Toronto Pearson International Airport on Thursday warned passengers to anticipate disruptions and possible delays as hundreds of members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) held a demonstration.
Roughly 500 striking workers gathered at Terminal 1 departures for the demonstration, held from around 10 a.m. until noon. Rachel Bertone, a spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said at around 11:30 a.m. that the curbside area Terminal 1 departures experienced some “minor disruption.”
The demonstration is part of an ongoing — and escalating — PSAC strike action, which has been on for the past nine days. More than 100,000 federal public servants have walked off the job across Canada as the union representing about 155,000 workers negotiates a new collective agreement with Ottawa.
“This is part of PSAC’s escalation to pressure the government to come back to the bargaining table and continue to negotiate, as they have stated they are no longer willing to bargain,” Lino Vieira, the Ontario PSAC media representative said.
PSAC is seeking a 13.5% increase over three years, higher than the 9% recommended by the third-party Public Interest Commission (PIC) and tabled by Ottawa earlier this year. The union accused the federal government of “stalling” talks for a new collective agreement. PSAC national president Chris Aylward said that the federal government has said that it was not changing its offer.
“If you look at what the employer is doing, simply saying, ‘No, we’re not coming back with another offer,’ they are stalling,” Aylward said Wednesday on Parliament Hill.
“They’re still at 9% over three years. We have moved off our wage demand, but yet the employer hasn’t moved on their wage demand, yet they’re telling us that we’re the ones that have to move.”
On Wednesday, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier defended the offer in an open letter.
“This is higher than our original offer and it compares well with similar agreements being established across Canada, including some recently signed by employees represented by the PSAC in other jurisdictions,” Fortier wrote. “What’s more, we also agreed to a signing bonus for every member.”
Fortier emphasized that the federal government is determined to reach a deal, “however, any settlement must be reasonable for all Canadians, whether we are talking about this or future rounds of collective bargaining.”
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