The figures released today by the Parliamentary Budget Officer come as no surprise to PSAC or to the more than 100,000 PSAC members who are in their fourth year of the Phoenix pay system disaster.

Every day our hardworking members across the country experience new pay problems, and it is critical that the government continues to invest in repairing these problems, thereby preventing new cases from occurring and eliminating the current backlog of 240,000 Phoenix cases. This work must also continue to be able to implement the collective agreements for over 100,000 workers who still do not have the full working conditions that were promised to them in their last contract.

The timelines for the stabilization of Phoenix and the launch of the new pay system included in the report also make it clear that the recent compensation offered by the government for Phoenix damages is woefully inadequate. Public service workers are looking at a minimum of three more years of Phoenix nightmares in addition to the four they have already experienced. Offering our members a meagre 1.25 days of leave for each of the last four years is simply unreasonable, and we will not settle until a fair and appropriate agreement is reached.

Moving forward we will continue to ensure that every effort is made to stabilize Phoenix, resolve the massive backlog of cases, and make certain any new system is working perfectly before it is deployed.