OTTAWA – 155,000 union members in the federal public service will begin a general strike at midnight on April 19, if an agreement is not reached with the employer by tomorrow, April 18, at 9 p.m.
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These are union members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the largest of the 17 federal unions, which includes 35,000 employees of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Even if the union assures that it does not want to “take Canadians hostage”, unless an agreement is reached by tomorrow, services to the population will inevitably be affected. It is to be expected that tax returns will be processed late, as will applications for employment insurance and passports, in particular, since only a small group of approximately 46,000 people will remain on duty for provide essential services.
The rest will march and picket lines in front of federal offices across the country. Portable toilets, containers and security gates in union colors have already appeared on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
- Listen to the interview with Jimmy Mailhot, a member of the PSAC who is in favor of a strike mandate, on Yasmine Abdelfadel’s program broadcast live via QUB-radio :
Yvon Barrière, vice-president of the Alliance for Quebec, however, said he was “optimistic” to be able to reach an agreement, because, under the threat of the strike, the negotiations have progressed more over the past two weeks than during the past two years. The Treasury Board has thus slightly advanced in terms of salary offers, according to the union.
Salary at the heart of the conflict
PSAC union members have been without a contract since 2021 and have therefore not had a salary increase since. Thus, the union estimates that its members have lost 10% of their purchasing power given the significant rise in the cost of living.
“We didn’t cause inflation, we shouldn’t have to pay for it,” Alliance President Chris Aylward said.
To offset inflation and catch up with private sector wages, the PSAC is calling for a 13.5% wage increase over three years, while Ottawa is proposing 8% over four years. For the CRA bargaining unit, the requested increase is 30%. Telework and the right to disconnect are also major sticking points.
The commission, which mediates between the government and the union, recommends salary increases of 9% spread over three years for some 120,000 civil servants, i.e. 1.5% for 2021, 4.5% for 2022 and 3% for 2023. The commission also suggests giving civil servants the right to review telework agreements.
However, the union considers this proposal insufficient.
For its part, the Treasury Board calculates that the salary and non-salary demands of the PSAC represent an increase of up to 47% over three years and would cost the government $9.3 billion over the same number of years.