Letter to the Editor

It has been upsetting over the past few days to read people’s comments on articles published in various Canadian newspapers about the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strike – most of these comments are downright cruel and often false. As an example in the Ottawa Citizen: “Let’s make Wednesday national ‘Give a PS worker the finger day.’”

I have been working in the public service for over 20 years, providing language services and thus ensuring that Canadians have access to tribunal decisions in both official languages in compliance with the Official Languages Act, and I have always been surrounded by extremely hard-working colleagues.

In my personal experience, everyone from administrative staff to specialized translators/editors to managers have shown incredible work ethic. Our small unit in the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada provides high-quality translations of decisions and current texts that equal millions of words per year. We work extremely hard for our pay, take pride in our work and care deeply about the services we provide.

Our wages have remained stagnant for the past few years, while inflation has been spinning out of control. Things that were affordable just three years ago are now out of reach for many. And these include basics such as housing and food.

The PSAC’s wage increase proposals, on average, equal approximately $1.40 per hour, which is less than $12 per day and therefore, in my opinion, not unreasonable.

This overpaid and underworked rhetoric is quite demoralizing, and the words being written are unbecoming of our fellow Canadians, for whom we provide necessary services. Commenters are, of course, entitled to their own views, but they can do so in a respectful manner and should perhaps think twice before claiming that public service workers aren’t doing their jobs and don’t deserve fair wages.

Why fight each other when we should be fighting together for better wages?

Michaela Broda,

Kimberley

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