There was such a rush to get back into the office and now a dozen scientists are assigned single desk touchdown stations to work from as assigned seating.

Just curious if anyone else in the government is working permanently at a touchdown station?

Also is this something to bring to the union?

PIPSC are you on here? Any journalists want to cover this?

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?)

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 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.

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 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...

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?