Ottawa/ Fraser Valley – In a media release from the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the threat of a strike that would affect all federal employees and services could be on the horizon.
A PSAC spokesperson told FVN/chillTV that the worse case scenario would be Service Canada offices throughout the Valley could be behind pickets in April or May. That would effect everything from EI claims to passports:
PSAC will be holding strike votes for around 27,500 of its members at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) beginning in mid-February.
The union has been negotiating in good faith for a new collective agreement with the CRA since June 2018, but management has consistently refused to address members’ concerns and has instead insisted on a range of concessions.
It has now been more than four years since workers last received a wage increase in November 2015, yet the Agency keeps rejecting the union’s wage proposal.
“Even worse, management has still not bothered to respond with its own monetary proposal since bargaining began,” said Marc Brière, President of the Union of Taxation Employees, a component union of PSAC. “It’s just not possible to negotiate when the other party doesn’t even care enough to make a counteroffer.”
Eight other PSAC bargaining units covering an additional 110,000 federal public service workers are also gearing up for job actions, up to and including a strike.
“This has gone on far too long,” added Chris Aylward, PSAC National President. “We’re still waiting to receive proper compensation for four years of Phoenix damages and they won’t even offer a fair deal at the bargaining table.”
“It’s clear that job action is what it’s going to take for the Trudeau government to stop dragging their feet.”
