The London District Labour Council will be holding a solidarity rally in London, Ont., as the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strike enters its second week on Wednesday while rotating lines continue.
More than 150,000 PSAC members are on strike for the eighth straight day as union representatives continue to negotiate with the federal government for a bigger wage increase and more flexibility to work remotely.
The solidarity rally in London will be held from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at 451 Talbot St., where local PSAC members have been maintaining a “mega-line” outside the Richard Pierpoint Building on the corner of Talbot Street and Queens Avenue.
While picketers had been using central locations at the beginning of the strike, a directive from PSAC has resulted in demonstrators rotating between local federal infrastructure this week.
London and area picketers were at the Wolseley Barracks on Monday, slowing traffic along Elizabeth Street. Demonstrators then moved to the Canada Post administration building along Highbury Avenue on Tuesday and back to the barracks on Wednesday.
“We are trying to create more visibility,” local strike captain Thu Trinh said Tuesday outside of the Canada Post building.
“We’re joining (the Canadian Union of Postal Workers) and getting their solidarity, support in terms of we’re disrupting but trying to be safe in a manner that we’re not causing any accidents.”
Trinh, also the southwestern representative for the PSAC Ontario regional council, said picketers will be “out here as long as we can to get the message across that we deserve better.”
The mobile demonstrations are being done across Canada, with federal public servants at the Cascadia Terminal in Vancouver Monday morning and members marching across the Portage Bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., Tuesday.
Federal ministers say they are monitoring the demonstrations as they escalate to areas that cause traffic congestion.
“On one hand, they have the right to strike and demonstrate,” Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters Tuesday.
“On the other hand, we need to make sure that the economy can continue functioning around the country.”
Both sides have accused each other of misrepresenting to the public how negotiations are going behind closed doors.
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