NEWS

Read the news sources below of workers, just like you, fighting for better wages and showing that workers are worth it!

Striking government workers get 12.6% wage hike — and experts say domino effect could lead to more strikes

‘In future union negotiations, expect to see larger wage settlements than we’re used to seeing,’ one expert says, as PSAC workers hammer out tentative deal for 3% a year wage increases.

The pay raise may appear small, but economists and labour experts say federal public servant’s tentative agreement for a 12.6 per cent wage hike over four years could be contagious.

The agreement between striking PSAC workers and the government works out to about three per cent a year, which is more than the Bank of Canada’s two per cent inflation target but well below the CPI inflation of recent years which hit an eight per cent high in June 2022 and now stands at just over four per cent.

Click here to read the rest of the article on the www.thestar.com

Win for PSAC workers would be a win for us all

We haven’t seen this kind of bargaining power among workers in half a century, Armine Yalnizyan writes. And the federal government is Canada’s single largest employer.

The biggest public sector strike in Canadian history has created a riveting drama, testing bargaining power on both sides of the table, as well as public sentiment.

The resolution of the strike between the federal government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, whenever it comes, will define bargaining power in an era of historically low unemployment rates. The main plot driver is solidarity, or the absence of it: within the union; with the government; and with you, Canadian workers.

When I say “public sector workers,” do you picture people sitting comfortably in an office or at home, getting paid more than you?

Click here to read the rest of the article on the www.thestar.com

Feeling poorer? You are. Here’s how much less you’re making now than you were three years ago

Debra Maxfield hasn’t had a wage increase since July 2020.

A long-term-care worker for 20 years, first as a personal support worker and now running recreation and leisure programming for senior residents, Maxfield is struggling to make her stagnant wages work during a period of high inflation.

“In the last year I had to get a roommate to help with the bills,” she said. “Inflation is now above five per cent and our wages haven’t changed since 2020. We can’t afford the things we used to.” In February, inflation fell to 5.2 per cent from 5.9 per cent in January.

Click here to read the rest of the article on the Toronto Star