A large picket line surrounded the federal government building in downtown Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday morning after some 155,000 government workers in the Okanagan and across Canada walked off the job.
“We are in a general strike action against our employer, the federal government,” said Sue Moser, strike captain and president of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) Local 20003.
The UTE falls under the umbrella of Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Canada’s largest public services union.
PSAC began strike action Wednesday after the two sides failed to come to an agreement by the union’s set deadline of midnight Tuesday.
“We’ve been without a contract since October 2021,” Moser told Global News.
Kelowna’s picket line was one of 250 set up across the country.
“We had a really good strong strike mandate from our members across the public service,” Moser said. “So that’s why we’re here today.”
The union and government are said to be far apart on some key issues. One of them includes the ability to work from home.
“There are various different key components that they haven’t addressed and one of those is remote work, or teleworking as we put it, so working from home,” Moser stated.
Wages are also a significant sticking point.
The union is asking for 13.5 per cent over three years. The government is offering nine per cent over the same time period.
“It’s mostly based on inflation,” Moser said. “Traditionally, our contracts follow the inflation rate, so we have, over the past years, had inflation increases. They’re not anywhere near what inflation was.”
Canadians are being warned to expect some service disruptions and delays to things like processing taxes, passport renewals and applying for Employment Insurance, Social Insurance and the Canada Pension plan.
“They do have essential services in there, but they’re very slim,” Moser said, referring to the few staff that were working inside the Kelowna office.
“So what’s normally done with hundreds of employees is now being done with a small percentage of employees.. So all of those services are going to take extra time to do.”
Despite the strike, there are no plans to extend tax filing deadlines.
The Canadian Revenue Agency said on its website, however, that certain services will not be available or will be delayed.
That includes delays in income tax and benefit returns, particularly the ones filed by paper.
The prime minister was asked Wednesday whether he would consider back-to-work legislation to force employees back on the job.
“It’s really important to respect labour rights and there is a labour disruption right now,” Justin Trudeau said. “It’s the first day. Let’s make sure that while this is going on, we are at the negotiation table.”
While it’s anyone’s guess how long the strike may last, those on the picket line said they’re in for the long haul.
“I don’t have a crystal ball but we are prepared to be on the line for as long as it takes,” Moser said.