No deal yet on PSAC strike as union accuses government of delays, incompetence
CBC
The union representing tens of thousands of federal public servants currently off the job says its strike will continue as it waits for a response to a proposal it says it sent to the government Thursday.
"We are here and we will stay here until we get the fair deal that our workers deserve," said Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
Aylward told reporters Saturday that his union had sent a "comprehensive" proposal to the Treasury Board, which is the formal employer for the striking workers. Aylward said the Treasury Board had responded Friday that they would deliver a response on a singular issue, relating to seniority and layoffs.
Aylward said the pace of the response meant the government was now responsible for delays in negotiations.
"This screams of the incompetence of Mona Fortier as the president of the Treasury Board, and her team," he said.
"I've been involved in this union a long time, I've never seen a round of bargaining like this — the disrespect at the table from Treasury Board and from this government."
Aylward also said the prime minister had not contributed to progress in the negotiations, and urged him to become directly involved.
Fortier and the Treasury Board did not respond immediately to a request for comment Saturday.
Sharon DeSousa, an executive vice president at PSAC, confirmed that the strike will continue over the weekend for those federal workers who would normally be scheduled to work.
"They will do whatever they need to do to get a fair contract," she said.
The national strike for more than 155,000 federal public servants under the Public Service Alliance of Canada began at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Over the course of the strike, picket lines formed across the country while some government services — including taxes, passports and immigration — were disrupted.
Two PSAC groups are striking: a larger Treasury Board group of more than 120,000 workers across several government departments and agencies, and a smaller tax group of more than 35,000 workers at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
About 110,000 to 120,000 PSAC members were eligible to walk off the job after factoring out staff doing work designated as essential, such as employment insurance or pensions.
Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says an RCMP officer who struck a teen with a police truck during a high-speed chase on Kawacatoose First Nation last year should not be charged.
Finance Minister Jim Reiter unveiled his footwear for Wednesday's provincial budget: The same black shoes as last year.
A new report by the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters highlights the importance of investing in transportation in rural parts of the province in order to save lives.
B.C. Premier David Eby has signalled he won't support the federal government's move to temporarily increase rural employers' allowances for temporary foreign workers, saying there should be a pathway to permanent residency instead.
P.E.I. Progressive Conservative MLA and cabinet minister Mark McLane has died, with Premier Rob Lantz paying tribute to his colleague as someone who could always be counted upon.
Whitehorse city council is considering a proposal to study 14 lots throughout the city for housing development.
In the closing days of the NDP leadership race, Avi Lewis's past activism has resurfaced. But the front-runner's campaign is standing by his past work and a decade-old vision that's been both criticized within the New Democrats' ranks and weaponized by their opponents.
Some rural municipalities want the province to know ambulance response times and basic care in their communities are not meeting the mark.
The sighting of a sniper on Saturday during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Waterloo was met with fear and shock by some partygoers, but one policing expert says this was a proactive measure designed to keep the crowd safe.
A 25-year old Prince Edward Island man has been sentenced to six months in jail for firearms offences.
Closing schools, stalled housing starts — not common headlines in Alberta's booming cities.
Two MLAs and the Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation chief say they welcome the territory’s new trespassing legislation because they believe it will help address concerns about uninvited guests intruding in people’s homes and refusing to leave.
U.S. President Donald Trump is struggling to persuade other nations to help protect commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a development that analysts say is partly the result of treating allies with contempt since returning to the White House last year.