Canada’s government struck a deal with 120 000 federal workers on Monday, effectively ending the country’s largest public sector strike ever which had crippled services from passport renewals to immigration.
While most strikers returned to work after almost two weeks of deadlock, more than 35,000 revenue agency workers who also walked out on April 19 are still negotiating, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union said.
That deadlock will continue to slow the processing of annual tax returns. Those union members who got an agreement will vote on whether to accept the deal “in coming days”, PSAC said.
“This May Day we’re celebrating a huge win, on the heels of one the largest strikes in Canadian history,” PSAC said on Twitter, referring to International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1.
The deal will be a relief for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has often won the support of unions and union members in his three election wins, according to pollsters.
Union leadership will cast the deal as “an honourable compromise,” said Michael Wernick, Canada’s former top bureaucrat who is now a professor at the University of Ottawa. The union members “couldn’t have got everything they wanted.”
PSAC said it had secured a total wage increase of 12.6% over four years, having turned down an offer of 9% over three years when it called the strike. The deal includes a one-off payment of C$2,500 ($1,845).
The union got a “good deal” on wages, said labor lawyer Rich Appiah. “The negotiated wage increase will be used as a precedent in other negotiations.”
The Treasury Board, which is the employer, still has about two-dozen other public-sector contracts to negotiate, said the board’s president, Mona Fortier.
“We have a really good deal on the table that is reasonable, that is fair for Canadians,” Fortier said. “We can now resume activities and also I have another 23 more deals to work on now.”
However, the deal fell short of getting work from home enshrined into the collective bargaining agreement. PSAC had been in collective bargaining since 2021 for a new contract, making it the first to be negotiated since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced millions to work remotely.
Now many federal employees say they work more efficiently from home and do not want to return to the office. There is a letter of intent to address remote work requests individually and in writing. However, the manager will have the last say.
“The federal government is not at this point ready to put that in collective bargaining (agreement),” said Lori Turnbull, Director of the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University.
Were it in the collective agreement, it would mean negotiating with union on remote work “as two equal players, as opposed to the federal government making a decision” on whether to allow remote work or not.
The Treasury Board said that working up to three days a week from home would be allowed, as was the case before the strike – and departmental panels will be created to help managers address employee concerns.
