Federal workers form picket lines in Esquimalt and View Royal as part of countrywide strike

Federal public servants representing several different unions including the Government Services Union, Treasury Board, and Coast Guard workers formed a picket line at Esquimalt Graving Dock, Naden Base, and near the casino in View Royal Wednesday morning.

The strike is in solidarity with more than 155,000 federal workers for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

“[PSAC] wants equity in the workplace, and fair wages that beat inflation,” said Cory Merritt, a food service worker at the Esquimalt Navy base. According to him, inflation has now put some workers in various departments below the cost of living.

“The cost of living in Victoria is very different from Saskatchewan, but everywhere in the country is struggling [with inflation and cost of living],” he said.

Across the country, workers hit picket lines yesterday after negotiations between Canada’s largest federal public-service union and the government failed to meet the Tuesday deadline.

Traffic along Admirals Road was backed up headed into Victoria throughout yesterday morning, but it had significantly eased by the afternoon. Workers say they will continue to strike for as long as the government remains at the bargaining table. Essential services like firefighting will continue to be staffed.

Joseph Walsh, local vice-president for Government Service Union 20001, told Capital Daily that PSAC has been without a contract for more than two years. Negotiations between PSAC and Treasury Board began in June 2021, but reached an impasse in May 2022.

“The last contract we signed was in 2021, and at that point, we were two years out of a contract,” he said. “What we do is governed by our old contract, but [technically] we’re working without one.”

Walsh is not at the bargaining table, but he hopes PSAC will negotiate for a three- to four-year contract, which includes back pay for the years workers were without a contract. “We are hoping for a swift and agreeable ending—nobody wants this to drag on. We just want a fair contract,” he said.

On a post on its website on April 17, PSAC described the government’s wage offer to the Treasury Board of a 2.06% increase per year from 2021-25 as “insulting” and “out of touch with the soaring cost of living across Canada.”

According to StatCan, the Consumer Price Index (which typically measures inflation) has risen by 4.3% year by year in March. Workers are hoping for wage increases closer to the rate of inflation.

“Nobody wants to be on strike, but we want to do this to get something much better—not just for us, but we’re hoping it raises the bar for everyone else,” Merritt said.