Federal workers in Manitoba hit the picket lines as strike begins

Thousands of federal workers in Manitoba were off the job on Wednesday as the public service strike got underway.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the largest federal public-service union in the country, did not reach a tentative agreement with the federal government by Tuesday evening, with the strike beginning this morning at 12:01 a.m. ET.

The bargaining groups include about 155,000 federal public servants, including Canada Revenue Agency workers and those who process passport applications, employment insurance and immigration documents.

According to PSAC’s website, it has more than 8,000 members in Manitoba.

In Winnipeg, pickets were scheduled for Tuesday morning at federal buildings, including Service Canada and Union Station.

George Meldrum, a PSAC strike captain, said the mood at the Union Station picket line was “positive.”

“Everybody’s not exactly happy to be here, but everybody has smiles. They’re walking peacefully, holding up the signs,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of people honking, so the mood has been really, really positive.”

Winnipeg employees from the largest federal public-service union in the country picket outside Union Station on April 19, 2023. (Source: Joseph Bernacki/CTV News Winnipeg)

Meldrum said he wants people to know that federal workers don’t want to be in this position, adding that the federal government could have signed a deal two years ago.

“We’ve been waiting two years and counting for an agreement,” he said.

Initial negotiations began in June 2021, with the union looking for a new contract. The union declared an impasse in May 2022 and both parties filed labour complaints. Mediated contract negotiations began earlier this month and pushed into last weekend in what the union described as the government's last chance to reach a deal.

The federal workers are seeking fair remote-work arrangements and wage increases, with the union pushing for annual raises of 4.5 per cent over the next three years.

David Camfield, an associate professor of labour studies and sociology, at the University of Manitoba, said the demand for wage increases comes at a time when costs have skyrocketed.

“Between 2019 and 2022, we saw prices go up by about 11 per cent, but very few people’s wages have grown to meet that,” he said.

As for the issue of remote work, Camfield said the federal government imposed the unilateral return to the office of at least two days a week, but the union has nothing about this in its collective agreement.

“They’re trying to negotiate some basic provisions that would ensure some kind of fairness, some kind of universal approach to how this will be dealt with in the future,” he said.

Camfield added that the two sides are still at the bargaining table, and the question remains as to whether the strike will put enough pressure on the government to move their position closer to what the union feels is adequate for a tentative agreement.

- With files from CTV’s Joseph Bernacki and Nicole Dube.

 

A late Tuesday news release from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says the government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada are still at odds when it comes to key contract issues for both sides.

- With files from CTV’s Joseph Bernacki and The Canadian Press