PSAC is encouraging members to fight for Phoenix general damages compensation to be tax-free by filing individual tax appeals to the Canada Revenue Agency this tax season.

By filing an appeal, you will force CRA to review the taxability of your personal damages payment. If we generate tens of thousands of tax appeals from members across the country, there is greater pressure to review the tax treatment of the damages for all PSAC members rather than ruling on thousands of individual appeals.

In 2020, PSAC negotiated $2,500 in Phoenix general damages for 165,000 PSAC members to compensate for the stress, aggravation and pain and suffering they endured because of the broken pay system.

Treasury Board treated Phoenix general damages as taxable income – deducting tax from the payment PSAC members received – but we maintain that these damages should be tax-free like just like other damages agreements.

Despite numerous appeals by PSAC, Treasury Board and the CRA have refused to revisit the taxability of Phoenix general damages. Unfortunately, time has run out to resolve this problem proactively.

Now, we’re urging PSAC members to formally object to the tax treatment of Phoenix damages once they file their 2021 tax returns and received their “Notice of Assessment” from the CRA, which you can expect to receive roughly two to eight weeks after filing your taxes.File your Phoenix damages tax appeal

You can object to the taxability of Phoenix damages by completing a form T400A and filling out your personal contact information and the required details from your notice of assessment.

The form includes a section for issues, reasons and relevant facts. You can include the text provided below in that section to appeal for the Phoenix damages compensation you received to be non-taxable:

A portion of the income reported on the taxpayer’s T4 for 2021 represents general damages paid under a settlement agreement negotiated by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) as compensation for stress, aggravation, and pain and suffering, payable to all members of PSAC in recognition of the effect of the Phoenix pay system and the delayed implementation of a collective agreement on the membership. The payment was not dependent upon or in any way related to any grievance previously filed by the taxpayer, or any demonstrated financial loss suffered by the taxpayer. Rather, the payment was compensation for the stress felt by all employees, regardless of their personal circumstances, due to the delays, confusion, and general chaos that resulted from the Phoenix implementation. As such, the amounts received as damages for pain and suffering should not have been subject to tax. The taxpayer asks that their 2021 tax return be reassessed to reflect the non-taxable nature of the general damages received.

We understand that everyone’s individual circumstances may vary, and PSAC does not provide legal advice on individual tax appeals. We encourage you to consult a professional tax advisor if you have specific questions about filing your income taxes.

Ongoing Phoenix damages compensation

PSAC will also begin the work of fighting for ongoing general damages for the Phoenix pay disaster as soon as possible. The damages PSAC negotiated were to compensate members for the hardships they experienced from 2016 to 2019, but the pay problems never stopped.

Since then, many PSAC members still haven’t been paid properly, and deserve additional compensation for the hardships they still endure. We will also work to ensure that the claims process negotiated in our last agreement for expenses and major losses also remain available to our members for as long as they continue to experience Phoenix pay problems.

Learn more about all our work to help PSAC members impacted by Phoenix as we look back on six years of the pay fiasco.

Hello everyone!

The PSAC London Regional Women’s Committee is hosting an exciting International Women’s Day Event at 7:00pm on March 8, 2022!

**See the attached poster and GET EXCITED to #BreakTheBias!**

This event is open to all women-identifying members and your daughters or other women/girls in your family/household. Our theme this year is Women and Girls in Science.

Register NOW here!

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: Mar 8, 2022 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

***Register in advance for this meeting:***

https://psac-afpc.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5AvduCrqTwoG90kFR_oWwkslE0EpS0IVkKD

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Read more about Dr. Caden here:

Erica Caden received her PhD from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and moved to Sudbury, Ontario in 2013. What started as a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Laurentian University led to her dream job as a Research Scientist at SNOLAB, the preeminent location in the world for underground particle astrophysics. At SNOLAB, Dr. Caden works on three neutrino experiments: SNO+, HALO, and nEXO. She is an active science communicator, working with the Sudbury Chapter of Women in Science and Engineering, TELUS Spark Science Centre in Calgary, AB and has given many presentations with the “Exploring by the Seat of your Pants” outreach organization.

We hope to see you there to celebrate women with us!

In solidarity,
PSAC London Regional Women’s Committee

Attention all CEIU women-identifying members:

Please see the attached call out and application form for the 2022 CEIU Ontario Regional Women’s Upcoming Training Day. This training event is being held on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2022. The theme this year is #BreaktheBias.

This is your invitation to join us for some fantastic learning, collaboration and action for women’s equality. Imagine a world that’s diverse, equitable and inclusive. Together we can all take action for equality. 

Those chosen as delegates will be informed before the end of February 2022.

In solidarity,

CEIU Ontario Regional Women’s Committee

*** If you are interested in applying, please contact your local executives at localceiu581@gmail.com for a copy of the application. ***

We cannot deny that the past two years have been a challenging time for our membership, particularly for Black members. The statistics have shown that the Black population has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic especially through incidents of violence, harassment and racism highlighted on social media. 

