The link you refer to is the one that lists the changes made by the secretariat to the Treasury Board of Canada.
The union of federal workers had already started legal proceedings to contest what you shared ... And they added other legal disputes, here is their press release dated yesterday, the most recent:
http://psacunion.ca/changes-699-leave-psac-take-further-legal-action
Public Service Alliance of Canada said:
Changes to 699 leave: PSAC to take further legal action
PSAC is filing a second policy grievance against Treasury Board for its most recent discriminatory changes to 699 leave that will force federal workers to exhaust all other leave – including sick leave and vacation leave – before they can request “other leave with pay” for COVID-19-related reasons.
...
Without the availability of a vaccine, and with many parts of Canada experiencing a second wave of the pandemic, Treasury Board’s proposed changes are premature and do not reflect the current reality of this public health crisis and its mental health impacts on public service workers.
These are a few passages from their last press release above, you can consult it in full.
My remarks regarding this press release:
With respect for these people, (I am giving my opinion here, no need to say that I am insulting anyone, and their press releases are not sacred words or gospel words), we notice here in this press release that he union continues its commitment to vacancy code 699, and opposes reasonable adjutments instituted by the Treasury Board of Canada.
It will also be noted that the union invokes the risks associated with the pandemic.
Most of the industries in the private sector, as well as the self-employed, have returned to work, following guidelines from public health, and federal and provincial health authorities.
Under what pretext should federal employees benefit from special treatment? ... Are their lives worth more than those of private sector employees, or self-employed workers? ... Or are they more susceptible to the virus? What rational and objective argument to justify a return to work while respecting the health safety directives?
Covid is in the rise and not going away in years. We need to adapt to the new normal and put everything back to work with safety measures. In private sector, i cannot just disappear for 8 months without work because of covid. We need solutions to the extensive delays.
Something else. Taxpayers (whether citizens or not) have rights as well.
The right to have good governance and good management of public money.
One of the roles of the Treasury Board of Canada (And it fulfilled it by making the changes to the 699 code, we must salute it!), And more generally of the government is to ensure good governance and the exemplary nature of public expenses.
Paying salaries indefinitely without a clear recovery plan, even partial and with the taking of precautionary public health measures is not an example of good governance and sound management of public finances ... If the return to work is so complicated that that, even with sanitary measures, we should unfortunately proceed to layoffs in the public sector.
I have nothing against the payment of an emergency benefit for people who lose their jobs ... But it is totally irrational to continue to pay a salary (significantly higher than the emergency or unemployment benefits ) for people who refuse to return to work, even with correct health precautionary measures ... It's just incredible, how can we defend this ??
The last point of my remarks concerns the paragraph citing the vaccine. Here I am going to address people who are waiting for their citizenship test:
As you can see, the union implicitly asks for an effective vaccine ... Do you think that if the effective vaccine is found - hyppottetically - tomorrow morning! ... Do you think this will speed things up? ...NO .
The union will certainly demand a daily infection rate of zero new cases of people per day ... which means years, years, and years, can be an indefinite timeframe.
As I said before, the equation now is simple. We have nothing more to lose ... As you can see, union clings to constitutional rights, even if they know very well deep down that their demands are unreasonable and immoral, and even incensed ...
We are only asking for a recovery, even partial and gradual, with distancing and health measures, citizenship tests, or why not, a way to do them online. And at least a clear plan with dates and deadlines ... Which seems a billion times more reasonable to me than a union that requires an extension
ad vitam æternam (* indefinitely) of a provision allowing them to be paid without providing work in return.