More federal public servant union members vote for strike mandate
CBC
A union representing more than 120,000 federal public servants across Canada has voted in favour of a strike mandate, leaders said in a news conference Wednesday morning.
The group of workers, which is called the Treasury Board group by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), is now in a legal strike position as talks continue this week, national president Chris Aylward said in a news conference.
Aylward did not say when a strike could happen. Legally, the union said it now starts a 60-day window to call a strike, which runs until June 10.
The union also didn't share how many of its 123,856 members voted in favour. He said an "overwhelming majority" voted for a strike mandate.
About 35,000 PSAC workers at the Canada Revenue Agency, which are part of a different bargaining group, voted in favour of strike action Friday ahead of mediation talks set to take place later this month.
That means more than 155,000 federal public servants represented by the union have a strike mandate.
When you factor in jobs that are deemed essential, the union said more than 100,000 members would be able to strike.
In January, the union announced strike votes for the Treasury Board group due to a disagreement with the department over proposed wage increases that are outstripped by the rate of inflation.
Aylward said Wednesday most members make between $40,000 and $65,000 a year and they are struggling with the high cost of living.
Strike votes happened from Feb. 22 until Tuesday.
At that time, the Treasury Board said the government was "disappointed" about the strike vote and that there was "lots of room to reach a fair and reasonable agreement for public servants."
The Treasury Board last shared an offer to increase wages by 2.06 per cent on average over four years, up from an average of 1.7 per cent per year. The union's last public proposal was 4.5 per cent for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Among the four latest groups is one known as program and administrative services, the largest bargaining unit in the core federal public service. That one counts nearly 100,000 employees who administer programs, do communications work, clerical functions, data processing and more.
The others are operational employees such as firefighters, tradespeople and ship crews, the technical services group, and the education and library science group.
It’s been a year of relearning how to live for a 41-year-old Wawa woman.
Prospectors staked claims around Nova Scotia in high numbers this year after Premier Tim Houston unveiled his new open-arms approach to natural resource development.
The Holt Liberals have found a way to keep their promise of lower gas prices just days before Christmas.
A man convicted of human smuggling last year has asked a United States court to continue his appeal without a lawyer, in a case where a family from India froze to death near the Manitoba-U.S. border in 2022.
The dream of those who wanted to breathe new life into Saskatoon’s bus barns in Caswell Hill is expected to come tumbling down next year.
Jill Finn is still haunted by the voice.
P.E.I.'s deputy premier Bloyce Thompson is expected to be sworn in as the province's next premier one day after Rob Lantz announced his resignation from the role and his bid for the permanent leadership of the province’s Progressive Conservative Party.
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
The Ontario government has sided with the City of Hamilton in its push to continue a long-delayed James Street N., housing redevelopment, which proposes the creation of several hundred homes in the north end.
There's still no timeline on the official designation of an Ojibway National Urban Park — and a Parks Canada representative is asking the community to adjust its expectations.
As the cost of groceries continues to increase, one Edmonton organization is harnessing the power of bulk buying to ensure its members aren’t going hungry at a critical time every month.
A drug alert has been issued in Thunder Bay, Ont., over a toxic substance first found in Toronto earlier this fall.
Ontario’s municipal affairs minister says the province will move forward with a much-delayed mandatory review of the Greenbelt, but opposition critics say there's still no word on when the study of the ecologically sensitive zone will take place or who will conduct it.