The federal government is still in the process of recovering approximately $1.6 million in wages that were mistakenly paid to employees during the 2023 strike, according to recent records. Blacklock's Reporter says the error was attributed to paperwork mistakes, resulting in overpayments to striking employees.As stated in a recent Inquiry Of Ministry, "Payments made to employees taking part in the 2023 strike were due to the delayed submission and processing of strike-related leave requests by striking employees." This resulted in approximately $82.8 million in payments being issued, with $80 million having been recovered so far.The remaining balance is being addressed through regular payment recovery operations. Conservative MP Kelly Block (Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek, Sask.) had requested information on the total amount mistakenly paid out to striking employees and the amount yet to be recovered.Various government agencies are still working to recover their respective shares of the outstanding amount, including the Canada Revenue Agency ($211,017), Canada Border Services Agency ($401,144), Department of Transport ($49,000), Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions agency ($6,603), and Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat ($2,196).The 12-day strike by Public Service Alliance of Canada members ended on May 1, 2023, with a settlement costing $5.2 billion. The Treasury Board reported that mistaken overpayments totaled millions, with most having been recovered through first available funds. The public works department attributed the errors to late data entry, manual processing, or human error.
