Strike vote taken by Public Service Alliance of Canada staff represented by CUPE

Last night, around forty workers at the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Quebec office (PSAC) gathered for a special virtual meeting and voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate, giving the union the right to use pressure tactics up to and including strike action.

The workers, members of CUPE 5481, have been without a contract since May 2019.

Negotiations, though cordial, have bogged down. The major issues in the dispute concern pay equity between employees in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada and internal equity with organizers, who have poorer working conditions.

“Several clauses have yet to be negotiated, but as a union of administrative employees, organizers and union representatives, we certainly cannot allow this pay disparity to go on within our organization,” declared Jovanka Ivic, President of CUPE 5481.

The PSAC is one of the largest unions in Canada. It represents more than 200,000 workers in several fields across the country and elsewhere in the world. In addition to its headquarters in Ottawa, PSAC has 23 regional offices.