Patrick Ménard, RVP, and Eric Villeneuve, USJE member and President of the 3L Regional Council, had the opportunity to speak with Louise Chabot, Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament for the riding of Thérèse-de-Blainville on January 19. MP Chabot is very familiar with the issues affecting USJE members, and the meeting gave RVP Ménard and President Villeneuve the opportunity to discuss with her the issues surrounding the Canada Life Insurance Company and the Phoenix pay system.
For half the meeting, they discussed the difficulties with Canada Life experienced by USJE members. The decision to transfer our members’ insurance files has created major headaches:
- difficulties reaching representatives with waiting times of over an hour;
- the need to duplicate requests from one Canada Life representative to another;
- the lack of feedback from representatives;
- the faulty system for online claims;
- the increase in the number of supporting documents required compared to the previous system;
- long waits for reimbursement of expensive drugs/care; and
- difficulties with reimbursements and the non-receipt or outright loss of documents sent by Canada Life.
In addition to these issues, RVP Ménard, President Villeneuve and MP Chabot discussed the Phoenix pay system, which continues to create major problems for our members. The long list of complications seems endless:
- inordinately high number of unresolved claims
- system delays in resolving existing problems
- the inability to prevent new weekly cases from arising
- pay errors, missing pay, missing bonuses and allowances
- errors in pay grades and classifications
- missing pay percentages
- unauthorised deductions (following an unrecognised overpayment, inaccurate and/or dating back several years)
The nightmare that our members continue to experience is unfair, and the injustice seems to be multiplied tenfold by the glaring lack of access to pay centres and prompt support.
MP Chabot listened attentively and supportively to this distressing list of grievances and promised to continue exerting the necessary pressure on the government.