New ruling reveals only a third of 120,000 striking PSAC members cast vote on work stoppage

Only 35 per cent of 120,000 striking federal workers cast ballots in the vote to strike, according to a ruling filed Thursday by the federal labour board.

Documents show only 42,421 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members voted, and of those, more than 80 per cent voted in favour of a strike. 

The union previously had declined to reveal the percentage of members who voted for a strike.

Last Thursday, PSAC National Leader Chris Aylward said an "overwhelming majority" of members reported they were prepared to strike.

The union responded to these figures, first reported in the National Post, by saying that the "broad support" for the strike mandate "can be seen in real time on hundreds of picket lines throughout the whole country this week, as over 100,000 members showed up."

PSAC members have been on strike since Wednesday. It's one of the largest strikes in Canadian history and the largest federal public service strike since 1991.

The union is calling for better wages, better job security and the right to work from home.

Board found irregularities in strike vote

The complaint, which was filed with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board, was filed by a public servant seeking to invalidate the strike.

His complaint was dismissed but the board did find voting irregularities of "significant concern."

PSAC shortened the voting window by eight days and did not have the correct email addresses for 15,000 members. Those people received instead a letter in the mail — which included the wrong dates for the strike vote.

The ruling said that no further outreach was made to members without valid email addresses and that "fell short" of the obligation to inform members of their voting rights.

The ruling said the board considered invalidating the strike vote but concluded that the shorter voting window probably did not affect the outcome of the vote.

"The votes that could not be cast due to the irregularities might have either diluted or strengthened the strike mandate, but it appears highly improbable that they would have reversed it," the ruling said.

The union said that increasing voter turnout is an issue that all unions, organizations and governments grapple with.

"PSAC's voter turnout varies between bargaining rounds and different groups of workers, and we're always finding new ways to increase membership engagement in our union," Aylward said in a media statement.