PSAC to provide update on weekend negotiations as strike continues – National | Globalnews.ca

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is set to hold an update shortly after official talks with the federal government continued Saturday to negotiate an end to their strike.

“We’ve continued to make some progress in negotiations this week as PSAC members joined picket lines across the country to pressure the government for a fair contract,” the union said in a statement early Saturday morning.

“However, there are several key issues still outstanding at the table, and talks will continue over the weekend for more than 155,000 workers at Treasury Board and Canada Revenue Agency in the hopes of reaching an agreement.”

Several hours later, the union announced they will hold an announcement at 1:15 p.m. Eastern, which Global News will stream live here, “to provide an update on the status of negotiations with Treasury Board.”

The strike began this week and saw federal workers form picket lines to push the government to meet the union’s goals, which include a 13.5 per cent wage increase over three years.

Despite the union saying it had overwhelming support for the strike action, the federal labour board revealed on Thursday that only 35 per cent of its over 100,000 members took part in the vote calling for a strike.

The board found in a decision released Thursday that PSAC failed to properly let members know it had shortened the voting period by eight days, moving the deadline from April 19 to April 11. Of the 38,207 people that cast a ballot, 80 per cent of them were in favour of a strike mandate.

The decision also shows that the union did not have the correct email addresses for 15,000 members. Those people received a letter in the mail instead, which was sent before the union moved up the April deadline.

— with files from The Canadian Press.

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