Monday April 24, 2023 | VIEW ROYAL, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Federal workers on strike were about 150-strong at the noon hour in View Royal today.
They populated several sides of the intersection at Island Highway (Hwy 14) and Wilfert Road, near the Burger King and Serious Coffee, across the street from Elements Casino.
Placards worn or held by picketers included messages like “Fair Wages”, “2% is on my milk”, and “Thank you for your support”.
The impact of the continued grind of inflation increases has been a key pressure to the strike happening at this time.
Most participants were quite relaxed, including sitting in lawn chairs on the grass along the sidewalk. At least one young mother was with a young child in a stroller.
Today the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) entered day six of one of the largest labour strikes in Canadian history, with more than 150,000 public service workers pushing for higher wages, work-from-home options, and better job security. In larger cities there was some hampering of access to ports and picketing in front of government buildings across the country.
In negotiations, the federal government has offered a nine percent increase over three years. “Canadians will judge that to be a fair and reasonable offer,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland today on national TV.
During the strike, Service Canada will only process passport applications for “emergency and humanitarian situations.”
All citizenship events will be rescheduled, though the website says some urgent applications “still may be processed.” Communications with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada by social media, IRCC web form and Client Support Centres will be delayed. Immigration-related appointments within Canada may be rescheduled, but those outside of the country are proceeding unless applicants are contacted to reschedule. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) processes will be slower, which is inconvenient (or worse) at tax time. Services to process CPP, OAS, GIS and the Child Tax Benefit will continue, the federal government has stated.
Contracts for both groups expired in 2021. Negotiations between the federal government and PSAC’s two groups began in 2021, but the union declared an impasse with each unit last year. PSAC had previously asked for a 4.5 percent raise each year for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Federal workers are hoping to see their wages keep up with the impact of inflation, so that they purchasing power doesn’t erode. It’s unclear whether workers in the private sector can keep up, given the pressures on small business and the pressures on interest rates (lines of credit, credit cards and mortgages).
