Federal workers in B.C. strike as union at the bargaining table

On Wednesday, federal public service workers in Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, and all over B.C. picketed — to join the more than 155,000 workers striking across the country.

Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says everything from tax refunds to hiring temporary foreign workers will be delayed while the strike goes on.

Laurie Prange, a professor specializing in labour relations at Capilano University says this is the third-largest strike in Canadian history. She explains that — on the west coast — transportation, oceans, and fisheries could see operations slow or even stop.

“Transportation is a federal issue … flying, shipping of goods from province to province. So, it will have an impact both on individuals and businesses,” said Prange.

“Considering that they’ve been in negotiations already for two years?! My feeling is it’s going to be long. People who didn’t renew their passports for their summer travel, things like that are going to hit them really hard.”

Read more:

• Federal workers now on strike: services that may be affected

• Vancouver accountant weighs in on how federal strike will affect taxpayers

Some international students from India encountered problems while waiting to get their new social insurance numbers, having to get across the picket line and wait for a lengthy period of time.

“I just arrived yesterday so we have no options just to wait in the line and wait for our turn. But obviously, it makes a little problem because things that can be done in a few minutes are taking hours as of now,” one of the students explained.

Another concern for some is immigration and work permits. One lawyer says she’s seeing clients unable to confirm their citizenship or get decisions on their refugee status.

“Right now, CBSA is not affected. So they are your best means to get work permits. In terms of appointments for ceremonies and hearings, we were hoping that they would not be disrupted, but we are getting notices today that some have been canceled, especially the ones today,” said Chi-Young Lee, an associate lawyer at McCrea Immigration Law.

Related articles:

• 155,000 federal public workers to strike Wednesday morning

• No deal at union deadline; federal workers hit the picket lines as talks continue

But both experts say you should still put in your paperwork.

“Anything you can do digitally, do that. Even the CRA is saying don’t mail us stuff, put it all in digitally, because then there’s a digital footprint of when you file things,” Prange explained.

Chi-Young Lee Associate Lawyer, McCrea Immigration Law SOT: “It’ll eventually get processed, hopefully pending the strike being finished, etc. It may be delayed, but at least it’s in the system and you’ve got implied status,” Lee added.

One Service Canada worker on the picket line told CityNews he’d “like to be at work right now instead of freezing in the rain.”

“There’s Canadians who need us right now, but yeah, hopefully we can get this done real quick.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, PSAC and the federal government were still at the bargaining table.