The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) suspended strike action in mid-September to allow members to consider the latest contract offers from the federal government.

Negotiating teams for the Operational Services Group and the Education and Library Science Group are recommending acceptance of settlements reached with Treasury Board. The negotiating teams for the Program and Administrative Services Group and the Technical Services Group are recommending rejection of their proposed deals.

The decision to vote on the government’s latest offer came after several weeks of rotating strikes organized by the union.

"Our negotiating teams were exceedingly frustrated, as I was, with the government’s refusal to improve the general economic increases that it tabled in late August," says PSAC National President Nycole Turmel.

"The economic increases simply do not do enough to restore the purchasing power our members lost during the 1990s," she says.

"However, the general and strategic strike action which our members took has added an additional $114-million to the package as well as some breakthroughs negotiated exclusively for PSAC members."

Under the employer’s proposed terms of settlement, federal workers would receive wage increases of 3.2%, 2.8% and 2.5% in each year of a three-year agreement.

There will be other adjustments in wages and salaries for specific groups of workers – but no one will receive an increase that comes close to the 22 % raise that MPs voted themselves earlier this year.

PSAC members will start voting on the proposed settlement packages in early October.

The voting will continue over a period of five to six weeks.

Final results will be announced sometime in mid-November.