One of Canada’s largest labor disruptions entered its sixth day on Monday, as the union representing tens of thousands of striking public service workers seeks to block access to ports.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says more than 100,000 of its employees are still on strike, and some will move their pickets on Monday to strategic locations more likely to impact the federal government .
“We’re actually going to be stepping up those ways,” said Chris Aylward, the union’s national president, setting an example of increased activity at “ports across the country.”
Weekend offers and counter offers
Over the weekend, both sides accused each other of obstructing negotiations and being too slow to react to key developments.
Mr Aylward called on the prime minister to intervene and blamed the government for not reaching an agreement two years ago when negotiations began. “This demonstrates the incompetence of Mona Fortier as President of the Treasury Board, and of her team,” he declared during a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
Yet negotiations continued at a steady pace.
The union president said Treasury Board presented an offer on Saturday afternoon and the union responded with its counter proposal the same day.
Mona Fortier’s office said it made a second counter-offer on Saturday to which the union did not respond Sunday night.
Mr Aylward eventually acknowledged the government’s counter-offer, but said it did nothing to advance the union’s wage demands. The PSAC is also fighting to include other provisions, such as telework, in the collective agreement.
Union “very upset” with the CRA
Meanwhile, the Union of Taxation Employees, a subdivision of PSAC that is separately negotiating a contract for more than 35,000 striking Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) workers, said it hasn’t been at the bargaining table since last Tuesday.
Earlier in their negotiations, the CRA had offered a 9% salary increase over a three-year period, following the recommendations of the Public Interest Commission. But the union is calling for a 20.5% increase over three years.
Marc Brière, national president of the Union of Taxation Employees, says the central is waiting for Treasury Board to come back with a fair offer before returning to the bargaining table. “There has been virtually no progress over the weekend, and we are very upset,” Mr. Brière said.
In a statement on Friday, the CRA said it was calling on the union to resume negotiations through in-person mediation, but proposals were still being exchanged on other agency-specific issues.
As it dips into a limited strike fund to support the nearly week-long strike, PSAC says it is able to find other funding to continue providing strike pay if the fund is exhaust.