In the wake of the Phoenix fiasco, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is taking aim at federal executives and demanding the government stop paying them performance bonuses until employees are paid properly.

The union’s demand for bonuses paid to executives to be put on hold “until every worker is correctly paid every time” is part of a sweeping Phoenix resolution for “escalating action” that more than 500 delegates unanimously passed Wednesday at PSAC’s triennial convention.

The resolution calls for a number of measures aimed at cranking up the pressure to resolve the Phoenix disaster and hold the government accountable for the thousands of public servants who have been overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all.

The union argues that executives in all departments bear a collective responsibility for the ill-planned and botched rollout. They also have an obligation to pay employees for their work.

“Public service executives have an obligation to pay their employees accurately and on time, every time. They have now failed that obligation for more than two years. If you’re a manager and you’re not doing your job, you should not get paid bonuses,” said PSAC President Robyn Benson.

There are 6,480 executives working in government, in addition to deputy ministers. They received about $75 million in performance pay in 2015-16.

The Association of Professional Executives in the Public Service of Canada (APEX), which represents executives, didn’t comment on the union’s proposal but said it “looks forward to working with public service union leaders to continue to address the pay issues we all face.”

“Executives have at heart the wellbeing of their employees and they are highly dedicated to working together with their employees to ensure they get paid right and on time,” APEX said in email.

The Phoenix resolution was the top priority at the week-long convention and it sailed through unanimously with little debate. The resolution called Phoenix fiasco and the government’s failure to pay employee properly a “national disgrace.”

“The employer is not treating federal public service workers with dignity or respect. Members have lived through this nightmare for too long. The government isn’t paying workers accurately and on time and adds insult to injury by making it too difficult to rectify pay problems that they are responsible for creating” said the resolution.

The resolution also calls for a public inquiry into why Phoenix failed so miserably “so that no worker ever suffers the same fate.” Auditor General Michael Ferguson is expected to deliver his second report later this month on how Phoenix went off the rails and who is to blame.

The resolution now moves to the union’s board of directors, who have been charged with implementing it. The union has approved a $1.3 million political action fund but some of the cost will absorbed by other parts of the union’s operations.

The resolution called for various measures that “will change and grow as long as we are not getting paid what we are owed.”

They include:

Damages for the “health, emotional and financial” impact of Phoenix;

Paid leave for the personal time to resolve pay problems;

Reimbursement of sick leave taken because of Phoenix foul-upsTax relief for employees who were overpaid;

More and permanent compensation advisors;

Understandable pay stubs;

A review and reconciliation of payroll for all workers paid by Phoenix after the backlog is cleared;

A new system that works;

Consultation and publicly reported testing of any future technological changes that affect pay and benefits;

Adequate funds for emergency and priority payments who those who aren’t paid.

The union’s call for “escalating action” is clearly aimed at turning up the pressure on the government to pay damages to compensate employees for the stress and hardships caused by Phoenix. Unions have been negotiating with the government for months for damages and want the matter settled before the 2019 election.

PSAC is also threatening to campaign against the Liberals in next year’s federal election – as it did against the Conservatives in the last election — if pay issues aren’t resolved. Delegates are marching on Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s Toronto constituency office today.

”We have no other course but to escalate and keep pressure on government and we’ll do that by reminding them that next fall is coming and we will not forget what they done and when we tell them that they will listen more closely” PSAC Vice President Chris Aylward told delegates.

Delegates described the financial and emotional hardship they faced because of pay foul-ups and how the aggravation of pay problems consume the time and energy of people at work.

One delegate spoke about “condescending” bosses who dismissed concerns of their unpaid staff with remarks like “consider it a forced saving” or “now you have an excuse to spend your husband’s money.’’

Randy Howard, president of the Government Services Union, described the frustrations of frazzled compensation advisers at the pay centre in Miramichi, N.B. where 626,000 pay transactions it in backlog.

He told the story of the worker found crying, curled in a fetal position in the office washroom, after being unable to pay a client. He said the employees have the “knowledge and skill” to process transactions but the erratic Phoenix “wouldn’t do it.”

The resolution to stop executive bonus comes at a time when executive pay has become a hot-button issue.

Executives have not received the raises and have watched their salaries fall up to 11 per cent behind those of unionized employee over the last five years. They are pressing for raises and a major review of their overall ‘salary and non-salary’ compensation packages, which will include performance pay.

There’s been much speculation that Phoenix may be the reason why executives haven’t had a raise. Some say the government partly blames executives for their departments not being ready when the Phoenix was rolled out.

Others say the government wants all collective agreements implemented and the files of rank-and file employee sorted out before adding raises and back pay for 6,480 executives.

Last year, Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick, the country’s top bureaucrat, raised the stakes for deputy ministers and tied performance pay and bonuses to progress in stabilizing, recognizing “the pay system and well-being of our employees is a collective responsibility.”

The government put a hold on the performance pay and bonuses for the executives who headed the project team responsible for Phoenix at Public Services and Procurement Canada pending a review. It later decided no bonuses would be paid to them.