Staff behind Phoenix payroll debacle should be fired, not rewarded with bonuses

It is clear now why the federal government has turned a blind eye to Bombardier’s obscene compensation levels for executives after handing out nearly $375 million of taxpayers’ money to them.

The federal government’s executives responsible for the Phoenix pay system debacle have been rewarded with bonuses, too.

About 82,000 federal employees did not receive the pay they were due because of a new computer system called Phoenix. It was not just a little delay in getting paid; it has been going on for about a year. Some employees had to get loans in order to pay their mortgages or rent. Students who had worked the whole summer, and were depending on that income to return to school in the fall were left with nothing and in some cases parents have had to fill in the gap.

The most frustrating part of it all was the complete lack of information and/or explanation about the Phoenix mess. There was a telephone number to call, for those affected, but that did not get the caller through to a live person who could resolve their issue. It was reported in the media that a message could be left, but nobody ever returned the call. The stress for those affected, across the country, has been enormous.

It begs the question why it should have taken any more than a few weeks to determine why the Phoenix system failed and, if necessary, return to the previous system.

We don’t know who decided the Phoenix system was the way to go. We don’t know why that conclusion was reached. We do know that the impression given to those affected is that nobody cared enough, at the very least, to provide people who would take telephone calls and supply answers.

To add insult to injury, we now hear that those responsible for Phoenix are getting bonuses. A document tabled in the House of Commons this week says almost $5 million was paid in performance bonuses.

The government’s response was that these people have been working extremely hard to sort out the issues with Phoenix. The really jarring thing is that that response never even mentioned the people who did not get paid at all and how extremely hard they worked to try to sort out their wages and were only given a voice message system, that was ignored, to help them. What about those people?

It is time for the federal government to reveal who made the very poor decision to switch to a system that not only failed but has been unfixable for about a year. Those people need to be relieved of future decision making authority and in some cases lose their job.

We need a government for the people and not just for government employees.

(Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions or call her at 403-528-8635.)

To add insult to injury, we now hear that those responsible for Phoenix are getting bonuses.