155,000 public sector workers in Canada go on strike for better wages

More than 155,000 Canadian public sector workers went on strike this morning, demanding better pay raises to cope with inflation, one of the public-sector unions announced.

«We are at the beginning of a historic strike» to achieve «an agreement that takes the cost of living into account,» explained Chris Aylward, national president of the Canadian public sector union AFPC, during a press conference yesterday, Tuesday, evening.

The strike, «one of the largest in the country,» according to the union, began at midnight (07:00 Greek time), announced the AFPC (Alliance of the Public Sector of Canada), which has been negotiating with the government for months.

According to the latter, the union «is insisting on demands that are unreasonable and would have serious consequences for the government’s ability to provide services to the Canadian public.».

The two sides made it clear that the negotiations will continue.

«And we will continue the strike until the government responds to our demands,» added Chris Aylward.

Numerous public services are expected to come to a standstill due to the strike, including the tax office, the passport office, and the immigration office.

According to the AFPC, nearly one-third of federal civil servants will go on strike. Approximately 250 strike picket lines are scheduled across the country.

The last strike of this magnitude in Canada took place in 1991.

The AFPC is calling for a 13.5% wage increase over three years—that is, 4.5% per year—to offset inflation. The government is proposing 9% over three years.

In Canada, inflation slowed to 4.3% year-over-year in March, after peaking at over 8% in July 2022.

The union is also calling for more flexibility regarding remote work: employees across all ministries—most of whom have continued to work entirely remotely since the start of the pandemic— were scheduled to return to their offices two or three days a week by March 31 at the latest.

«Due to labor actions, Canadians should expect that some Canadian government services will be delayed or unavailable,» the government of Justin Trudeau announced yesterday, Tuesday evening, the government of Justin Trudeau announced.