Clerks Strike Back

The year was 1980 and the Clerical Group (CR) was exasperated. Five negotiating meetings with Treasury Board had yielded nothing! By May the Alliance realized the only hope for resolution was through a strike. UNDE enthusiastically endorsed the idea and helped in organizing CR rallies across the country. A massive protest in Ottawa snarled traffic as thousands of CRs surrounded Treasury Board headquarters in Place Bell Canada.

On 9 September, UNDE President Joe Power rented Salons A & B in the Ottawa Civic Centre to give his CRs more information than the Alliance was currently providing. The meeting was an enormous standing-room only success drawing people from other components and even the Alliance executive. It was a key turning point in converting reluctant workers into strikers. In fact it was a bit too successful. Hundreds of UNDE members began walking out the following day. The official strike date was not until 29 September.

The strike ended in October with the clerks receiving an acceptable wage increase, improvements in leave and most importantly of all the introduction of the “Family Package,” which inaugurated maternity and various other family related leave. It also introduced paid time for family appointments and unpaid leave for personal needs.

The remaining problem of the 400 early striking UNDE CRs, however, took months to resolve. Finally Power cut an extraordinary deal with the department that called for a letter of reprimand on their file for a few years but no court proceedings or charges.

The CR strike received much media attention because over 50,000 people were involved, and many observers were convinced that the CRs would never actually walk out. UNDE deserved to take pride for the prominent role it played in the final settlement.