700 military members without heat or hot water at CFB Petawawa due to PSAC strike
CTV
About 700 military members living on base at CFB Petawawa are without heat or hot water after some federal workers were deemed non-essential during the Public Service Alliance of Canada strike.
About 700 military members living on base at CFB Petawawa are without heat or hot water after some federal workers were deemed non-essential during the Public Service Alliance of Canada strike.
In total, 21 buildings that house members on site are without the amenities.
"The majority of buildings on base, we did lose heat and hot water," Acting Commander Andrew Mills told CTV News. "And currently that applies to the approximately 700 members that we have living here on base."
The heat went out Wednesday morning when 505 public service workers walked off the job, including those who keep the heat on at the on-base central heating plant.
"We do have members that are in a legal strike position that are not available to come into work, that are required in order to ensure the safety of the operation of the plant," said Mills.
Mills tells CTV News that the decision on which employees are deemed essential or not is made at a national level.
"The workers at the plant were not deemed as essential workers and they're out on the picket line just like everybody else," said Randy Phinney, president of the Local 629 Union of National Defence Employees, located in Petawawa.
