PSAC strike Day 10: Ottawa tables new offer to union as disruptions persist

The federal government says it has tabled a new offer for a collective agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier’s office said the government presented a new offer to PSAC on Friday as members nationwide continue their now 10-day-long strike.

Earlier in the day, the union told Global News that talks were resuming following a stalemate at the table.

“We hope to be bargaining throughout the weekend in order to reach a fair deal,” a PSAC spokesperson told Global News in an email.

Wages and remote work are among the points of contention in the labour dispute, Fortier said earlier this week. The union, which was seeking a wage increase of 13.5 per cent over three years, has “moved off” that offer. How much, however, remains unclear.

1:05 PSAC workers remain united as strike continues

The government has stuck by its offer of a nine per cent wage hike over three years – an offer recommended by an independent arbitrator earlier this year. It wasn’t immediately clear what Friday’s offered included.

“I have deep faith in collective bargaining as a process, and we know that our negotiators are putting forward serious offers and working constructively with labour on this,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday in New York City.

“This is an important part of how we make sure that workers are properly supported in this country, and we’re going to continue to allow it to unfold, and I will continue to be engaged with it.”

As the strike continues, Canadians are facing federal service disruptions ranging from immigration services to passport applications.

0:56 Joly says PSAC strike will not impact evacuations of Canadians from Sudan

More than 100,000 PSAC members have been told to demonstrate this week outside “strategic” government locations. Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Thursday that in the past week, about 70,000 immigration files that should have been processed were instead put on hold.

The minister said his department had planned to announce last week that it had returned to certain service standards achieved before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, but the standards dropped as the strike started.

Massive Canada Revenue Agency slowdowns remain at the height of tax season as the filing deadline looms next Monday. The CRA has said it does not plan to extend the deadline.

The Union of Taxation Employees (PSAC-UTE), a subdivision of PSAC, is separately negotiating a contract for more than 35,000 striking Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) workers. PSAC represents roughly 120,000 federal public servants.

PSAC-UTE and the CRA appear to remain far apart on talks.

4:59 Canadians split on PSAC strike — but most aren’t paying attention: poll

Meanwhile, a new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News revealed that Canadians are divided between the union and the federal government.

Ipsos polled 1,000 Canadians between April 21 and 24 and found that 38 per cent of Canadians are either strongly (16 per cent) or somewhat (22 per cent) on the side of PSAC.

Meanwhile, 28 per cent said they are either strongly (10 per cent) or somewhat (18 per cent) on the side of the government. Thirty-four per cent said they don’t know enough to say either way, and 47 per cent said they don’t know enough to say who is being the fairest.

— with files from Global News’ Eric Stober and The Canadian Press