155,000 public workers strike in Canada demanding a pay raise
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The Public Service Alliance of Canada announces that public workers will go on strike as of Wednesday after fruitless negotiations with the federal government, in hopes of fair wage adjustments for over 150,000 workers.
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Striking public workers demonstrate outside of the Prime Minister’s office in Ottawa, Canada, 19 April 2023. (Reuters)
155,000 federal public workers in Canada will go on strike as of Wednesday due to the failure to reach a final pay agreement with the Federal government.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union set Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern Time a final deadline for the negotiations that have been ongoing since 2021 on Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern Time.
The Union has kept its promise of striking if an agreement was not reached by the set date, meaning that teachers, firefighters, insurance employees, and Coast Guard teams among others have walked out of their jobs.
"We are still here at the table. We will remain at the table. We will remain for as long as it takes during the strike and we will remain on strike until the government addresses our key issues at the bargaining table," Chris Aylward, national president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said during an evening news conference.
Passport and tax filing services are expected to be affected by the workers’ mobilization as almost 35,000 workers at the revenue agency will walk out in the middle of the tax filing season.
The workers of the revenue agencies will be joined by 120,000 employees of Canada's Treasury Board, which regulates public administration.
Thousands of federal workers here at Tunney’s Pasture on the picket lines. More than 155,000 federal public servants are on strike after the federal government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada failed to reach a deal before a Tuesday evening deadline. @ctvottawa pic.twitter.com/dgvD9ovIuv
— Jackie Perez CTV News (@JackiePerez__) April 19, 2023
Workers' demands
Reportedly, Tax agency workers demanded a 30% raise over a 3-year period, while other public servants demanded a 13.5% bump in their salaries over the same period of time.
Inflation in Canada peaked at 8.1% in 2022 with public workers' wages stagnating since before negotiations began. The federal government offered a wage increase of 9% over 3 years describing it as "a fair and competitive offer."
About one-third of all Canadian public employees are anticipated to join picket lines at more than 250 locations, according to PSAC. Aylward said, "We are at the beginning of a historic strike (to reach) an agreement that takes into account the cost of living."
"Our issues at the bargaining table have still not been addressed," The President of PSAC said, revealing that organization negotiators will continue to pursue a fair deal for the public workers while strikes take place, adding the two parties were "still a ways apart."
Aylward asserted that the striking workers are ready to extend the walkout for "however long it takes," adding that participants were "pumped" and looking forward to mobilizing for an equitable deal.
