The following op-ed by Sharon DeSousa, PSAC National President, was published in the Ottawa Citizen and other Postmedia papers. 

Nine years. That’s how long hundreds of thousands of federal public service workers have endured the Phoenix pay disaster. Nine years of missing or incorrect pay, stress and financial hardship, and broken promises. 

For nearly a decade, this government has failed its most basic obligation to workers – paying them properly and on time for the critical work they do. When Phoenix was launched by the Conservative government in 2012, it was supposed to streamline pay for Canada’s largest workforce. Instead, it threw workers’ lives into chaos – and workers haven’t caught a break ever since. 

Let’s be clear: Phoenix was a disaster from day one. It was rushed, it was flawed, and regular people and their families paid the price. And despite the government spending $3 billion trying to clean up the mess, we’re still dealing with over 372,000 outstanding pay cases. That number has barely budged in five years. At this pace, it’ll take another decade to clean up this mess. 

These aren’t just statistics. Every single case is someone’s own personal nightmare — people who have rent to pay, families to feed, and plans they’ve had to put on hold. Every single worker I talk to has their own story about how they’ve been impacted. Workers who lost everything in the early days of Phoenix; who had to sell their homes or cars to make ends meet when they weren’t paid at all. Workers who have put off buying a home or paying off their student loans because they’ve had to fight with their employer to recoup their missing wages. Workers who have retired from the public service after distinguished careers only to wait as long as five years to get their final paycheques. Sadly, that’s the reality for far too many federal public service workers.  

But Phoenix isn’t just a payroll disaster — it’s a symptom of a deeper problem. For years, the federal government has treated its workers as an afterthought — understaffing departments, outsourcing critical work, and chipping away at the public services we all rely on. Instead of investing in the people who keep this country running, they’ve cut corners, handed out costly contracts to their corporate friends, and launched reckless public service cuts that jeopardize employment insurance, border security, and food safety. Public service workers don’t need more excuses. They need action, and that starts with paying them correctly and on time. 

While the government continues testing Dayforce, the expected Phoenix replacement, a new pay system is still years away. We asked our members to try out the new system during demos across the country, and they’re already flagging potential issues and glitches that are raising eyebrows. The government has to learn from its failures with Phoenix — or risk making the same mistakes again. The last thing workers need is another crisis, another lost decade of payroll nightmares. 

That’s why we’re insisting that any new pay system be rigorously tested, properly rolled out, and designed with input from the workers who depend on it. No shortcuts. No more blunders.  

And with a federal election on the horizon, we are calling on every political party to prioritize strong public services and put forward a real plan to end the Phoenix pay disaster once and for all. No worker should have to fight to be paid properly or on time.  

This isn’t the time for empty promises. It’s time for real leadership that delivers action and accountability.