"We truly hoped we wouldn’t be forced to take strike action, but we’ve exhausted every other avenue to reach a fair contract for Canada’s Federal Public Service workers," Aylward said in a statement on Tuesday.
Accordingly, PSAC said strike actions would begin as of April 19, 12:01 am, noting that as part of the demonstrations, picket lines will go up in 250 locations, across Canada.
With strikers representing nearly a third of the entire Canadian federal public workforce, these would be the largest strikes in the country’s history, PSAC said, noting this would not be without consequences for the availability of government services.
"Canadians can expect to see slowdowns or a complete shutdown of services nationwide beginning tomorrow," the statement continued, including a halt of "tax season", and disruption to employment insurance, immigration, and passport services.
Interruption in the supply chains at international trade ports is also to be expected, the statement continued, while border services will experience slowdowns.
Last week, PSAC’s National President Chris Aylward announced that a vast majority of union members had voted in favor of a strike. But despite overwhelming support for such action, the union decided to allow time for dialogue, by calling on the Federal Government to join the bargaining table and find an agreement.
Negotiations between PSAC and the Treasury Board have been ongoing since June 2021, reaching an impasse in May 2022. Nonetheless, the union said it was ready to remain at the bargaining table "day and night", to find a fair solution.
PSAC is the country's largest federal public union, representing nearly 230,000 workers in every province and territory in Canada.