Over 100,000 Federal Public Servants to Strike Wednesday if No Deal is Reached

Over 100,000 federal public servants could go on legal strike from Wednesday if an agreement between the government and Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is not reached. The PSAC has presented a deadline since it is taking longer than expected to reach a deal and the contracts for the workers expired in 2021.

PSAC leadership has been at the bargaining table with the government since June 2021 demanding increase in wages, job security, and remote work capabilities. The union announced that if a deal is not struck by 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, federal public servants will go on strike from Wednesday. This means over 100,000 federal public servants spread across 23 departments will go on strike. And this is after excluding the many essential workers who cannot strike.

According to National PSAC president Chris Aylward, there has been some progress towards reaching a deal but it’s still not close to agreeing on the wages, job security, and remote work, which is why the PSAC has set the deadline of Tuesday night.

The latest offer for wage increase presented by the government in February was 1.5 percent in 2021, 4.5 percent for 2022, and three percent for 2023.

The PSAC bargain group, which includes 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) workers, is scheduled for mediation this week. The other group called the Treasury Board unit which includes about 120,000 staff across more than 20 departments and agencies met with the government last week and is still at the table.

Vineet Washington