Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) were protesting outside Terry Lake’s campaign office ahead of Justin Trudeau’s visit to Kamloops yesterday.
The protesters were hoping to air their concerns to Trudeau, but left before he made a stop at Lake’s office. She spoke to Radio NL in an interview a few hours after the event.
Jeanne Olineck, a member of the BC Regional Council, says they were protesting the government’s refusal to bargain in the aftermath of the Phoenix Pay system fiasco.
She says the members told Terry Lake how some people have been overpaid, underpaid, or not paid at all for three and half years.
“And he’s commiserating saying, ‘Oh, I understand.’ But do you really understand what it’s like to lose your house, lose your car, lose your credit rating, lose your life savings, lose custody of your children?” she said.
“As a federal employee you shouldn’t have to use the food bank, but that is happening so some people.”
Olineck says both the Conservatives and the Liberals are to blame for the fiasco – the Conservatives for buying the system and laying off hundreds of compensation advisers, and the Liberals for implementing the system, and then more recently not bargaining with their members in good faith.
“The MP’s got a massive raise and yet you can’t even give us the cost of living and you can’t compensate us for damages to Phoenix,” Olenick noted. “We’ve worked them to giving financial compensation equivalent to five days. But five days doesn’t compensate for you when you’ve lost your life savings. They just don’t seem to understand.”
She says about 200 employees in Kamloops are affected, and about 20,000 across B.C., and she said Thursday’s protest wasn’t a one and done, with more planned during the election campaign.
Protesters walking away as we got here to @TerryLake19 office. Waiting for @JustinTrudeau to arrive. Office is packed with supporters. pic.twitter.com/YEPb2rHcJt
— Jeff Andreas (@Jeffrey_Andreas) September 12, 2019