The largest federal public service union in Canada, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, has announced that 120,000 workers are set to participate in nationwide strike votes starting next month. The union revealed that the voting will take place between Nov. 16 and Jan. 22 as contract negotiations with the federal government reached an impasse.
For the past year and a half, the union has been in talks with the Treasury Board, but discussions have broken down over key issues such as wages, job security, remote work, and protections against artificial intelligence. PSAC criticized the government’s offer of less than one per cent per year as “insulting.”
Various workers, including wildland firefighters, passport and benefit officers, fishery officers, federal teachers, librarians, and administrative staff, will participate in the strike votes.
Notably, in 2023, 155,000 federal public servants engaged in strike action across the country for nearly two weeks, ultimately securing wage increases totaling 12.6 per cent over the agreement’s term from 2021 to 2024.
