No deal yet on PSAC strike as union accuses government of delays, incompetence
CBC
The union representing tens of thousands of federal public servants currently off the job says its strike will continue as it waits for a response to a proposal it says it sent to the government Thursday.
"We are here and we will stay here until we get the fair deal that our workers deserve," said Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
Aylward told reporters Saturday that his union had sent a "comprehensive" proposal to the Treasury Board, which is the formal employer for the striking workers. Aylward said the Treasury Board had responded Friday that they would deliver a response on a singular issue, relating to seniority and layoffs.
Aylward said the pace of the response meant the government was now responsible for delays in negotiations.
"This screams of the incompetence of Mona Fortier as the president of the Treasury Board, and her team," he said.
"I've been involved in this union a long time, I've never seen a round of bargaining like this — the disrespect at the table from Treasury Board and from this government."
Aylward also said the prime minister had not contributed to progress in the negotiations, and urged him to become directly involved.
Fortier and the Treasury Board did not respond immediately to a request for comment Saturday.
Sharon DeSousa, an executive vice president at PSAC, confirmed that the strike will continue over the weekend for those federal workers who would normally be scheduled to work.
"They will do whatever they need to do to get a fair contract," she said.
The national strike for more than 155,000 federal public servants under the Public Service Alliance of Canada began at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Over the course of the strike, picket lines formed across the country while some government services — including taxes, passports and immigration — were disrupted.
Two PSAC groups are striking: a larger Treasury Board group of more than 120,000 workers across several government departments and agencies, and a smaller tax group of more than 35,000 workers at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
About 110,000 to 120,000 PSAC members were eligible to walk off the job after factoring out staff doing work designated as essential, such as employment insurance or pensions.
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