Thicket of strike pickets shuts down federal offices across GTA and Canada

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There was a thicket of pickets across the GTA as 155,000 federal government workers walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) set up picket information lines outside federal government offices in Mississauga at Square One, in North York at the Joseph Shepard Building on Yonge St. and at the Canada Centre Scarborough offices at 200 Town Centre Ct.

The Scarborough offices are home to a Canadian passport office, employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan and a Canadian veterans services office, but other strikers came from other parts of the GTA who work in immigration services.

Dan Barrett, president for local UNDE625, was outside the Canada Centre offices with hundreds of picketers on Wednesday.

“Primarily, we have been negotiating for over a year-plus and we have bargaining demands in prior to when inflation took off,“ said Barrett. “So we are looking at getting a fair monetary offer.”

Other than the pay increase, another main sticking point for the union is working remotely — which workers have done throughout the COVID period and beyond — and that it be placed in their collective agreement.

“Working from home can get a little tricky,” said Barrett.

“One of the demands we are looking for is getting a proper setup for working from home. And making sure the collective agreement provides the right protection,” he said.

He went on to say that, when working from home, “members don’t want to be tethered to a phone 24/7.”

Barrett has been a member for over three decades.

PSAC has been in negotiations since June 2021 and has now asked for a 13.5% increase to wages over the next three years — or 3.5% — which doesn’t meet cost-of-living or inflation-rate increases.

The federal government originally offered 2.5% in wage increases but recently upped that percentage to nine per cent over three years.

Included among the 155,000 PSAC workers on picket lines are 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency workers, who may end up delaying the tax return deadline, which is slated for Sunday, April 30.

The government could impose back-to-work legislation and said that negotiations have started, but they stated they “cannot write a blank cheque” for the PSAC membership.

One striking member said there was a previous strike in 1991 that lasted three weeks while the most recent one she was involved with was in 2001 and lasted only three days.

Currently, there are now 250 picket locations from coast to coast.

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