The escalating backlash of Canada’s public servants over two years of botched pay cheques is understandable and “no surprise” says the minister responsible for fixing the Phoenix pay disaster.

In fact, Public Service and Procurement Services Minister Carla Qualtrough said (the same day she announced another step in the battle to stabilize Phoenix) “it’s a blessing they are still coming to work.”

Qualtrough was at the Miramichi, N.B. pay centre Friday when she announced a pilot project using “pods” or teams of pay advisers working directly with departments will be rolled out across government by mid 2019.

At the same time, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which represents pay advisers, was wrapping up its week-long convention in Toronto where a sweeping resolution was approved that called for ‘escalating action’ to get Phoenix fixed – including a campaign against the Liberals in the 2019 election if workers aren’t paid properly by then.

The resolution calls for a long list 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.

Qualtrough said she wasn’t surprised by the demands, which she felt are a “fair compilation of frustrations” the 300,000 employees paid by Phoenix have faced since the error-prone pay system went live in 2016. She said they are further ‘motivation’ for the government to resolve pay issues as quickly as possible.

“These asks reflect the culmination of this going for months and years. It’s not surprising at this point and it’s a blessing they are still coming to work.”

“It’s very Canadian that people are committed to what they do, serving the public and not letting that frustration interfere.”

One of PSAC’s demands was for more and permanent compensation advisors based in departments.

Colleen Coffey, PSAC’s vice-president for the Atlantic region, said the new ‘pay pods’ linking pay teams at Miramichi with departments are a big step in the right direction.

She said the approach, designed by Miramichi workers, is closer to the former model of having in-house compensation advisers in departments. The Harper government dismantled that when it introduced the pay overhaul that laid off 1,200 pay advisers and moved 450 to Miramichi.

But Coffey argues the pay pods have to be “permanent” or “we will be back where we are now in no time.”

PSPC is hiring new compensation advisers but Qualtrough said the focus won’t be on putting more compensation advisers in departments. Rather, she said departments will be beefing up the human resources staff who will work directly with the pods.

The government estimates it needs about 1,500 compensation staff. The union said the big problem is government can’t find experienced compensation advisors and are hiring hundreds of clerical workers on short-term contracts.

The new pods, however, are expected to speed up and improve the handling of pay transactions and reduce the massive backlog. It will also rebuild the relationship between departments and the pay centre.

The approach was among the measures PSPC’s Phoenix team introduced as part of its plan to stabilize the system.

The pilot project began in three departments last December: Veterans Affairs, Innovation Science and Economic Development and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. That’s when 25 employees in the three pods took over pay processing for 10,000 employees in the three departments.

The early results were so encouraging that Qualtrough told the Senate National Finance committee in March that it would be expanded across government.

She said the backlog in the three departments was reduced by 24 per cent and the number of people with outstanding pay problems was reduced by 11 per cent. About 88 per cent of the transactions were completed within PSPC’s average 30-day service standard.

The transition to ‘pay pods’ will begin with 12 more departments, employing 32,000 people, and fully implemented by mid-2019.

The pod teams will become experts in the collective agreements and the unique pay rules to a department. In some cases, departments with similar pay regimes or work will be clustered and served by a pod.

The other big difference is that the pods will be taking a “whole person” approach, processing all the outstanding transactions an employee may have. Until now, the pay centre was processing transactions by type, such as maternity or new hires.

This means a person with six outstanding pay problems will be getting them sorted out all at once.

Qualtrough said she’s confident the move, along with shoring up human resource staff in departments, will be more efficient in handling pay transactions when they come in and whittle down the backlog.

At last count, the pay centre had a backlog of 626,000 pay transaction with some cases two years or older.

She felt the new approach would also improve morale at the pay centre where they felt “demoralized, overwhelmed, unappreciated and blamed.” She said workers told her they felt more valuable working directly with departments and addressing to fix all of a person’s pay issues at once.

She said the experience of the first 12 departments will help the department determine how fast the backlog can be eliminated. She said she is still hope Phoenix can be stabilized by the end of year, meaning employees are paid properly and on time.

Qualtrough also officially opened the pay centre on Friday.

The Harper government began construction of the building to house the 450 pay advisers that it expected could handle pay operations for 101 departments.

Coffey said the pay centre is already at capacity and operations have spilled into two other buildings to house a staff of more than 830. She said the biggest headache is lack of parking. Employees who drive to work are regularly ticketed and towed. Qualtrough said she has had discussions with the mayor of Miramichi and the province and hopes a resolution soon.

The 12 departments and agencies in line for the new pay pods include:

• Environment and Climate Change Canada

• Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

• Finance Canada

• Justice Canada

• Public Prosecution of Canada

• Treasury Board Secretariat

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

• Immigration and Refugee Board

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

• Canadian Grain Commission

• Canadian Dairy Commission

• Canada School of the Public Service