'Darkest days' at Miramichi pay centre are in the past, says union, but problems persist

One of Canada's largest unions says the defective Phoenix payroll system is still causing pain and suffering for its members. 

That includes the 850 people who work at the Public Service Pay Centre in Miramichi. 

"There has to be mental anguish there," said Colleen Coffey, regional executive vice-president for the Atlantic region of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

"Imagine getting up and going to work knowing that someone's pay is going to be fouled up today."

Also hurting, according to the union, are the tens of thousands of federal employees who have received one, or many, incorrect paycheques since Phoenix went operational in 2016. 

The failures of Phoenix have now been well documented by Canada's auditor general and a Senate committee.

But back in the day, hopes were high. Adopting the Phoenix system, including software designed by IBM, and centralizing hundreds of payroll jobs in Miramichi, was part of Ottawa's plan to streamline and automate a 40-year-old legacy system. 

The changes were supposed to save $70 million a year but were fraught with problems that led to federal workers being overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all. Within the first year, the number of complaints and outstanding pay requests grew to nearly 500,000.

With no end to Phoenix in sight, the Public Service Alliance says it's time for a public inquiry.

Among other things, it would measure the full extent of the damage and the unplanned costs created by an "incomprensible failure of project management and project oversight." 

Those last words did not come from the union. That's how Canada's former auditor general, the late Michael Ferguson, once described the Phoenix debacle.

According to the Canadian government''s pay centre dashboard, the backlog of financial transactions waiting to be processed came to 139,000 as of Feb. 16. 

That's up from 94,000 last March. The union says the number is climbing partly because the system is still unreliable and continues to make mistakes. Meanwhile, some files as old as 2016, have been languishing. 

"Those cases are not being actioned," Coffey said. "They're not even a priority."