Strike demanding better pay rises to tackle inflation began on Wednesday morning (19/4) more than 155,000 public servants of Canada as announced by one of the public sector unions.
“We are at the beginning of a historic strike to reach an agreement that takes into account the cost of living,” explained Chris Aylward, national president of the Canadian public sector union AFPC during a press conference last Tuesday night.
The mobilization, “one of the largest strikes in the country”, according to the union, began at midnight (7:00 Greek time), announced the AFPC (Public Sector Alliance of Canada), which has been negotiating with the government for months .
According to the latter, the union “persists on demands that are unaffordable and would have serious consequences on the government’s ability to provide services to the Canadian population.”
The two parties clarified that the negotiations will continue.
“And we will continue the strike until the government answers our demands,” added Chris Aylward, as reported by the Athens News Agency.
They will paralyze numerous public services
Numerous public services are expected to be paralyzed by the mobilization, including the tax office, the passport service and the immigration service.
Almost a third of federal public servants will strike, according to the AFPC. About 250 strike pickets are planned across the country.
The previous strike action of this magnitude in Canada took place in 1991.
The AFPC is asking for a wage increase of 13.5% over three years, i.e. 4.5% per year to compensate for inflation. The government proposes 9% over three years.
In Canada, price growth slowed in March to 4.3% over the year, after peaking in 2022 at more than 8% in July.
The union is also calling for more flexibility in telecommuting: employees across ministries, most of whom are still working fully remotely since the pandemic, were to return to their offices two or three days a week no later than March 31.
“Due to union action, Canadians and Canadians must expect that some Government of Canada services will be delayed or not provided,” Justin Trudeau’s government announced yesterday, Tuesday evening.
Source: News Beast
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