed below.

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• Retro payments to PA members arriving sooner than later

thanks to work of Health Canada compensation staff

Retro payments to PA members arriving sooner than later thanks to work of Health Canada compensation staff

Posted March 5, 2009

Just over 4,300 of our PA members will be receiving retroactive pay cheques sooner than later thanks in large part to the initiative taken by Health Canada compensation staff in the National Capital Region and elsewhere across the country.

The retro pay flowed from the January 29 signing of a new collective agreement for the Program and Administrative Services group.  At that time, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (our bargaining agent) and Treasury Board agreed to a 150-day period to make the retro payments

Public Works and Government Services Canada, as the department that actually issues the cheques, planned to complete 10 per cent of the processing by end of February 2009, with subsequent tranches of 30 per cent by the ends of March, April and May.

To its credit, Health Canada’s Compensation Operations Unit in the NCR decided to put forward its own timeline to see that the retro money was in our members’ hands as soon as possible. Thanks to a great effort on their part, 90 per cent of our roughly 2,300 PA members in Ottawa-Gatineau had received their cheques by the end of February.

The remaining 10 per cent of the retro payments involve manual calculation for such issues as leave with income averaging, pre- retirement leave, maternity top-ups, vacation cash-outs and so on. Nonetheless, these more complicated situations are expected to be completed within the next two weeks.

We have indications that compensation staff in other regions of Canada also went above and beyond to expedite the cheque-issuing process.

Federal public service labour relations are never easy. And the NHU often finds itself in the position of having to critique our employers for their collective sins and omissions.

But, to be fair, we’re also quick to compliment them, especially when they go out of their way to do the right thing by our members. So, our congratulations to the Compensation Operations Unit staff for a job well done.

(Please note that the $4,000 one-time lump sum payment is a separate matter from the question of retroactive pay. The lump sum payment will be issued will be issued directly by PWGSC in April of 2009.)