Canada Global (Web News) Public employees are present in downtown Ottawa in greater numbers than at any time prior to the outbreak.
And it’s all because workers fought for the right to avoid being required to be there.
More than 150,000 government workers have been absent from work for six days as a result of contract negotiations with the federal government as of Tuesday.
The union’s demand for increased flexibility to allow employees to work from home is one of the main grounds of contention.
Office staff who had worked remotely for the most of the pandemic were instructed to return to the office at least two days per week by Treasury Board President Mona Fortier in December.
The city’s downtown businesses have suffered since COVID-19 since there aren’t as many people visiting them.
Ariel Troster, a city councillor for downtown Ottawa, believes that public employees won’t ever return to the area on a full-time basis and that the city must reevaluate its approach to assisting the companies that once depended on the workers.
