Nearly 50 security officers at the Bank of Canada have now been on strike for more than 100 days, in a dispute that has become the first major test of the federal ban on replacement workers.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said the roughly 49 officers walked off the job on June 23, 2026, after benefits negotiations broke down. Talks on a new collective agreement began in December 2024. The strike had reached 93 days on Sept. 23, according to the Canadian Press.
Alex Silas, PSAC’s national executive vice-president, said the union wants the Crown corporation to return to the bargaining table and withdraw its concessions. Neither the union nor the bank has publicly released the specific bargaining positions or wage figures.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board has twice found that the bank broke the Canada Labour Code during the strike. The first ruling, on July 7, dealt with contract guards from Garda Canada Security Corporation. A second ruling, issued around July 22 and 23, concerned replacement workers from Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, and the board gave the bank 48 hours to comply, according to a CBC News report.
A 2024 federal law bans federally regulated employers from using replacement workers during a legal strike. The rules took effect last year. NDP Leader Avi Lewis has called the bank dispute the first test of that law.
“This government and this employer have made it absolutely clear that they are prepared to defy the law of this country,” Lewis said in September.
Silas has argued that the bank relied on “completely untrained, unqualified people doing security at the Bank of Canada.”
The bank has rejected the suggestion that it ignored the board. In a statement, it said it respects the officers’ right to strike and stopped using external security support as directed. It said it has not used that support since July 23 and has a “strong temporary plan” for security at its head office. In an email earlier in July, the bank said it “complied fully with the CIRB ruling by the deadline.”
Governor Tiff Macklem has said the law contains exceptions that allow replacement workers where needed to prevent threats to life, health or safety, or serious property damage. He said the bank “made representations regarding the minimum necessary arrangements” before the first ruling and complied with the second.
The question of how the law is enforced matters beyond one building in Ottawa. Union leaders say the outcome will show whether the ban protects workers at the bargaining table or can be worked around. Unifor national president Lana Payne called the situation “a bad sign” and “a terrible message.”
The dispute is also unfolding as labour groups press the Liberal government on separate legislation. Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, would require a work stoppage to affect the “national interest” before a minister could use Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to end a strike or lockout. Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske and other labour leaders have said the bill would formalize the government’s power to break strikes. Labour groups are in early discussions about legal options, the Canadian Press reported.
The Bank of Canada has not said how its head office security is currently staffed, and it declined earlier to comment on its use of contractors. The central bank’s core work, including interest rate decisions, has not been reported as disrupted. The reporting reviewed for this article did not address the strikers’ pay or benefits in detail, and the union has not said what concession would end the walkout.
This story is developing. The account of the board rulings and the bank’s compliance rests largely on statements from the bank, the union and reporting by the Canadian Press and CBC News, and the board’s decisions were not reviewed directly.
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Via Canadian Press (CP24) and CBC News.
