Public service union considering next steps as contract talks hit a roadblock

OTTAWA — The country’s biggest civil service union says talks with the federal government aimed at reaching a collective agreement for some 90,000 public servants have gone nowhere.

Now, the Public Service Alliance of Canada is contemplating next steps that could result in job actions affecting everything from issuing passports to child tax benefits.

Negotiators returned to the bargaining table this week for the first time in nearly three months after the Treasury Board of Canada, which bargains on behalf of the government, signalled it was not prepared to back away from proposed changes to sick leave for federal employees.

PSAC national president Robyn Benson says the government refused to budge from an earlier wage increase offer of 0.5 per cent in each of three years.

And she says government negotiators didn’t discuss sick leave at all, other than to float what she described as a vague reference to the issue at one of the bargaining tables.

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Treasury Board negotiators have been holding firm on a proposal to replace the existing sick leave system with a new short-term disability plan, but PSAC has said the proposal would force workers to choose between a pay cheque and going to work sick.

The Canadian Press