Chris Aylward, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)’s national president, addresses media on Parliament Hill during Day 8 of a strike affecting over 150,000 federal workers. (Celeste Decaire/CBC)
Whether the union representing more than 150,000 striking federal workers gets everything it wants or has to make concessions, the cumulative wage increases will add billions to government spending at a time when public appetite for large deficits is waning.
Faced with diminishing political capital, the federal Liberal minority government will be under immense pressure to control spending, observers say — including by cutting the public service.
And if layoff decisions are made based
