(Ottawa) After a week-long strike, hundreds of federal civil servants continued to demonstrate with enthusiasm in downtown Montreal on Tuesday morning.
“It’s getting long, I can’t wait to get back to work, [mais] I’m not discouraged at all, all good things come with time,” commented Maria McGee, holding up her sign adorned with a character from the simpsons on René-Lévesque Boulevard West. “The offers, to date, do not stand up. With inflation, salaries are not enough”, adds his colleague Maria Merlos through the din of plastic trumpets.
“My department said it would take a day. We were confident: the taxes are starting, we have power. But it looks like we don’t have that much power,” said a Canada Revenue Agency employee who asked not to be named. Like most of his colleagues, this is his fifth working day in front of his offices at 305 René-Lévesque Boulevard West. “Until Friday, I will feel good. Afterwards, I’m going to start stressing out: are we winning the case? he wonders.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Federal civil servants, like these who demonstrated in Montreal on Tuesday, have been on strike for a week.
A few meters away, Stéphane and Mélissa, Health Canada employees, joined the movement more recently. “In other ministries, it’s the employer who said: ‘You have the right to demonstrate, that’s what will happen’, but in our case, no,” laments Stéphane. “I couldn’t keep seeing this when it was happening outside my windows,” he said, pointing to his office across the boulevard. He joined the strikers last Friday.
Mélissa, who was on sick leave last week, did the same on Monday. “There is a spirit of fraternity, it’s pleasant”, she testifies, aware that the population does not necessarily see the situation with the same eye.
I saw a lot of comments on social media that civil servants were making big salaries. This is really not the case!
Mélissa, Health Canada employee
Many motorists nevertheless support the strikers with a honk. Michel Lacroix, on his bike, encourages them verbally. “Look at the salary increases that deputies and company presidents give themselves,” says this professor in the literary studies department of UQAM, who was president of his own union from 2018 to 2021. there is no consequence to a strike, it is useless. A strike is to have a balance of power. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Marie-Josée, citizen services officer at Service Canada, must remain on the job as an essential service, but comes to support the strikers during her lunch break, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest.
Marie-Josée, citizen services officer at Service Canada, did not stop. Responding to requests from the public, particularly with regard to employment insurance and pensions, it is an essential service. But as she works opposite, she spends her lunch break on the picket line, blowing soap bubbles. “I can do whatever I want during my dinner, it’s legal to come and help the movement,” she smiles. “The more people there are who say things have to change, the more likely it is to happen. »
Discouraged citizens
Having planned a family trip with her three young children on May 12, Roxane Ouimet did everything to ensure that the passport of the youngest, born on March 30, was issued on time. But the birth certificate arrived on April 19, the day the union members went on strike. At the passport office where she went the next day, she could not hold back her tears.
“I had all my documents in hand as well as my proof of travel and they never wanted to take my application, my papers. I was again told that May 12 was a long way off and that I still had time, that it is possible to make a passport in 48 hours (for an excess fee of $100…)”, a- she wrote to The Press. “I am not ‘against’ the strike, but I will be in doubt until our possible departure,” she said, worried about losing “thousands of dollars” in the event of the cancellation of her flights.
“I am well aware that the right to strike is a given, but you cannot imagine the collateral damage that a strike at the federal level can cause”, also wrote to us Marc Vachon, a Montreal humanitarian worker who is waiting for visas to his wife and 10-year-old son, both of Ethiopian origin. “My little one is finishing school in Addis Ababa on June 21, I was hoping for visas by then, now it’s only a dream”, fulminates Mr. Vachon, recalling that “Ethiopia has become a hell where the Canadian government site warns us in large letters not to set foot”.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa
New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to get involved on Tuesday. According to him, the President of the Treasury Board, Mona Fortier, “did not do the necessary work” to avoid a strike after two years of negotiations. He believes Ottawa should adjust civil servants’ salaries to inflation, but would not say whether he approved their request for a 13.5% increase over three years.
Mr. Trudeau said he understood that the negotiations are “tough”, but said he saw progress. “We will continue to do the important work of arriving at something decent, because we know that Canadians deserve and must have the services they need. »
With the collaboration of Mylène Crête, The Press