Above Photo: PSAC members on the picket line. PSAC / TwitterBreanne Doyle.
In addition to wage increases, the tentative deal PSAC has reached with the Treasury Board also has important protections for remote work.
Most Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) employees returned to work on Monday, May 1, after a tentative agreement was reached between the union and their employer, the Treasury Board, in the early hours of Monday morning.
Under this tentative deal, the union had secured for its members a wage increase of 12 per cent spread over four years, while members who are close to retirement age will receive a lump sum payment of up to $2,500 in lieu of the wage increase that they would have received.
“During a period of record-high inflation and soaring corporate profits, workers were told to accept less – but our members came together and fought for better,” said Chris Aylward, PSAC national president. “This agreement delivers important gains for our members that will set the bar for all workers in Canada.”
The final wage increase promised in the agreement is close to the longheld number of 13.5 per cent that the union had been seeking. The union explained that the wage increase guarantee was crucial to help their members keep up with inflation. The Consumer Price Index, which tracks the rising cost of everyday goods like food rose by 6.8 per cent in 2022, meaning that goods on average were 6.8 per cent more expensive last year than in 2021.
“We are deeply grateful for public servants who work hard across the country to serve Canadians and look forward to welcoming them back. These deals are fair, competitive, and reasonable, and bring stability to public servants and Canadians,” reads a statement from Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board.
PSAC makes gains on return to work language
In addition to the wage increase secured by the union, their bargaining team also secured new guarantees around remote working.
Many federal employees began working fully remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some using this new found flexibility to move further away from their former physical offices.
In December of 2022, the Treasury Board introduced a blanket mandate requiring all federal public employees to return to the office two-to-three days a week.
At the time, Alyward blasted the Treasury Board’s decision as “arbitrary” and “disrespectful” as unions were not consulted about this change in advance.
Under the new tentative agreement with the Treasury Board, PSAC members who apply to work remotely will now have their cases assessed on an individual, rather than a group basis, and managers will now have to return written responses to remote work applications, which the union says is key to keeping the employer accountable.
Furthermore, there will be joint PSAC-employer departmental panels that will review how employees are impacted by the Treasury Board’s remote work policy.
Other parts of the agreement revealed on Monday include reviewing equity, diversity, and inclusivity training, and greater restrictions on the government to contract out unionized labour.
CRA strike continues
The tentative agreement means that of the 155,000 PSAC workers who began striking on Wednesday, April 19, that 120,000 of them were back on the job on Monday.
The remaining 35,000 union members still on strike are employees of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
PSAC sent out a second press release on Monday stating that their negotiating teams were working to secure some of the same benefits that the majority of PSAC workers had already received from their employer.
The union is continuing to try and secure similar language around remote work for their CRA members, as well as an increase in wages and greater job security.
The 120,000 members included in the tentative agreement will have the opportunity to vote on ratifying the deal in the near future.
Prior to the strike, some PSAC members had been working without a contract for two years.
Locations for the picket lines for the striking CRA members can be found here.