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A summer of discontent... the federal unions pledge to fight the mandate to return to the office 3 days a week.

A summer of discontent... the federal unions pledge to fight the mandate to return to the office 3 days a week.

By Mounira Magdy

Published: May 8, 2024

The federal unions are launching legal challenges and encouraging public sector workers to file "tens of thousands" of complaints regarding the new mandate that requires federal employees to return to their offices at least three days a week in the fall.

Chris Elward, president of the Canadian Public Service Alliance, said on Wednesday, "The Liberal Trudeau government is better preparing itself for a summer of discontent."

The Treasury Board Secretariat announced a new hybrid work policy for the federal public service on May 1, requiring all public servants in the core public administration to work on-site for at least three days a week starting September 9.

All federal executives are expected to be on-site for no less than four days a week.

During a press conference on Parliament Hill, the federal unions announced that they have filed a political complaint challenging the new return-to-office mandate and a labor complaint against the Treasury Board to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.

Elward said, "The Liberal government's move to force federal employees back to their unfit and poorly maintained offices three days a week is purely political and jeopardizes the services that Canadians rely on."

"Their one-size-fits-all approach to hybrid work is completely anti-worker, violates the hard-won rights of federal employees, and fundamentally breaks the trust of workers and unions with the Liberal Trudeau government."

Tens of thousands of federal employees began working from home at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023, the government implemented the current hybrid work policy that requires federal public service employees to work in the office for two or three days a week.

Elward said, "Workers feel betrayed, and we will use every means available to us to fight this mandate and enforce a remote work mandate that suits workers, not right-wing prime ministers."

"We have filed a series of legal challenges against the government and will encourage our members to file tens of thousands of individual complaints to force this government to rescind their mandate."

When asked to clarify what "summer of discontent" could mean for the federal government, Elward pointed out that PSAC members in the Canada Border Services Agency are still in talks with the federal government, and this will be an issue in the contract negotiations.

He continued, "Whatever is being looked at; whether that’s at the borders, whether that’s at airports, whether that concerns the efforts of all unions because we will be organizing coordinated and unified actions across the country, whether in the streets or in workplaces."

The Canadian Public Service Alliance claims it received a commitment from the government during the 2023 contract negotiations that would "protect public service workers from arbitrary government decisions about remote work," including establishing joint committees in each department to review remote work requests on a daily and individual basis.

Treasury Board President Anita Anand stated that the hybrid model "is still there," and the federal government can decide the work arrangements for tens of thousands of public servants.

Anand explained to reporters at Parliament Hill on Wednesday morning: "The hybrid work environment is still there. For many people, there is a four-month transitional period."

"All of this falls within the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada and is implemented by the departments. I will say that the hybrid work environment is not within the collective agreements, which the Government of Canada retained the right to define the scope of the hybrid environment at the time of negotiations."

The Treasury Board stated that contract negotiations with the federal unions in the spring of 2023 saw the employer sign letters of understanding regarding remote work "that fall outside of the collective agreements." According to the letter of understanding, remote work arrangements are subject to regular review "and either party may terminate them at any time with reasonable notice."

The unions accuse the federal government of returning workers to their offices to support businesses in downtown Ottawa.

Nathan Proulx, president of the Canadian Workers' Association, said, "The government has no evidence to show why productivity or employee well-being would improve, and it seems to serve downtown business alliances, municipal politicians, and (Premier) Doug Ford."

In March, Ford called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to return employees to their offices in downtown Ottawa for more days of the week.

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