Canada is protesting
Strikes can seriously affect many departments and agencies.
Some 124,000 employees of The Public Service Alliance of Canada, one of the largest unions, went on strike last week Wednesday. Another 35,000 joined them on Friday.
The federal government has said it is seeking "agreements that are fair to public servants and reasonable for taxpayers."
Even when factoring in that tens of thousands of those workers are deemed essential, and can't strike, the union said more than 100,000 staff could walk off the job across Canada — a significant part of the government workforce.
How can it threaten Canada and Canadians?
The federal government has compiled a list of the 23 most vulnerable agencies whose activities could be seriously affected by collective protests.
Some of the most significant:
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
- Canadian Revenue Agency.
- Global Affairs Canada.
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
- Veterans Affairs Canada.
- Service Canada.
35,000 protesters work for the Canada Revenue Agency. And Global Affairs Canada expects delays in consular services. The Department of Immigration warns of longer processing times for applications. Veterans Affairs Canada announced "difficulties in processing payments."
This is not the first case of collective protests in Canada. We recently wrote about protests at Carleton University and the Ontario teacher protest in the spring of 2022.
