For immediate release
Ottawa, June 22, 2026 – After last-minute negotiations failed to produce a fair agreement, PSAC-represented security officers at the Bank of Canada are set to strike beginning June 23, 2026. The strike affects workers in Ottawa and Montreal. The Bank has also notified members in Montreal that they will be locked out.
This is an unnecessary escalation against a small group of workers asking for fairness, respect, and a contract that protects their working conditions.
Bank of Canada security officers perform critical work protecting Canada’s financial infrastructure. They show up every day to keep the Bank safe and operational. Instead of recognizing that contribution with a fair agreement, the Bank is choosing pressure tactics against 63 security officers in Ottawa and Montreal.
At the bargaining table, the employer has pushed concessions that would make workers’ lives harder, including changes to the scheduling system that would undermine how seniority applies to overtime and vacation. The Bank is also seeking to reduce the maternity leave top-up by one week — an unacceptable rollback of family supports at a time when workers are already facing rising costs.
Rather than withdraw these concessions and return to serious bargaining, the Bank has forced these members into a strike.
This is not about workers walking away from their responsibilities. It is about an employer choosing pressure over fairness.
PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President Ruth Lau MacDonald said:
“A lockout is not the result of failed negotiations. It is a deliberate employer tactic. It is a decision to shut employees out of their workplace in order to pressure them at the bargaining table.
Let’s be clear: if operations are disrupted after June 23, it will be because the Bank of Canada forced us into this position — not because workers walked away from their responsibilities.
These security officers are not asking for the moon. They are asking for fair wages, stable schedules, and basic respect from one of the most powerful financial institutions in the country.”
PSAC National Executive Vice-President Alex Silas said:
“They’re trying to intimidate us, and they’re trying to divide us. But this group voted 100% in favour of strike action. Their solidarity is unshakable.”
The Bank has also written directly to workers asking them to volunteer to keep working during a legal strike, while confirming it plans to bring in a limited number of third-party staff. In plain terms: the Bank is preparing to operate around its own workers while asking them to cross their own picket line.
PSAC’s position is clear: this conduct violates the Canada Labour Code. The Bank cannot claim to respect the bargaining process while making direct appeals to workers and planning to use third-party staff to divide a small bargaining unit, weaken workers’ collective power, and undermine their legal right to strike.
PSAC is calling on the Bank of Canada to withdraw its lockout notice, drop its concessions, and return to serious bargaining.
A fair agreement is still possible. But that requires respect for the security officers who keep the institution running.
Security officers remain ready to work under a fair contract. What they will not accept is being forced out of their jobs while their working conditions, seniority rights, and family supports are rolled back.
Media contact:
Greg McNamara
Regional Political Communications Officer
613-324-0841 | mcnamag@psac-afpc.com | media@psac-afpc.com