'Summer of discontent': Federal unions vow to fight new 3-day a week office mandate
CTV
Federal unions are launching legal challenges and encouraging public sector workers to file "tens of thousands" of grievances over the new mandate requiring federal workers to return to the office at least three days a week in the fall.
Federal unions are launching legal challenges and encouraging public sector workers to file "tens of thousands" of grievances over the new mandate requiring federal workers to return to the office at least three days a week in the fall.
"The Trudeau Liberal government better prepare itself for a summer of discontent," Chris Aylward, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said on Wednesday.
The Treasury Board Secretariat announced a new hybrid work policy for the federal public service on May 1, requiring all public servants in the core public administration to work on-site a minimum of three days a week starting Sept. 9. All federal executives are expected to be on-site a minimum of four days per week.
During a media conference on Parliament Hill, the federal unions announced they have filed a policy grievance challenging the new return-to-office mandate and a labour complaint against the Treasury Board to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.
"The Liberal government's move to force federal workers back into ill-equipped and poorly maintained offices three days a week is purely political and puts the services that Canadians depend on at risk," Aylward said.
"Their unilateral, one-sized fits all approach to hybrid work is completely anti-worker, violates the hard won rights of federal employees and fundamentally breaks the trust of workers and unions with the Trudeau Liberal government."
Tens of thousands of federal workers began working from home at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023, the government implemented the current hybrid work policy requiring federal public servants work in the office two or three days a week.
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