Striking Public Servants Block Access to Ottawa Office Buildings, Disrupt Traffic

A PSAC worker holds a flag on a picket line in Ottawa on April 19, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

On the seventh day of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strike, workers escalated the protest by blocking access to office buildings in downtown Ottawa and disrupting traffic.

Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Prime Minister’s Office building and Treasury Board headquarters, where they limited entry to one person every five minutes. Another group of strikers blocked cars on a bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., where many federal buildings are located.

The move comes one day after PSAC President Chris Aylward warned that the union would move its picket lines to “strategic locations” in order to cause greater disruption to the federal government.

“Even if the government seems content to prolong this strike and its impact on Canadians by dragging out negotiations. Our members are frustrated by the government’s lack of progress at the table this weekend, and that’s why we may need to escalate our actions,” he said in a press release.

On April 24, striking workers also briefly blocked the Port of Montreal in Quebec, the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia, and the Port of St. John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Two PSAC groups—a larger Treasury Board group of more than 120,000 workers across several government departments and a smaller group of more than 35,000 workers at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)—have been striking across Canada since the federal government and PSAC failed to reach a deal before an April 18 deadline.

The union is asking for a 13.5 percent raise over three years for its 120,000 members due to the rising cost of living—arguing that its workers stepped up during the pandemic and deserve compensation—as well as for some employees to be given the option to work from home full-time, instead of the Treasury Board’s proposed “hybrid model.”

The PSAC-Union of Taxation Employees at CRA is seeking an even higher raise, 29.5 percent over three years.

Negotiations Stuck on Four Issues

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier penned an open letter to the striking workers and Canadians on April 24, explaining the federal government’s efforts to bring the strike to an end.

Fortier said that while the government and PSAC had agreed to nearly all of the union’s 570 demands, both sides have been stuck on the issues of wages, a ban on contracting out, telework, and decisions concerning which employees to retain, based on seniority or merit, in the event of downsizing.

“Just as we have done with other bargaining agents, the Government wants to reach deals with the PSAC that are fair to employees and reflect the important work they perform,” Fortier said in the letter. “However, any settlement must be reasonable for all Canadians, whether we are talking about this or future rounds of collective bargaining.”

Fortier encouraged government employees to speak with their PSAC representative so they could get a “full understanding” of all the issues still needing to be resolved.

“We call on the PSAC to urgently work with the government to negotiate the final key proposals at the table,” she wrote.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.