Collective Bargaining: What Members Can Expect

Almost nothing changes on a day-to-day basis. This is the single most important point. Now that notice to bargain has been served, the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act (FPSLRA) requires that the terms and conditions of employment that were in force when notice was given continue to be observed by the Employer, by PAFSO and by employees until a new collective agreement is entered into or an arbitral award is rendered (FPSLRA, s. 107). This is known as the “freeze provision.” Your leave entitlements, hours of work, overtime provisions, grievance rights and the rest of the agreement continue to apply.

Your rates of pay. The rates of pay that took effect on July 1, 2025 remain in force until a new agreement is signed. There is no gap and no reduction; there is simply no new increase until a new agreement is in place.

Your annual pay increment is not affected. Eligible members should continue to receive their normal in-range pay increment effective August 1 of each year. Pay Note 2 of the 2023 FS collective agreement provides that, effective August 1 of each year, a full-time employee receives an in-range pay increment provided they have received pay for at least six full months in the previous twelve months. The expiry of the collective agreement does not change this. If you do not receive your increment — which unfortunately does sometimes happen — please send an email to info@pafso.com. A member of the labour relations team will be assigned to provide advice and guidance.

Retroactivity and implementation. If a new agreement provides for revised salary ranges and economic increases retroactive to July 1, 2026, those amounts would be paid once the new rates are implemented. Members should expect implementation to take time. Historically, the Employer has been given several months from the date an agreement is signed to implement new rates of pay. Under Appendix “C” of the 2023 agreement, for example, prospective compensation increases and retroactive amounts were to be implemented within 180 days of signature where no manual intervention was required, and within 460 days where manual processing was required, with a $200 non-pensionable lump sum payable to employees for whom the agreement was not fully implemented within 180 days (where the outstanding amount owed after 181 days exceeded $500). Implementation timeframes are negotiated as part of each round, so the timeframes attached to a new agreement may differ.

Pensions. Pension entitlements are calculated using a member’s average annual salary over their best five consecutive years of pensionable service (Public Service Superannuation Act, s. 11). Should a new collective agreement eventually provide for revised salary ranges and economic increases retroactive to July 1, 2026, pensions would be recalculated once the new rates are implemented, to the extent that the revised rates affect the highest average salary for pension purposes.

PAFSO’s dispute resolution process for this round of collective bargaining is arbitration. The steps are as follows:

1. The parties prepare and exchange proposals. This has begun; proposals on items other than economic increases were exchanged on June 15, 2026.
2. The parties attempt to negotiate revisions to the collective agreement. Both parties are required to meet and bargain in good faith and to make every reasonable effort to enter into a collective agreement (FPSLRA, s. 106).
3. If the parties cannot resolve the outstanding issues at the table, either party may request arbitration. The request is made in writing to the Chairperson (FPSLRA, s. 136).
4. The parties present their cases on the outstanding issues to an arbitration board composed of either one or three members (FPSLRA, ss. 137–138).
5. The arbitration board renders a decision, called an arbitral award. The award is binding on the parties (FPSLRA, s. 154), and the parties must implement it within 90 days of the day it becomes binding, or within any longer period the parties agree to or the Board sets on application by either party — all subject to Parliament appropriating the money required (FPSLRA, s. 157).

An agreement can be reached at any point from step 2 onward. Most rounds are settled at the table rather than by an arbitration board.

An important distinction. Where the parties negotiate a settlement, members vote on whether to accept it. Where the outstanding issues go to an arbitration board, members do not vote — the arbitral award is binding and must be accepted.

What can and cannot be bargained

Some subjects fall within collective bargaining, some fall outside it, and some fall only partly within it. This is a frequent source of confusion, so it is worth setting out.

• Within collective bargaining: rates of pay; hours of work; overtime; paid holidays; most types of leave; certain types of grievance processes; severance; training.
• Outside collective bargaining: assignments; the bilingualism bonus; the Foreign Service Directives (FSDs); the organization of the public service; pensions; the Public Service Health Care Plan (including concerns related to MSH); staffing levels and processes; work-related travel (governed by the Travel Directive); work force adjustment.
• Partly within collective bargaining: harassment; job security; telework.

Note in particular that the FSDs are not bargained at this table. They are negotiated separately through the National Joint Council (NJC) via a process called a cyclical review.

PAFSO’s broad areas of focus for this round of collective bargaining are compensation, family-related provisions, flexible work arrangements, health and safety, job security, leave entitlements and training.

It is not possible to guarantee that there will be a new agreement by a particular date or season. Timing depends on many factors, including the Employer’s mandate, the pace at which the parties move through proposals, and what is happening at other tables across the core public administration.

What we can offer is our own recent experience: during each of the previous two rounds of collective bargaining, PAFSO started at the bargaining table in the fall and reached an agreement by mid-to-late spring. PAFSO anticipates starting at the table in October 2026. Members should treat that history as a reasonable frame of reference rather than a prediction.

