We’re in this together: Strike votes for 120,000 PSAC members

Since the beginning of the pandemic, you and other PSAC members have stepped up by helping Canadians when they needed it most — whether your work got done from home or the workplace.

But instead of showing their appreciation for workers at the bargaining table, all we’ve seen from Treasury Board is total disrespect and disregard for the issues that matter most to PSAC members.

That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to hold strike votes for 120,000 hard-working federal public service workers in the Program and Administrative Services, Operational Services, Technical Services, and Education and Library Science bargaining groups from February 22 to April 19, 2023.

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We need to hold the line on fair wages that will prevent you from falling further behind as the cost of living increases. We believe in good, secure public service jobs, and an end to contracting out and privatization within the federal public service. We’re calling for solutions to harassment, discrimination and systemic racism in the workplace, so all workers feel safe on the job. And we’ll continue to fight to enshrine remote work and the right to disconnect in our collective agreements for better work-life balance.

Good wages. Protection from discrimination. Safe workplaces. Work-life balance. Is that too much to ask? We don’t think so.

Unfortunately, Treasury Board is hell-bent on pushing through serious concessions that impact your rights, including reducing job security and access to some leaves. And their insulting wage offer of 2.06% per year over four years is asking more than 120,000 hard-working PSAC members to take a big pay cut

To add insult to injury, the government imposed a flawed hybrid work plan on federal public service workers just days before the holidays, even though we’re negotiating remote work at the table and we’ve continued to serve Canadians effectively regardless of where the work gets done.

You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Treasury Board’s stalling tactics and demands for major concessions are unacceptable and are hurting our members and their families. That’s why we need your support.

Register to vote

Going on strike is never our first choice and it doesn’t mean we’ll automatically call one. But securing a strong strike mandate from our membership shows we’re willing to fight and will give us the leverage we need to reach a fair and decent contract. And if we need to take job action to get the collective agreement you deserve, then that’s exactly what we’ll do.

Together, we have the strength in numbers to fight for a contract that makes real gains for our members. This is our opportunity to make a meaningful difference in our workplaces, and we strongly urge you to vote in favour of a strike mandate. To give you as many opportunities as possible to participate in strike votes, we’ll be holding strike information sessions both in-person and virtually.

Your voting credentials will be sent to your personal, non-work email or by mail to your home address if we don’t have a personal email on file. You will need these credentials to register for a strike vote session. All virtual sessions are national votes, so you may register for any virtual session. If you haven’t received your voting credentials from PSAC via your personal, non-work email or mail, you may need to update your contact information before you can register to vote.

Thank you for your continued support.

In solidarity,

Chris Aylward
National President
Public Service Alliance of Canada

This article was first posted on the PSAC website.