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"We're not looking for a fight, we're ready to negotiate, but we're not going into bargaining without being prepared," said Stéphanie Fréchette, the union's vice-president. "We hope we never need a strike fund, but hope is not a bargaining strategy."

Fréchette said three of the union's more than 40 bargaining groups have already agreed to move towards a strike if they can't negotiate an agreement with the government.

"That's why we want to make sure that we have the money to support them if they needed us," she said, adding that she doesn't expect the exact amount going into the fund will be made public. "It's a difficult time for our members."

The union said negotiations will be tense given the ongoing job cuts, the new return-to-office policy, and the government's use of private contractors.

Thousands of federal public servants returned to the office four days a week Monday, though a lack of office space is delaying the return for some departments.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is also negotiating new contracts for thousands of its members and has called wage offers presented by the federal government "insulting" and "unacceptable."

It said earlier this year the government has tabled wage proposals that amount to less than one per cent per year for workers in the administrative services, operational services and technical services groups.

In 2023, more than 120,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada members spent almost two weeks on picket lines across the country before getting wage increases amounting to 12.6 per cent over the agreement’s term, which ran from 2021 to 2024.

Some of that union's bargaining groups are scheduled to work with a third-party mediator this year to try to move discussions forward.

This report by ºÃÉ«tvwas first published July 6, 2026.