The last walkout of this magnitude in Canada was in 1991. Some 155,000 Canadian public servants are on strike Wednesday, April 19, to demand better wage increases in the face of inflation, announced one of the public service unions.

"Here we are at the beginning of a historic strike" to reach "an agreement that takes into account the cost of living," Chris Aylward, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), one of the largest unions in the country, said at a press conference Tuesday night.

The movement, "one of the largest strikes in the country" according to the union, begins Wednesday at midnight (04:00 GMT), announced the PSAC which has been negotiating for months with the government.

Many public services will be affected, including taxes, passport applications and immigration applications. Nearly one-third of federal public servants will be on strike, according to PSAC. Some 250 pickets are planned across the country.

"As a result of union actions, Canadians should expect that some Government of Canada services will be delayed or not provided," Trudeau's government warned Tuesday night in a statement.

Request for salary increases

PSAC is calling for a wage increase of 13.5% over three years, or 4.5% annually to offset inflation. But the government is proposing only 9% over three years.

In Canada, price growth slowed in March to 4.3% year-on-year after a 2022 marked by a peak of more than 8% in July.

The union is also asking for more flexibility on telework: employees across all departments, most of whom are still working fully remotely since the pandemic, had to return to their offices two or three days a week by March 31.

For the government, the union "insists on demands that are unaffordable and that would have serious repercussions on the government's ability to provide services to Canadians."

Both sides said negotiations would continue.

"And we will remain on strike until the government responds to our demands," Aylward said.

With AFP

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