TLDR: Screw ‘em, let’s start the social contagion of a general strike with a public service strike, shit sucks, the oligarchs are cashing in hands over fist and our government is printing money as fast as we can feed it to them.

There is a strike vote coming. I will be voting to strike. Not because I want to strike. Not because I think the union has suddenly become a more reliable leader, and not because I want to work from home. I’m voting to strike for a much purer, more animalistic reason. I’m done. I have been a good team player my whole life. I got the degree, I committed myself to a life of service, and I rolled with the years of horrible planning, spending, neglect and disdain from management and even aggression from the public in some roles. While my friends who went into finance were talking about the team building trip they just went on, I was enjoying my ‘no name’ granola bar and bottle of water on NPSW, wondering if management was going to buy pens that work this year. After last strike, when nobody cared, they WFAd thousands of us, loaded the rest with more work and a completely different set of expectations around flexibility, offered us a half of a f*****g penny as a wage raise whilst saddling many with more costs. They gutted our pension surplus and funded more departures we will be carrying far longer with it to boot. The entire last year has been a shameless abuse of the very last benefit any of us even has over the private sector in many ways - and we can’t even negotiate it at the table. This was met by the public, as far as I could tell, with a collective shrug.

We know how Carney will be responding to this, too. The Bank of Canada has violated anti scab rules wantonly, and refused arbitration. The libs even have some new laws around strikes, presumably to limit their legality.

So it’s time to bring out the big hammer. The politicians distract and deny there is a problem. They won’t come to the bargaining table with a proper offer. They refuse to invite us to the tables where labour’s opinion might make a difference. A man who likes to be told he’s the smartest man in the room once said if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. Well friends, I’m tired of seeing the lives of my colleagues fed to the machine one Phoenix disaster, WFA announcement, and one ERI offer at a time. It eats at the mandate of civil discourse. It affects the success of the mission of the public service itself. This strike, I won’t stand down until port traffic is slowed to a crawl. Until politicians are crying on live tv asking how a labour dispute could go so wrong so fast. Until they send their humans to the table with a full menus of juicy offers for us. It takes strength for an individual to speak truth to power. It takes all of us to force power to see the truth. And the truth is a happy, supported workforce does more and better work, and costs for healthcare for that workforce go down. The haughty tones of superiority oozing off of the TBS ‘negotiators’ are an act. They are scared little automatons fully aware of their irrelevance.

In the meantime, I’ll be finding an extra job and selling anything I don’t need on marketplace to absorb the costs to come.

Has anyone here ever reported sexual harassment at work? If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d really appreciate hearing what the process was like and how it was handled.
Also happy to chat by DM if you’d rather not post publicly. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’ve been having one of the worst periods of my life recently and I’m hoping to get some clarity. I started having some medical episodes and they felt very real and very serious and I ended up going to the ER 3 different times (twice by ambulance). I’m super embarrassed because it turns out that I have a panic disorder and I still haven’t wrapped my head around it as the symptoms felt very much real and I’ve never experienced any sort of anxiety before.

Things got really bad and I ended up at the urgent care clinic and was told I need to take a month off work which was devastating as I love my job and my team dearly and they’re entering a busy period. But essentially the psychiatrist gave me a month because he put me on medication that takes about 2 weeks to kick in, and then I’d need another two weeks to get used to the medications and see how I react to it. But after taking it for a few days, I had some very serious side effects and I was told to stop taking it immediately.

I’m currently working with my family doctor and psychiatrist to find a new framework that might work for my recovery, but it’s been very difficult. I’m very worried that once the month is up I’ll be forced to go back into the office while I’m not recovered and I’ve already taken a month off work, so I’m scared that I’ll be forced to resign.

I’m also super embarrassed that this is a mental issue as I could have sworn it was something seriously physically wrong with me and I’ve alarmed my coworkers.

Do I need to talk to my manager about the possibility of not being ready to return on the date the psychiatrist initially asked for? I’m stressing really badly, I’m trying to get better, I got a therapist and been trying my best to be ready to go back to work, but it seems so hard.

