Public servants protest against Phoenix system in Gatineau

Public servants in Gatineau, Que. voiced their frustration with the troubled Phoenix payroll system at a protest Saturday, saying that some people are losing their cars and homes because of the ordeal. 

Gatineau MP Steven MacKinnon met with members of the Conseil régional d'action politique de l'Outaouais and the Public Service Alliance of Canada at the protest at a sugar shack Gatineau Saturday afternoon. 

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"The biggest concern is that we still have members who are not paid, and now it's been three years," said Diane Girouard, the regional vice-president of the alliance, in a French-language interview with Radio-Canada. 

"We have to do something, it can't go on any longer. It causes damage to mental health, in the workplace, [and] in employees' families."

It has reached the point where people are losing their homes and cars, said Louise Sicard, a leader with the alliance. 

"Their bank accounts are frozen by Revenu Québec because they are unable to pay their taxes," he told Radio-Canada. 

'Asking for basic justice' 

The demonstration was inspired by a similar protest in February when hundreds of public servants took to the streets in Ottawa, blocking access to two federal government buildings, said the alliance's regional executive vice-president Greg McGillis.

"We are simply asking for basic justice for our members who continue to suffer," he said in French. 

The alliance said it is making requests to the federal government to remedy the situation. The union said it wants the federal government to compensate all public servants for the financial and emotional hardship they have endured.

The alliance also stated it wants the federal government to establish a strict timeline to stabilize the Phoenix system, eliminate the backlog and move to a new pay system.

MacKinnon said he has "hope" that the situation will improve for public servants quickly. 

"They, like me, are 110 per cent committed to solving problems associated with the pay system," he told Radio-Canada. 

"We are more or less in agreement on the things to do, the steps to take."

He said he remains in constant communication with the union representatives.