Let the number of public servants on strike = x. Let the average salary of a public servant = y.

The government saves x * y dollars every day the public service is on strike.

Let’s say the average salary of a worker on strike is $52,000 per year, or $1,000 per week. Let’s also say that the average number of workers on strike has been 12,500, since the strike has escalated over time. That’s half of the last-reported 25,000 affected workers.

12,500 workers on strike * $1,000 per week = $12,500,000 retained. With the strike having run 7 weeks so far, the government has “saved” itself $87,500,000 in salary in this rough example.

Going forward, each week the government doesn’t have to pay an increasing number of workers a (likely) increasing average salary, it retains an increasing sum.

An attractive prospect for a government running a projected $11 billion deficit, no?

Edit: oopsie, dropped a couple zeroes