PSAC Strike. Image credit Twitter page of Canadian Labour
Ottawa/CMEDIA: With failure of the Canadian government to come to an agreement by its Tuesday night deadline, approximately 155,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) workers are reported to go on strike at 12:01 a.m. EDT. the largest federal public-service union said
A late Tuesday news release from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says the government and the PSAC are still at odds when it comes to key contract issues for both sides.
“The Government has presented a fair, competitive offer to the PSAC and responded to all their demands. This includes a 9 percent wage increase over three years, as well as proposals on other important PSAC priorities.
Even though there is a competitive deal on the table, the PSAC continues to insist on demands that are unaffordable and would severely impact the Government’s ability to deliver services to Canadians,” the news release has said.
The Treasury Board also said in a statement released on Monday afternoon that it offered the union a nine per cent raise over three years on Sunday, on the recommendation of the third-party Public Interest Commission.
But the union has been pushing for annual raises of 4.5 percent over the next three years as well as issues concerning greater limits on contract work, more anti-racism training and provisions for remote work.
In early April mediated contract negotiations between the PSAC and the government began and continued through the weekend but no deal was reached.
With picket lines expected to be set up at some 250 plus locations this morning, the union is calling the strike action one of the largest in Canadian history.
During a brief press conference Tuesday night, Chris Aylward, the union’s national president, said that the bargaining groups of 155,000 PSAC workers including 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) workers would remain at the table throughout the strike.
“We are still a ways apart, but we’re staying at the table because we’re still hopeful and our goal is still to get a tentative agreement,” Aylward said .
“We will remain at the table until we reach a tentative agreement if the employer is prepared to stay at the table as well.”
With initial negotiations with the government beginning in June 2021, the union declared an impasse in May 2022.
With the strike involving nearly one-third of all federal public servants, disruptions, a complete halt of the tax season have been warned by both the union and the government, including slowdowns at the border and disruptions to EI, immigration and passport applications.
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