Why punish businesses for what the government is doing?
As the federal government pushes for more and more of the bureaucracy to return to the office, the Public Service Alliance of Canada is taking out their displeasure on Ottawa businesses:
“A union representing federal employees is asking its members to bring their own lunch to work, in an apparent retaliation against downtown Ottawa businesses as new return-to-office protocols begin.
“Buy nothing,” reads a post by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) on Instagram(opens in a new tab). “The needs of the downtown core shouldn’t fall on the back of workers and the federal public service. How workers spend their money on in-office days will send a clear message to politicians.””
As noted by Tracey Wilson on Twitter, this will hurt small family-owned businesses:
Small, often family-run and owned businesses are being targeted by the public service union. Remember, these shops have been making their sandwiches, pouring their drinks and doing their dry cleaning for generations.
Government workers throwing temper tantrum about having to go… https://t.co/iKvyoMwA5D
— Tracey Wilson (@TWilsonOttawa) September 11, 2024
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe denounced the move:
I’m very disappointed to see @PSACNCR targeting small businesses in their dispute with the federal government. Downtown businesses are not responsible for decisions about back to work. They’ve suffered significantly as a result of the pandemic. Let’s keep them out of the line of… pic.twitter.com/fBTDo553Wu
— Mark Sutcliffe (@_MarkSutcliffe) September 11, 2024
This kind of petty move by PSAC is deeply counterproductive. It’s not local businesses’ fault that the federal government is pushing for bureaucrats to return to the office, and targeting those local businesses will only cause the public to turn against PSAC.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