Members should also keep in mind that reaching an agreement and being paid under it are two different milestones. As noted above, implementation of new rates of pay historically takes several months from the date of signature.

If the parties reach a tentative agreement at the bargaining table, that agreement does not take effect until members have voted to accept it. In broad terms:

• The bargaining team reaches a tentative agreement with the Employer.
• The tentative agreement is reviewed by PAFSO’s Executive Committee.
• Should PAFSO’s Executive Committee recommend that the tentative agreement be ratified by PAFSO’s membership, PAFSO communicates the contents of the tentative agreement to members, along with an explanation of what has changed.
• Members are given an opportunity to ask questions before voting.
• Within the context of recent rounds of collective bargaining, PAFSO has held information sessions related to tentative agreements via videoconference.
• Members vote on whether to accept the tentative agreement.
• If members accept it, the agreement is signed, and the implementation timelines described above begin to run.
• If members reject it, the parties return to the table.

Under Article 9(a) of PAFSO’s constitution, a tentative agreement is submitted to regular members for a ratification vote. Associate and affiliate members are not eligible to vote on collective bargaining matters (Article 5(c)). Individuals uncertain of their status can reach out to PAFSO to confirm their eligibility.

At the conclusion of recent rounds of collective bargaining, PAFSO has made use of an electronic ratification voting system. An electronic voting system allows geographically dispersed members to easily cast their vote in a manner that is safe, secure and reliable. Should a tentative agreement be reached and should PAFSO again elect to make use of an electronic ratification voting system, those members entitled to vote would be sent a voter credential email, which would allow them to cast their vote.

Remember: ratification applies to a negotiated settlement. If the outstanding issues are decided by an arbitration board, there is no ratification vote — the arbitral award is binding on the Employer, on PAFSO and on every member of the bargaining unit.

Other bargaining agents represent other groups in the federal public service, and some of those groups may be in a legal strike position while PAFSO is at the table. Many FS members work alongside colleagues represented by other unions, and members have asked what they can and cannot do in that situation. This section is important because the legal position of FS members is not the same as that of the striking employees.

What members can do in solidarity

Members who wish to support colleagues in another bargaining unit can:

• Decline to volunteer for additional work. You are not obliged to volunteer to take on the duties of striking employees. Individually declining work that is genuinely optional is different from a coordinated refusal — the distinction matters, and if you are unsure, ask us first.
• Display your support by wearing buttons or other messages of support.
• Offer personal support outside working hours — for example, attending a rally on your own time, or making a personal contribution to another union’s strike fund. These are individual choices made on your own time, using your own devices and accounts, not government networks or equipment.
• Be respectful and collegial. Do not disparage colleagues who are on strike, and do not disparage colleagues who continue to work. Members of other bargaining units may be in a different legal position than FS members.

If you have any doubt about whether a particular action is permitted, please contact PAFSO before you take it. It is far easier to give you advice in advance than to defend a disciplinary action afterward.

FS members cannot participate in a strike

Because the dispute resolution process for the FS bargaining unit for this round of collective bargaining is arbitration, FS members are prohibited from participating in a strike (FPSLRA, s. 196(e)), and PAFSO is prohibited from declaring or authorizing one (FPSLRA, s. 194(1)(e)). This is not a matter of PAFSO’s preference; it is a statutory prohibition.

It is also important to understand how broadly “strike” is defined. Under s. 2 of the FPSLRA, a strike includes a cessation of work, a refusal to work or to continue to work by employees acting in combination, in concert or in accordance with a common understanding, and a slow-down of work or any other concerted activity designed to restrict or limit output. Conduct does not have to be called a strike, or be organized by a union, to fall within that definition.

What that means in practice

• You must continue to report for work as usual, including crossing a picket line. There is no right in federal public sector labour relations legislation to refuse to cross another union’s picket line. A concerted refusal to report to work is a refusal to work, and therefore a strike.
• Refusing to cross a picket line carries real consequences. You would not be paid for time not worked, the absence could be treated as unauthorized, and discipline is possible. The Employer may also apply to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board for a declaration that the conduct is unlawful and for an order requiring employees to perform the duties of their employment (FPSLRA, s. 198).
• Do not take part in coordinated job action of any kind. Work-to-rule, coordinated sick leave, a coordinated refusal of optional overtime, or any other concerted activity intended to limit output falls within the statutory definition of a strike, whatever it is called.
• If you are directed to perform work normally performed by striking employees, the general rule in the federal public service is “comply now, grieve later.” Please contact PAFSO at info@pafso.com if this happens so that we can review your situation. Do not simply refuse the direction. (A work refusal under Part II of the Canada Labour Code is a separate and much narrower right that applies only to danger to health and safety.)
• If you cannot safely reach your workplace, contact your manager promptly, in writing, and advise PAFSO. That is a health and safety and an access question, not a decision to withhold your services.