Public service strike: Fortier insists negotiations continue despite 'kicking and screaming' over the weekend

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier insists negotiations between the federal government and the country’s largest public service union are ongoing this weekend, despite what she refers to as “ups and downs” and “kicking and screaming” over the past couple days.

“We've been in mediation for three weeks, we've been at the table for three weeks,” Fortier told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday. “There have been ups and downs, there has been kicking and screaming, but the important thing right now is that we are focused, and we have a deal that is good for public servants, a fair one, and that is reasonable for Canadians, and that's what we're trying to focus on right now.”

More than 155,000 federal public servants across the country have been on strike since Wednesday — after more than two years of bargaining for a new collective agreement — with salary increases and remote work provisions as the main points of contention.

The federal government has put a nine per cent pay increase over three years on the table, while the union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), is pushing for a 13.5 per cent increase over three years.

Workers are not picketing over the weekend, but the union remains on strike.

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PSAC president Chris Aylward told reporters Saturday he wants the prime minister involved in the talks, because the union had not heard back from the Treasury Board after presenting the committee with a “comprehensive package” two days prior.

“This is a complete demonstration of the incompetence of minister (Fortier) in this position to allow these negotiations to drag out this long," Aylward said. "I need to see the prime minister getting involved in these negotiations, and helping and assisting to move these negotiations along.”

Fortier later issued a response on Twitter, stating that the union was “unreachable” when the government tried to meet on Friday.

“We are not here to play games,” reads the statement. “We are here to get a deal.

“There is no time, no tolerance for stalling and misinformation,” she also wrote.

The two parties had returned to the negotiating table by Saturday afternoon.

“I'm not going to be distracted by the kicking and screaming,” Fortier said. “I am focused on making sure that we have a deal that is fair and competitive for the employees, which we have, and that is also reasonable for Canadians.

“I have a responsibility to strike that balance with the negotiation team, and we are at that place.”

However, when pressed on whether she believes the strike could have been prevented had she tabled the nine per cent offer sooner, as the Public Interest Commission initially suggested the figure in February, Fortier said she “doesn’t think so.”

“My focus right now is to work with the negotiating team and to bring an end to this cycle, and make sure that we have a deal that will be reasonable for Canadians, and also fair for the employees,” she said.

Fortier also would not say at what point she might consider back-to-work legislation, but that “at this time, it’s not something that (she believes) is the best outcome.”

“I believe the best place to have negotiations and get a deal is at the table, it’s nowhere else,” she said. “That’s where I'm putting all of our efforts.

“We need to really focus on where we are and the best results will happen at the table.”