Canada faces ‘summer of discontent’ as unions threaten strike over WFH rollback

THIS WEEK, Chris Aylward, the national president of Canada’s largest public sector union, warned Canadians that they were facing “a summer of discontent.”

Aylward, of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, had joined with leaders from three other public sector unions to announce that they had started a series of legal challenges over the federal government’s requirement that most of their members show up at their workplaces at least three days a week beginning in September. And they said that they would take “coordinated actions” leading to disruptions as a pressure tactic.

For most Canadians, the ability to work chiefly from home faded away along with the pandemic health threat some time ago. In January, Statistics Canada reported that 20 percent of people, including government employees, spend the majority of their work time at home. That’s well down from the 40 percent level at the height of the pandemic but nevertheless higher than the 7 percent level of 2019.

Return-to-office mandates remain a major source of contention within the federal public service. It was one of the key issues behind a 15-day strike just over a year ago. But that job action did not result in an agreement giving public servants the right to mostly work from home.

Many government employees, like prison and border guards, cannot work remotely, but the government now requires that everyone else show up at the workplace at least twice a week. Aylward and the other union leaders said during their news conference that many of their members struggle to find workspaces or equipment when they arrive. They all argued that adding another day would compound those issues.

“This misguided decision sets up workers to fail by pushing them into physical offices,” Mr. Aylwa rd said. he said commuting more would under mine canada’ s climate goals and suggested that government offices could become residential buildings to help with the housing crisis.

Above all, the union leaders said that the decision was a political move by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau to mollify Doug Ford, the Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario who recently said he would like to see more workers, as well as commercial landlords, back in the downtowns of cities.

One factor that did not help the government’s cause is that most public servants learned about the plan from a report in The Ottawa Citizen based on a leaked memo. Anita Anand, the cabinet minister in charge of the Treasury Board and, thus, personnel matters, told reporters that the decision was made by senior public servants, not politicians.

“It’s a real mess,” said Prof. Linda Duxbury of the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. “The union’s arguments are not persuasive. The union has no right to dictate.

Where you work is in the hands of the employer.”

At the same time, she added, “the government of Canada is trying to do it the easy way, which is focus on days. The harder way, which is the correct way, is to focus on work.”

The union leaders were vague about what sort of “workplace action” would set off the summer of disruption. A union representing Canada Border Services Agency employees is in contract talks and could, in theory, go on a legal strike. Professor Duxbury said that if the unions make good on their threat, it’s certain to have one outcome.

NYT Return to office was a major issue during last year’s public service walkout.