Okanagan federal workers join counterparts across Canada in strike action – Okanagan | 24CA News
A big picket line surrounded the federal authorities constructing in downtown Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday morning after some 155,000 authorities staff within the Okanagan and throughout Canada walked off the job.
“We are in a general strike action against our employer, the federal government,” mentioned Sue Moser, strike captain and president of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) Local 20003.
The UTE falls below the umbrella of Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Canada’s largest public providers union.
Read extra:
PSAC staff are on strike. Here’s what occurs now
PSAC started strike motion Wednesday after the 2 sides failed to come back to an settlement by the union’s set deadline of midnight Tuesday.
“We’ve been without a contract since October 2021,” Moser instructed Global News.
Kelowna’s picket line was considered one of 250 arrange throughout the nation.
“We had a really good strong strike mandate from our members across the public service,” Moser mentioned. “So that’s why we’re here today.”
The union and authorities are mentioned to be far aside on some key points. One of them contains the flexibility to make money working from home.
“There are various different key components that they haven’t addressed and one of those is remote work, or teleworking as we put it, so working from home,” Moser said.
Wages are additionally a major sticking level.
The union is asking for 13.5 per cent over three years. The authorities is providing 9 per cent over the identical time interval.
“It’s mostly based on inflation,” Moser mentioned. “Traditionally, our contracts follow the inflation rate, so we have, over the past years, had inflation increases. They’re not anywhere near what inflation was.”
Canadians are being warned to anticipate some service disruptions and delays to issues like processing taxes, passport renewals and making use of for Employment Insurance, Social Insurance and the Canada Pension plan.
“They do have essential services in there, but they’re very slim,” Moser mentioned, referring to the few employees that have been working contained in the Kelowna workplace.
“So what’s normally done with hundreds of employees is now being done with a small percentage of employees.. So all of those services are going to take extra time to do.”
Despite the strike, there aren’t any plans to increase tax submitting deadlines.
The Canadian Revenue Agency mentioned on its web site, nonetheless, that sure providers is not going to be obtainable or might be delayed.
That contains delays in earnings tax and profit returns, significantly those filed by paper.
The prime minister was requested Wednesday whether or not he would contemplate back-to-work laws to pressure workers again on the job.
“It’s really important to respect labour rights and there is a labour disruption right now,” Justin Trudeau mentioned. “It’s the first day. Let’s make sure that while this is going on, we are at the negotiation table.”
While it’s anybody’s guess how lengthy the strike could final, these on the picket line mentioned they’re in for the lengthy haul.
“I don’t have a crystal ball but we are prepared to be on the line for as long as it takes,” Moser mentioned.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
