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Its hard to imagine a labour dispute more cut and dried than the one before us, in which more than 150,000 workers in the federal bureaucracy across the country are striking.

During tax season, and with an only just recently cleared passport backlog, employees are walking off the job demanding working conditions most Canadians could only dream of.

The Trudeau government, not known to be unkind to the public sector, has offered boosts of three per cent a year. Thats a more-than-fair offer, as two per cent is the standard annual change in the consumer price index.

Record inflation is coming down, and it will likely return to regular levels as the Bank of Canada takes extraordinary measures to dampen demand.

Even if that werent true, it would be a dangerous move to award what the majority of these workers are asking for: 13.5 per cent in wage hikes over three years. Those who work for Canada Revenue Agency want even more, 30 per cent.

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If all employers gave in to these kinds of wage demands, wed have seven per cent inflation forever, and the savings of ordinary Canadians would collapse in value.

Some low-income workers do need emergency raises just to eat, as grocery costs rise. But PSAC members are not those workers. Its simply not fair for the rest of the labour force to endure corporate austerity and price increases while government employees dine out.

Another important piece of context is the pandemic.

In the lockdown era of COVID-19, millions of Canadians saw their income disrupted, with workers in entire industries turning to CERB and employment insurance payments to keep their homes and put food on the table.

Government workers didnt lose an hour of pay, even as much of the economy ground to a halt. The privilege of working from home, which these workers are fighting to maintain, was a temporary measure to serve public health, not another perk for bureaucrats looking to avoid a daily commute and parking fees.

Do these people have no idea how tone-deaf they sound to the rest of the country? It is ordinary working citizens who pay to support the public sector, with its bloated salaries, defined-benefit pensions and work-from-home lifestyle.

To heck with them. They dont deserve another a fat raise while impairing service delivery across the country. The federal Liberals, if they have any sense, will break the strike and send these entitled employees back to work.

Brunswick News

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Opinion: Liberals should break strike and send entitled workers back to the office - National Post