This week, Chris Aylward, national president of Canada’s largest public sector union, warned Canadians they faced “a summer of discontent.”
Mr. Aylward of the Public Services Alliance of Canada joined leaders of three other public sector unions to announce that they had launched a series of legal challenges over the federal government’s requirement that a majority of its members show up at their workplaces at least three days a week starting in September. And they said they would take “coordinated actions” that would cause disruptions as a pressure tactic.
For most Canadians, the ability to work primarily from home faded along with the health threat of the pandemic some time ago. In January, Statistics Canada reported that 20 per cent of people, including government employees, spend most of their work time at home. That’s well below the 40 percent level at the height of the pandemic, but still higher than the 7 percent level in 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 labor action did not result in an agreement that gave public servants the right to work primarily from home.
Many government employees, such as prison and border guards, cannot work remotely, but the government now requires everyone else to report to the workplace at least twice a week. Aylward and the other union leaders said during their news conference that many of their members have difficulty finding work spaces or equipment when they arrive. All argued that adding another day would exacerbate those issues.
“This wrong decision sets workers up for failure by forcing them into physical offices,” Aylward said. He added that moving more would undermine Canada’s climate goals and suggested government offices could be converted into residential buildings to help with the housing crisis.
Above all, union leaders said the decision was a political move by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to appease Doug Ford, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative premier, who recently said he would like to see more workers back, as well as commercial owners. in city centers.
One factor that did not help the government’s cause is that most public servants learned of the plan, which will take effect on September 9, through a report in The Ottawa Citizen based on a leaked memo. (Executive-level public servants are expected to appear four days a week.)
Anita Anand, the cabinet minister in charge of the Treasury Board and therefore personnel matters, told reporters that the decision was made by senior public officials, not politicians.
Myah Tomasi, Anand’s press secretary, did not respond to questions about how that group spent three days in the office. She said the government verified that the offices could accommodate staff who appear more frequently.
“It’s a real disaster,” said Professor Linda Duxbury of Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, who began studying remote work long before the pandemic. “The union’s arguments are not convincing. The union does not have the right to dictate. “The place where you work is in the hands of the employer.”
At the same time, he added, “the government of Canada is trying to do it the easy way, which is to focus on days. The hardest way, which is the right way, is to focus on work.”
Professor Duxbury said private sector employers with effective return-to-work programs look at a variety of factors to determine how much workplace time is needed for each job, including “how much time is spent on customer interaction, “How much creativity is involved, how much innovation is required, and how much time is needed for things that we know require in-person interaction.” Such reviews, he said, found that while some jobs can be done entirely remotely, others may require assistance.” five days a week and many fall somewhere in between.
Union leaders were vague about what kind of “workplace action” would trigger the summer of disruption. Perhaps for good reason: any kind of slowdown or strike in the workplace would be treated by the government as illegal under labor law.
A union representing Canada Border Services Agency employees is in contract negotiations and could, in theory, go on a legal strike. But a government official told me that 80 percent of its members are essential workers who cannot strike.
Professor Duxbury said if the unions make good on their threat, there will surely be a result.
“I don’t expect a lot of sympathy from the Canadian public,” he said.
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Originally from Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported on Canada for The New York Times for two decades. Follow him on Bluesky at @ianausten.bsky.social.
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