Ottawa's deadline to fix Phoenix pay problems is 'unrealistic,' union says

A union representative for employees at the federal government's Miramichi Pay Centre said her members are not convinced that issues with the much-maligned Phoenix pay system will be fixed by the federal government's deadline of Oct. 31.

"That's actually not reachable whatsoever. When I discussed that last night with my members they just totally dismissed it as unrealistic. It will take a long time to fix these problems," said Donna Lackie, national president of the Government Services Union.

"For every problem they solve, another one crops up."

• Hundreds more public servants come forward with Phoenix pay problems, government says 
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• Phoenix public service pay problems could last until October

These views came out of a town hall event held Monday night in Miramichi to discuss the pay system that was implemented in 2009, and went live in February.

While the new centralized pay centre created 550 jobs for the region, the system had problems seemingly from the start.

More than 80,000 federal public servants have been affected by pay irregularities. The issues have run the gamut from being paid too much, too little or not at all.

The government has stated that any issues from employees who weren't paid properly that were backlogged before June 2016 would be processed by Oct. 31.

CBC News is attempting to reach the Department of Public Services and Procurement for comment.

Public Services Minister Judy Foote visited the pay centre in July and announced that 50 additional people had been hired in Miramichi to help address the issues.

The federal minister also said other options were being explored to solve the problems.

While Lackie said she believes the problems plaguing the federal pay system aren't being caused by just one factor, members are telling her that lack of personnel is a big part of the problem in responding to the issues.

"I think they certainly need to hire more people. They could hire hundreds more people, that would be reasonable. Last night people told us we could double, triple our staff," said Lackie.

Lackie said that the sheer volume of irregularities that have to be sorted is the biggest issue now and that is putting a lot of stress on centre employees.

"[They're] working with a system that's just not supporting them to do their jobs," said Lackie.

The payroll system is the largest in the country, covering 300,000 employees.