Currently on a 3 year term but have a very strong opportunity to get an indeterminate in the same classification with a different department.
I really love what I’m currently doing, really like my manager/team, and I’m just under a year into the term so there’s still a good amount of time left.
The newer position, while in the same classification, is completely different and I’m not sure I will enjoy it as much. Plus the commute is longer.

No LOO yet obviously so this is all just me potentially thinking ahead for nothing, but just looking for advice. What would you do? Stay in the job you love and risk the job market in 2~ years or jump ship (if presented the opportunity) for more stability?
Would you talk to your manager about the possibilities of converting your term to indeterminate?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I currently work as a permanent IT-02 at DND. I have a background and education in software engineering. Looking to switch teams to do something more interesting (actual software dev/ cybersecurity/ networking) but worried to inform my manager. From my understanding most people move teams by informing their current manager theyre leaving once they have an offer. I was hoping my manager could connect me with teams that would be a better fit for my background and interests, could this lead to something bad? (i.e lay me off, fire me, etc.). Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Hello! I’m hoping someone can clarify some questions I have regarding LWOP for care of family.

I am apart of the PIPSC CP agreement.

I am going to have to take 6.5 months of leave due to lack of childcare until my kid starts school.

Would I be eligible for EI?
Will my benefits still be available during this time? Will this affect my pension or can I buy back all the time?

Will my continuous service for pay and vacation entitlements be delayed by 6.5 months or 3.5 months?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I was just offered an acting manager position, my first time leading an entire section of 3 teams, and I'm honored and a little nervous. More than anything, I want to build an environment where my team feels supported, trusted, and able to do their best work.
Before I start, I'd love to learn from people who've been on either side of this:

If you're a manager: What did you wish you'd known in your first 90 days? What habits or practices have made the biggest difference?

If you've had a manager you admire: What do they do that makes you feel valued and motivated? What small things stuck with you?

For everyone: What mistakes should I avoid, especially as a new or acting manager?
I'm looking for honest advice, including the hard lessons.

I'll read every reply, and I'm grateful for any wisdom you're willing to share.

Thank you for helping me start this well. 🙏

I have been doing underarm botox for my hyperhydrosis. The clinic I go to suggested I go for MiraDry as a permanent solution for underarm excessive sweating. Has anyone have experienced with getting that covered through CL?

Hi all,

I’m set to start a new job in a new department soon. Letter of offer signed and management is aware. However, I told them that my last day would be the day before I start my new job. But now I’m thinking about taking time off (using my personal days) a couple days in between before starting my new position.

Have any of you done this before? And would this be frowned upon?

I went to submit some claims online today, which I do very regularly, and suddenly I’m being asked to provide proof of marriage/common-law status and proof for my kids. We both (significant other and I) have been with the government for just about 20 years each, married for over 20 years, and our kids are all teenagers, so it’s not like we've just added new dependants to our plan! Ever since the switch from Sun Life to Canada Life, it’s been one issue after another, and still dealing with some major ones. Now I have to jump through more hoops just to submit claims like I’ve always done. Honestly, when will it STOP? Anyone else experiencing this? Please tell me I'm not alone...

Hoping Reddit can clarify the language in the PA Final Agreement.

My uncle died on Friday but we did not find out until today. The PA Agreement says I can take one day for his death and it can be either within two days, or the day of the remembrance service.

I am guessing this is calendar days and not working days, so if I were to take a day off, it would have to be for his service? (He died in B.C. so I am not able to afford to go). Or I could take this Monday? Not Tuesday, though. I don't know how to count forward the time when we did not know for a day.

Hello everyone,

I need some advice on planning parental leave. Both my wife and I are eligible for EI, but only I will receive an employer top-up of up to 93% of my salary.

I’m considering taking the full 40 weeks of parental leave to spend time with my family. Although we would miss out on some of my wife’s EI benefits, we can manage our expenses with my EI and top-up.

Would this be a financial mistake? The opportunity to spend 40 weeks with my family feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I’d appreciate your thoughts, especially from anyone who has faced a similar decision.

PIPSC IT bargaining: how do IT-01 and IT-02 feel about the proposed market adjustments?

