UPDATED – Friday April 14, 2023 – 1430 CST – The union representing federal civil servants poised to go on strike will update the bargaining process April 17.
About 3,000 employees working in agriculture-related positions are among the potential walkouts.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada said 120,000 government workers had voted in favour of strike action. These are Treasury Board employees in programs and administrative services, operational services, technical services and education and library science.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
About 35,000 PSAC members who work for Canada Revenue Agency also voted in favour of striking.
Milton Dyck, national president of the PSAC Agriculture Union, said if and when the strike begins, essential workers who take care of livestock and handle payroll would be exempt from the walkout.
“For the most part, everybody will be out on the picket line for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,” he said.
He said services for farmers and others seeking government assistance would be unavailable. This includes business risk management programs such as AgriInvest and AgriStability, agri-environmental programs, the Canadian Agricultural Loans Program, the Canadian Dairy Commission and the Canadian Grain Commission.
“We would no longer be doing outward inspections at the shipping ports,” Dyck said, which would have consequences for grain exports.
He said deadlines for financial programs could be affected.
Agriculture Canada said the Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program, Wine Sector Support Program, Youth Employment and Skills Program and federal programs under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership could be impacted.
The AAFC contact centre could also be disrupted.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency workers are not yet part of the job action because they haven’t yet voted and aren’t likely to do so for a while, Dyck added. That bargaining unit is likely headed to mediation.
He said union members don’t want to see federal agricultural research programs affected, but that might be a consequence of the possible strike.
“We’re very proud of the work we do, but we feel that we need to be valued as well,” he said. “We’ve been on the worksites the whole time. We haven’t slowed down and haven’t stopped all through the pandemic and we felt that we’ve really pulled through.”
Treasury Board had offered wage increases of about two percent on average over four years, while the union wanted about twice that. In February, a federal labour commission published a report recommending four PSAC bargaining units receive increases of 1.5 percent in 2021, 4.5 percent for 2022 and three percent for 2023.
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