The federal government has presented a new offer on the negotiating table with Canada's largest public sector union as employees strike for the tenth consecutive day.

The spokesperson for the Canadian Treasury Minister, Mona Fortier, described the offer yesterday afternoon, Friday, as "comprehensive."

They did not mention whether the offer includes a wage increase higher than the government’s previous offer of 9 percent over three years.

It is worth noting that wages and remote work were among the main sticking points between the government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

It is noteworthy that the PSAC union represents 155,000 members and represents them in negotiations with the federal government to achieve the objectives of the strike that has been ongoing since last week.

PSAC confirmed in a statement that it received the offer but expected negotiations to continue until the end of the week.

The statement said, "We hope to continue bargaining by the end of this week to reach a fair agreement for our 120,000 federal public service employees."

Explaining that "talks are also ongoing on behalf of our 35,000 members at the Canada Revenue Agency."

The statement said PSAC will not provide any details or set a date for any interviews until further notice.

On Wednesday, the head of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Chris Aylward, said the union had withdrawn its initial demand for a 13.5 percent wage increase over three years, but the government refused to budge from its 9 percent offer. Canadian Treasury Minister Mona Fortier responded that PSAC's demands were unreasonable and unaffordable.

The striking public employees have escalated the strike as negotiations continue.

In the Ottawa metropolitan area, protesters on Thursday limited access to federal buildings and temporarily disrupted traffic on a bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau.

They showed up in full force again on Friday, with large crowds gathering on both sides of the river in Ottawa and Gatineau. Earlier this week,

On his part, Aylward said he wants Trudeau to participate directly in the negotiations.

Trudeau, who was in New York this week, said on Friday he is aware of the ongoing negotiations.

He responded to a reporter's question at a press conference, saying, "I have been directly and closely involved in the negotiations, listening to the ongoing discussions."

Adding: "I have deep faith in collective bargaining as a process." We know our negotiators are making serious offers."

The main bargaining unit in PSAC has remained without a contract for two years.

The government's current wage offer will be retroactive to 2021, with a 1.5 percent increase that year, followed by a 4.5 percent increase in 2022 and another 3 percent in 2023.

On the other hand, the union initially requested 13.5 percent over the same timeframe, and while it says it has revised this demand, it did not specify what the new request is.

In a tweet on Friday morning, PSAC said it wants a raise that keeps pace with inflation and insists that the public sector has not received an increase in line with inflation for more than 15 years.

Most PSAC members were also directed to work from home in March 2020 when COVID-19 began, with only a limited number returning to in-person work in the following years.

In December, Mona Fortier issued a new directive requiring all employees to be in the office at least two days a week, but government employee unions retreated, describing this directive as unfair.

They want a remote work policy included in their contracts.

Fortier said in an open letter earlier this week that she offered to conduct a joint review of the remote work policy with the unions.

Jennifer Carr, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said this is a good start but not good enough.

She said, "We need a binding commitment in a collective agreement, because we have seen many cases where employers abandoned their promises or ignored the process after signing a memorandum of understanding with us."

Carr said the government’s consultation on the return-to-office directive was "poor" and did not listen to the government’s own advisors.