More than 155,000 Canadian public servants went on strike this morning demanding better pay rises to tackle inflation, one of the public sector unions announced.

“We are at the beginning of a historic strike” to reach “an agreement that takes into account the cost of living,” explained Chris Aylward, national president of the Canadian public sector union AFPC, during a press conference Tuesday night.

The mobilization, “one of the biggest strikes in the country”, according to the union, it began at midnight (07:00 Greek time), announced the AFPC (Public Sector Alliance of Canada), which has been negotiating with the government for months.

According to the latter, the union “persists on demands that are unaffordable and would have serious consequences on the government’s ability to provide services to the Canadian population.”

The two parties clarified that the negotiations will continue.

“And we will continue to strike until the government responds to our demands,” added Chris Aylward.

Numerous public services are expected to paralyzen because of the mobilization, including the tax office, the passport service and the immigration service.

Almost a third of federal public servants will strike, according to the AFPC. About 250 strike pickets are planned across the country.

The previous strike action of this magnitude in Canada took place in 1991.

The AFPC is asking for a 13.5% wage increase over three years, i.e. 4.5% annually to compensate for inflation. The government proposes 9% over three years.

In Canada, price growth slowed in March to 4.3% over the year, after peaking in 2022 at more than 8% in July.

The union is also asking more flexibility in telecommuting: employees across ministries, most of whom are still working fully remotely since the pandemic, were to return to their offices two or three days a week no later than March 31.

“Due to union action, Canadians must expect that some Government of Canada services will be delayed or not provided,” the government announced yesterday, Tuesday evening. Justin Trudeau.