Also, Black and racialized people are heavily represented in precarious sectors of our economy, often working on the frontlines, raising their risk of exposure to the virus. The combined effects of both of these situations have in turn negatively impacted mental health.

The pandemic emphasized the unequal nature of our society and the urgent struggle to end systemic oppression. We must work together to stop these injustices and move towards a society free from hate.  

The accomplishments of Black workers, past and present, have greatly contributed to our country and played a vital role in shaping the labour movement. As we acknowledge February as Black History Month, let us commit to working together to end systemic discrimination and move towards a more equal society. 

In Solidarity,

Trisha Roach, Racially Visible Members Representative

Ontario Regional Council

Good afternoon CEIU member, hope your week is off to a good start. 

AM/PM, your National Vice Presidents, along with the Ontario Regional Council , would like to invite you to a special ZOOM call this week on Wednesday, February 2^nd from 7:00pm – 8:00pm.  Doors will open at 6:45pm. 

We will be outlining some of our plans for 2022 for our region, reviewing the 2021 Presidents Conference and go over some actions arising from that conference. 

Do you remember our exciting education contest in January on the Understanding Your Collective Agreement online course?  During the call we will be raffling off $100 gift cards to 5 lucky winners who participated!!!

Zoom link is below and we hope you can spend some time with us.  

Join Zoom meeting here:

Phil Matheson/AM KuarSingh
National Vice-President’s Ontario Region
Canada Employment and Immigration Union/Syndicat de l’Emploi et de l’Immigration du Canada
275 Slater Street, Suite 1204, Ottawa, ON K1P 5H9

https://ceiu-seic-ca.zoom.us/j/81151338685

Topic: Meeting with your CEIU Ontario NVPs

Time: Feb 2, 2022 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://ceiu-seic-ca.zoom.us/j/81151338685

Meeting ID: 811 5133 8685

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Find your local number: https://ceiu-seic-ca.zoom.us/u/keJBa3j3Gx

Good Morning,

Please come join Sandra Goodick for Treasury Board ”Demystifying Bargaining”.

Stay up to date and engaged on the latest round of bargaining by attending this upcoming series of lunch & learn sessions.

Register for one of the Workshops:

February 4 @ 1200PM click here

February 16 @ 1200PM click here

February 23 @ 1200PM click here

Please share the poster provided with your colleagues.

Thank You. And Have A Good Weekend. 

Dorothy Sackanay

Administrative Assistant

PSAC/AFPC.

Thunder Bay Regional Office

224-1139 Alloy Drive
Thunder Bay, Ontario

P7B6M8

P: 1(807)345-8442

sackand@psac-afpc.com

http://psacunion.ca/tb-bargaining-national-panel-equity-workplace

As a part of our month of action on equity in the workplace, we will hear from our National President, Chris Aylward, National VP, Sharon DeSousa, national negotiator for the PA and Common Issue tables, Brenda Shillington, and SV bargaining team member, Kristina MacLean.

We look forward to your attendance,,,please forward to your membership.

In Solidarity,

Nancy Richter

President

PSAC London Area Council

Greetings delegates to the 2021 Presidents Conference.  

As a result of unfilled positions on CEIU Ontario Standing Committees, we are going to be holding by-elections in accordance with the CEIU Ontario By-laws, for the following vacant positions:

LGBTQ2+ Committee – 2 positions
Front End/Outreach Committee – 1 position 

Collective Bargaining Committee – 1 position  

Please Note: For these elections, only delegates to the November 2021 President’s Conference shall be eligible to vote. 

Once we have completed the above election we will hold elections for Alternate Positions as follows: 

Women’s Committee (alternate) 2 positions 
Front End/Outreach Committee (alternate) 2 positions 
Collective Bargaining Committee (alternate) 2 positions 
LGBTQ2+ Committee (alternate) 2 positions
Health Safety and Security Committee (alternate) 2 positions 

All alternate positions are for a one term: January 1st to December 31^st, 2022 

Our plan is to send you some resume/bios for each candidate no later than this weekend- January 23-30

And you will be able to vote next week online.

sent on behalf of the Elections Chair, Paula Woodcock

Greetings, 

PSAC will host a National panel on equity in the workplace January 25^th from 7pm-8pm. 

Please see link below for more details. Registration is now open.


TB bargaining: National panel on equity in the workplace

https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://psacunion.ca/tb-bargaining-national-panel-equity-workplace&data=04|01|mohamme@psac-afpc.com|0da9727665b14a9155ed08d9df5dd886|0a1916b7be62452f905569e03ce73de3|0|0|637786416413432492|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0=|3000&sdata=PYkD1sva33IB3NCLrK1yCbV2xDDb91mijFM1GRZXBnU=&reserved=0

Best, 

London RO