Canada reaches settlement with 120,000 federal workers on strike | Business and Business News

Another 35,000 Canada Revenue Service workers remain on strike, demanding better pay and flexibility in teleworking.

Canada has reached a settlement with 120,000 striking federal employees, effectively ending one of the largest public sector work stoppages in the country’s history, which paralyzed services from passport renewal to immigration.

While most strikers will return to work after a nearly two-week lockdown, more than 35,000 Canada Revenue Service workers who also went on strike last month are still negotiating, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union said on Monday with.

“During a period of record-high inflation and rising corporate profits, workers were told to accept less – but our members came together and fought for better,” PSAC national president Chris Aylward said in a statement.

“This agreement brings important benefits to our members that will set the standard for all workers in Canada.”

A third of Canada’s public sector workers – some 155,000 people – began striking on April 19, and are striking in hundreds of locations across the country with demands for cost-of-living increases and teleworking flexibility.

Pickets march up Parliament Hill after more than 155,000 public sector unionists went on strike April 19, 2023 in Ottawa [Blair Gable/Reuters]The head of the Treasury Board – the federal employer – said on Monday that the deal came after “many weeks of hard work, negotiations and compromises”.

“The best deals are struck at the negotiating table – we respect the right to negotiate and appreciate the patience and understanding Canadians have had over the past two weeks,” Mona Fortier said in a statement.

“We are deeply grateful to the officers who work hard across the country to serve Canadians and look forward to welcoming them back. These deals are fair, competitive and reasonable, and bring stability to officials and Canadians.”

The union said it achieved a 12.6 percent wage increase over the four-year contract period (2021-2024), which is below the desired 13.5 percent increase but above the government’s proposed nine percent increase.

On the sticking point of remote working, which many employees have become accustomed to during the COVID-19 pandemic, PSAC said it has secured “significant new safeguards.”

It said the new “language in a consent form” would require managers to evaluate remote work requests on an individual basis rather than by group.

Pickets march around the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council in Ottawa on April 24, 2023 [Blair Gable/Reuters]In a separate statement on Monday, the union said the remaining 35,000 employees at the federal finance agency continued to strike because some outstanding issues had not yet been resolved.

PSAC said the striking workers wanted wording in their contract to allow for “teleworking arrangements” and pay that would counter the “cost of living and inflationary pressures”.

Finally, workers also want more workplace safety regulations, “including recognition of years of service and protection from our jobs being awarded,” the union said.