One of Canada’s largest labour disruptions has entered a sixth day as the union representing thousands of striking public-service workers looks to hamper access to ports.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada says more than 100,000 of its staff remain on strike, some of whom are expected to move their picket lines Monday to strategic locations more likely to have an impact on the federal government.
“We’re actually going to be escalating those actions,” said Chris Aylward, the union’s national president, giving the example of heightened activity at “ports across the country.”
Over the weekend, both sides accused each other of obstructing negotiations and being too slow to respond to key developments.
Aylward called on the prime minister to intervene and blasted the government for failing to reach a deal two years ago when negotiations began.
“This screams of the incompetence of Mona Fortier as the president of the Treasury Board, and her team,” he said at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Still, negotiations continued at a steady drip.
The union president said the Treasury Board had presented an offer on Saturday afternoon, and the union had countered with its own proposal the same day.
Fortier’s office said it made a second proposal Saturday that the union had not responded to by late Sunday.
Aylward ultimately acknowledged the government’s additional offer but said it did nothing to advance the union’s wage demands. The union is also fighting to enshrine other measures, such as telework, into the collective agreement.
Meanwhile, the Union of Taxation Employees, a subdivision of the public-service alliance that is separately negotiating a contract for more than 35,000 striking Canada Revenue Agency workers, said it hasn’t been at the bargaining table since Tuesday.
Earlier in their negotiations, the CRA was offered a wage increase of nine per cent over a three-year period on the recommendations of the third-party Public Interest Commission. But the union has been pushing for a 20.5 per cent increase over the same time frame.
Marc Briere, the national president of the taxation employees’ union, says the union is waiting for the Treasury Board to come back with a fair offer and is ready to come back to the bargaining table when that happens.
“There’s been close to zero progress over the weekend, and we are very upset,” Briere said.
In a statement on Friday, the tax agency said it was calling for the union to return to mediated negotiations in person, but that proposals were still being exchanged on other issues specific to the CRA.
As it digs into a limited strike fund to sustain the nearly week-long job action, the Public Service Alliance of Canada is insisting it will be able to find other financing to continue offering strike pay if the fund gets depleted.