PIPSC's IT Bytes #6 (https://pipsc.ca/it-bytes-6-bargaining-update/) lists proposed market adjustments of IT-01 1%, IT-02 2%, IT-03 6%, IT-04 9% and IT-05 13%, on top of general increases of 6.1%, 4.6% and 4.1%. PIPSC bases the spread on salary surveys of private-sector gaps. IT-01 steps 1 to 7 also get a CRA CS-01 parity fix of about 2.84%.

I'm an IT-03, and my concern is that lower-paid members spend more of their income on necessities, which have risen faster than average, yet they get the smallest adjustments. The same percentage general increases also widen the dollar gap between levels each year.

This is only PIPSC's opening ask, and Treasury Board hasn't tabled a pay proposal yet, so feedback now can still matter. I'd like to hear from IT-01 and IT-02 members especially: does the spread seem fair to you, and have you given feedback to your steward or the bargaining team? Other levels, what's your take?

I am expecting a child soon and am wanting to take my 5-week parental leave outside of my partner’s 35 weeks.

In my current role, it would be challenging to take the entire 5-weeks off at once.

I was debating splitting these weeks up into 2-weeks in March, 1-week in July and 2-weeks in September.

To do this I would be applying for parental leave, applying for employment insurance and receiving top up from the employer.

Curious if anyone has done this and ran into any issues receiving their pay or ran into any issues resuming their normal pay after the leave ends.

Thank you.

I've been hearing that EC-06 positions are increasingly becoming CBC bilingual. Is there any truth to the idea that eventually all EC-06 positions will require CBC?

I'm currently English Essential and have qualified in two fully assessed EC-06 pools. Just wondering if I still have a realistic chance of getting an EC-06 position without French, especially in the NCR.

Are English Essential EC-06 positions still being staffed? Would be interested to hear from anyone in HR or management who has some insight into this.

Struggling to climb the corporate ladder as an EC and have a potential equivalent opportunity in a PM stream. I know most people go PM to EC, not the other way around. Would it be a dead end?

Context: I’ve maxed out the pay steps in my EC classification and have no promising promotional leads where I am now.

My team was cut in half due to WFA, and the person who undertook this specific line of work was an AS-04. Since her departure, I was asked to take on this work in addition to my own work (I’m an AS-02). My team is also working on changing the structure and duties as our workload is currently too much for the team.

I have job descriptions from last year which indicates my duties, but I don’t have the AS-04 job description. I have requested the SOMC but I am informed that I may not have one since a box from a different team was assigned to my current team when I joined in.

I am now given a new job description where these duties are now added as mine. This is also added to my PMA (I haven’t signed it, but being pressured to).

I am trying to figure out if management is able to change my job description like this, and give me additional work with no compensation. I understand that with WFA we are all short staffed and taking on more work, but to me, taking on someone’s entire job on top of mine feels excessive. Any advice is appreciated.

Everybody and their dog got a letter in Parks.

Does anyone know if we should see deductions on our paycheques for our healthcare? I’m looking at mine and I only see disability and pension. I haven’t had an issue with Canada Life though so I’m not sure if those deductions are even registered in Phoenix.

I’m voluntarily taking a demotion and also changing classifications. I’m at the top end of my current level salary wise. Will I automatically be placed at the top of the other level’s salary? For context, I’m going from PE to AS and an indeterminate employee.

He referred me and said he could submit my name if I would like, but the email that he forwarded it with doesn’t really even explain what this Network is?? Is it beneficial? Do I go to meetings? Is it better for climbing the ladder??
So many questions!

Thanks in advance!!!!

I was recently hired to a new team as a casual and my start date was delayed (it was originally beginning of October, but ended up being pushed to this past week). Because of this, the start date is now after the start date of my course which to my understanding makes my course ineligible for reimbursement.

Since this is the fault of the department due to their administrative delay (I have proof of the start date being moved) would I still be eligible for tuition reimbursement? The course is not cheap and during the initial interview with the hiring manager I was told they were supportive of my education and would reimburse the course, and I feel sort of betrayed because I was fully expecting it to be reimbursed.

To add, the casual is just a temporary action with the hiring manager's intention to perm me (I'm told they did are awaiting approval?)