TORONTO — The largest federal union is threatening to campaign against the Liberal government in the next election as part of “escalating action” to resolve the Phoenix disaster and pay Canada’s public servants properly.

Robyn Benson, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), urged 500 delegates at the opening of the union’s triennial convention Sunday evening to step up action and force the government to resolve the pay crisis — even if it means campaigning to defeat Liberals like it did against the Conservatives in the last election.

“It’s time for us to say, if you won’t or can’t respect our contracts and pay the proper pay every pay day, then we will force you to pay in other ways,” said Benson.

“We will escalate the actions against you. And if you don’t give us what we want in the way of amends – if you don’t give our members what they are owed – we will do in 2019 what we did to the Conservatives in 2015 – because our members won’t forgive and we won’t forget.”

Phoenix will be a central issue for the union at its week-long convention. The delegates will be debating a sweeping policy statement on Phoenix that combines many resolutions delegates proposed about the pay debacle that has affected most of the country’s 300,000 public servants.

Benson said the government hasn’t done enough to resolve the pay crisis and what it has done was because of political pressure by unions and their members. She said the union’s resolutions, if passed, will “send a strong message” to the government.

She said public servants have faithfully gone to work on time and done their jobs even though “not one… can count on being paid properly.”

She said the government pays its suppliers and other bills, but all it offers public servants are apologies; promises to try harder and pile more work on the overwhelmed pay centre in Miramichi, N.B..

Benson’s call for action is clearly aimed at turning up the pressure on the government to pay damages to compensate employees for the stress and financial hardship they face because of Phoenix.

The unions have partly pressed for damages as an incentive for the government to find a solution to the Phoenix debacle faster.

Union and management officials have been quietly negotiating for 14 months. The government fully acknowledges it has breached legal obligations to pay employees. It signaled in the federal budget its willingness to negotiate “to address the real mental and emotional stress and unacceptable financial impacts on public servants” but there is no settlement in sight.

The resolutions that will be debated this week are seeking damages for the “health, emotional and financial impacts” of Phoenix; paid leave to compensate for the personal time used to resolve pay problems and reimbursement of any sick leave employees took because of Phoenix.

It also calls for government to put all bonuses to executives on hold until “every worker is paid correctly every time” and a full public inquiry into how Phoenix went so disastrously off the rails.

Other issues the union wants addressed under the policy include clear and understandable pay stubs; a full payroll reconciliation of all workers once the backlog is completed; tax relief for those who have been overpaid; full and “publicly reported” testing of any new system being implemented to fix or replace Phoenix.

Benson, who is not seeking re-election as president, urged the union to exploit the pre-election period and the Liberals’ waning popularity to ratchet up the pressure on Phoenix and other key issues PSAC wants resolved before the 2019 election.

She said the union should “leverage” the run-up to the federal election in 2019, as well as the six provincial and one territorial elections being held in 2018 and 2019, to help shape the political agenda.

“The lead up to election is always a good time for workers to demand more of governments and of all political parties,” she said.

“Let’s not wait for the election to push for big changes. Let’s use the upcoming election as leverage to get more from Justin Trudeau Liberals,” Benson said.

“They were so confident in the early days of their mandate. But today they are less popular and more vulnerable to political pressure. We need to take advantage of this to hold their feet to the fire.”

Benson split blame between the former Conservative government, which launched Phoenix and laid off 700 compensation advisers to save money, and the Liberals for flipping the switch, despite the objections of unions.

Benson said she has never made a secret of her strong support for the NDP and she felt it was time more NDP MPs were elected and “government that offers a better alternative to Liberal and Conservative policies.”

She stopped short, however, of calling on union members to back the NDP in upcoming federal and provincial elections.

“Whether or not you are a solid NDP like me, I am sure you will agree we lost too many good NDP members from Parliament in 2015; MPs who walked with us on picket lines; who stood in the House and held the Conservatives to account; who challenged racism, homophobia, sexism and every other form of oppression and discrimination.”

PSAC is the most political and militant of the 17 federal unions and has crossed the line for some public servants, such as when several of its locals endorsed separatist candidates in the 2006 election.

Federal employees must carefully balance their obligations as public servants — to be loyal and politically impartial — with their constitutional right to participate in political activities.

The union’s national leadership had steered clear of telling members what party to support until 2015 when it passed an emergency resolution at its convention to create a $5 million war chest to help defeat the Conservatives.

The hardline Conservatives wanted smaller and more efficient government and public servants were their prime targets, claiming they’re overpaid and underworked. The Tories cut jobs, programs, tried to take away their sick leave pay and passed laws that all but gutted collective bargaining rights in the public service.

The Liberals campaigned to restore labour peace, fair bargaining and the “respect” for the public service that was trampled during the Tory decade.

But Benson accused the Liberals of “hypocrisy and dishonesty” in professing its respect for public servants but then failing to pay them properly. Thousands of employees have been underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all.

The labour landscape has also changed dramatically since 2015.

“Our members have better contracts than they did three years ago,” said Benson. Their wages are up. Government spending on public services is on the rise in most parts of the country. Our union is growing again in size and power.”