PSAC members to receive $2,500 in compensation for Phoenix pay system failures

An agreement has been reached between the federal government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) that compensates the latter's 140,000 members affected by failures in the Phoenix pay system.

The agreement was reached late Thursday night.

Each member will receive $2,500 for four years of problems includingdelays, overpayments, underpayments or lack of pay, the union confirmed to The Canadian Press.

"We managed to secure a financial package for our members who have gone through this nightmare and untold stress for the past four years," Chris Aylward, PSAC's national president, told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Friday.

Last year PSAC, which is the largest union of federal public servants in the country, rejected the federal government's offer of five days of leave.

Other federal public sector unions,like the Professional Institute of the Public Service and Association of Canadian Financial Officers,accepted this offer to have days off.

Aylward said his union wanted an agreement that would be fair for all of its members.

"It was inequitable. If you and I decide to cash out for those five days and you make $80,000 and I make $52,000, you're going to fare better," he said.

Aylwardsaid he doesn't believethe $2,500 lump sum is taxable.

An agreement was alsoreached between the government and the union on the renewal of the collective agreement for 70,000 members who work in the programs and administration sector.