By Shachi Kurl, President
May 24, 2024 – So, nearly 10,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada who work for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have voted near-unanimously to strike if needed — which in turn could throw travel, tourism and, critically, the flow of goods in and out of this country into chaos.
The vote brings into sharper focus what has been to this point more of a tempest in the teapot that is the nation’s capital: the threat of a so-called “summer of discontent,” driven by the Trudeau government’s decision to require federal public service employees to be at a physical place of work three days a week.
To be sure, there’s plenty not to like about the way it’s all happened: a lack of consultation alleged by union leaders caught off-guard by this policy change. The rationale, at least by some (including Ontario Premier Doug Ford), that such a change was needed because commercial life in downtown Ottawa continues to struggle. Valid questions over where many public servants, whether in the capital or other cities, might actually sit (or stand; standing is healthier) given their employer’s existing commitment to sell many of its buildings.
But even as one powerful union is upping the ante in its seriousness over remote and telework issues, the reaction of Canadians, especially those of working age, and notably, even other public sector union members, shows a lack of … solidarity … on the issue.
Read more from the article in the Ottawa Citizen here.
Image Credit – Photo 276420901 | Ottawa Downtown © Howard Sandler | Dreamstime.com