Does the PSAC workers strike resonate with Canadians? | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos

The Front Bench panel discuss whether the PSAC strike is resonating with Canadians, and the nine per cent offer still on the table.

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49 comments

  1. it’s 9% over THREE years, two of those being retroactive. this means the government is offering an average annual increase of 3% per year which , lets be honest is still well below inflation. average inflation has been just over 4.5% per year which is what the union has been asking for.

    1. Maybe the upper end of government workers have been overpaid all along?

      I’m not talking about the ones on the lower ends of the pay grade.

    2. The 4.5% wage increase is a small part of the increase to overall compensation they’re demanding

    3. Yes, the raise that the government is offering them is below the inflation rate, but they are lucky to even get that raise. Nurses in Ontario and other workers in the private sector are not getting any raise and they are not on strike

  2. Public servants are paid higher wages than most of average Canadian workers, except MPS! We only have one tax payer, as technology and AI development, we may not need so many public servants in the future,,,,we could simplify our tax system and cut servants numbers in half,,,

    1. We already can simplify our tax systems… We don’t though because the government gets paid by the companies that make tax software.

  3. The third guy is just ridiculous by comparing the young tech workers in private with the government workers. Yes they are paid more in private but they face fierce competition during interviews, constant performance reviews and potential eliminations, massive layoffs during uncertain times. Have those government workers been reviewed based on their performance and subsequently been let go? Have they worried about their jobs like most Canadians in private do? So you wanna pension, benefits, job security and a wage match with the private sector? What earth are you living in?

    1. Truph, the big thing about government work is that you have more job stability, and by comparison to the private sector, that’s a huge advantage.

    2. so one group suffers from these unfair working conditions implies that the other group has to suffer too? Is it maybe possible that if the biggest employer in the country sets a fair standard for employees instead of stooping down to the private sector might actually incentivize the private sector to improve their conditions? But mostly if I can get an answer outta you – I just wanna know how the hell do you even internally rationalize this concept of – “since I’m suffering, others must suffer too and they should not have the audacity to seek better”???????

  4. My honest opinion, is that this is all pre-arrange by you no who ,so he could come in and safe the day and try to bring his image up. With all he has done, that wouldn’t surprise me at all 🙄🤔

    1. 20% raise is scandalous. You can’t just give everyone raises to beat inflation when labour productivity hasn’t budged.

      Everything you can purchase has to be produced elsewhere in the economy. If productivity (GDP per capita) is unchanged and everyone gets a 20% raise the only result from that is 20% inflation.

      In actuality, if the public sector gets a raise and productivity stays constant, everyone else is slightly worse off (ie either through increased taxes or bigger deficits or inflation eroding everyone else’s purchasing power). Unless the entire private sector gets a 20% raise, in which case inflation will take everyone’s raise away.

      If we all truly want to be better off, we need to figure out a way to boost productivity.

  5. With all the benefits paid day off and the rest the government workers already get paid way more than private workers plus they can’t get fired. Everyone I know that works for the government says they don’t have to do much.

    1. The main issues: 1) Salary increases that keep up with the cost-of-living. Maybe a little more, or maybe a little less. 2) Protection within the CBA against being arbitrarily denied WFH/hybrid.

      Now, I’m not saying it’s easy to get an employer to agree to those. Obviously it’s difficult… but how are they “crazy”?

    2. @pyRoy6 Working from home is a none starter which is a management right. The union is trying to dictate they are the managers which would lead to absolute chaos in actually getting union staff to actually work? So yes these demands are ridiculous with some like thier social justice fund being crazy for sure.

    3. ​@pyRoy6Not answering, however the OP asked for all the details and you just reiterated the only two points being discussed.

    4. @HadesApocalypse Fair point. But the other issues seemed so minor that I didn’t think OP could possibly be referring to them. I can ask both of you, though: Which PSAC asks are “crazy”?

    5. I mean have you read them? They really are not that bad. I don’t agree with all of them, but hardly “Crazy”.

  6. After the inflation we just had, I am surprised they only asked for 4.5%. I think every union and worker able to ask for a raise should be at least asking for a cost of living raise in line with inflation.

    1. @Jeremy Li It’s a vicious circle but the PSAC could care less. It’s all about greed, power and laziness. What will they demand next time round.

    2. @KK Swider That is what they are most likely thinking but they’d only be allowed to claim an office space unless of course they worked warehouse whereas they could claim a considerable amount more. There is no need for them to be working from home. They are too privileged already so let’s not add to it.

  7. Totally disagree with Mr Dexter’s views: nobody I know went into the public sector to make more money; they went in for job security, benefits & pensions. IMO, many would be fired for incompetence, sloth and disrespect in the private sector.

    1. so one group (private sector) suffers from these unfair working conditions implies that the other group (public sector) has to suffer too? Is it maybe possible that if the biggest employer in the country sets a fair standard for employees instead of stooping down to the private sector might actually incentivize the private sector to improve their conditions? But mostly if I can get an answer outta you – I just wanna know how the hell do you even internally rationalize this concept of – “since I’m suffering, others must suffer too and they should not have the audacity to seek better”???????

  8. Their biggest demand is that they want to stay home like they’ve been allowed to for the last 3 years. So the counter offer should be ‘show up to work tomorrow or you can stay home permanently’.

  9. 90% of them got at least one raise during the pandemic. A 47% raise over 3 years, costing $9 billion dollars, I don’t think so.

  10. Yes, the raise that the government is offering them is below the inflation rate, but they are lucky to even get that raise. Nurses in Ontario and other workers in the private sector are not getting any raise and they are not on strike

  11. It’s true that we sometimes get poor/slow service from the public workers, but think logically. If public worker’s wage cant keep up with the inflation, those who are competent + experienced will leave the public sector and find a better paying job at private sector. This will inevitably result in poorer and slower service from the public sector. You cannot expect a better job done by a pay decrease (if pay increase doesn’t keep up with the inflation, it is a relative pay decrease). This is true in all jobs. Experts and veterans will leave the public sector if we keep their wage low.
    You might say, “so what, we don’t need public workers, let’s privatize them all.” The sole focus of almost all private company is to make more money. We still need government agencies that primarily focus on things other than money.

  12. At this point just let them work from home 🙄 they already don’t do anything in the office. They’re just clogging up downtown restaurants and public areas during the day since they’re always out smoking, gossiping and drinking coffee until the end of their shifts. Much less traffic if they stay home and do nothing instead of going at the office to do equally nothing.

  13. The only resonating I feel is vibrating contempt. None of them deserve more. No bureacracy as inept as they are prooving themselves, passports, airports, and all the other delays they ezcuse away, deserve a raise.

    They deserve busting, not %14 plus tax funding union “training”, aka partisan indoctrination at taxpayer expense.

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