MONTREAL: A massive strike by Canadian civil servants was set to largely end on Monday after the government reached a deal to raise the wages of more than 120,000 workers, the union representing them announced.
A third of the country's public workers -- around 155,000 people -- began striking on April 19, hitting picket lines at hundreds of locations around the country with demands for cost-of-living raises and telework flexibility.
The labor action has caused major delays in public services, such as processing passport and immigration applications.
"After nearly two years of bargaining leading to one of the largest strikes in Canadian history, PSAC has reached tentative agreements for the more than 120,000 Treasury Board workers who deliver critical services to Canadians," said the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
It said it had won a 12.6 percent wage increase over the four-year contract period (2021-2024), below its desired 13.5 percent raise but above the nine percent bump proposed by the government.
On the sticking point of teleworking, which many employees had grown accustomed to during the covid-19 pandemic, PSAC said it had secured "significant new protections."
It said that new "language in a letter of agreement" would require managers to assess remote work requests on an individual basis and not by group.
The agreement however does not cover the 35,000 members of Canada's tax agency, who will continue to strike.