Several services to citizens will be paralyzed as of Wednesday due to an indefinite general strike by some 155,000 federal civil servants.
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The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which lamented Tuesday night not reaching an agreement with the federal government, has planned no less than 250 strike pickets across the country.
“In the past two weeks, our teams have worked hard to try to reach an agreement with Treasury Board,” PSAC National President Chris Aylward said at a press conference.
- Listen to Yvon Barrière, Regional Executive Vice-President of Quebec for the‘AFPC, and Jimmy Mailhot, President of the Mauricie Regional Council, on QUB-radio:
Ottawa was quick to react to the public servants’ walkout, indicating on Wednesday that it had done everything to reach an agreement with the union to avoid a disruption of the services Canadians need.
“We ask the PSAC to work with us to reach a quick resolution, so that together we can resume providing the important services that Canadians rely on,” said the Treasury Board.
As a result of this walkout by federal public servants, Canadians should expect that some government services will be delayed or not delivered, according to a statement from the Treasury Board of Canada.
The strike, which affects almost a third of civil servants, will cause interruptions in government services, including employment insurance, immigration, passport applications… but especially the processing of tax returns, when we are during the fiscal period.
PSAC members who have been without a contract since 2021 are demanding a salary increase of 13.5% over three years, while the Trudeau government is proposing 9% over the same period.