Our PSAC-UTE bargaining team met with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on September 11 and 12 to begin negotiations for a new collective agreement on behalf of more than 30,000 members. While we are ready to bargain in good faith, we made it clear that we are seeking meaningful improvements for our members and are not interested in going backwards.
Key issues at the table
Our team made clear to the Agency that we are prioritizing:
- Increased work-life balance: Our members go above and beyond to serve the public and need more paid time to care for our families and ourselves.
- Job protections: With CRA embracing AI and the federal government pushing austerity, we are seeking contract language that will protect our work and our jobs, along with improvements to the Workforce Adjustment Appendix.
- Telework and remote work protections: We want clear rights and safeguards in this area, since the Agency has shown it cannot be trusted on this issue.
Exchanging proposals
We exchanged non-wage proposals with the Agency. Their proposals would weaken our rights on hours of work, leave for term employees, and access to certain types of leave for all employees. We are pushing for gains in this round, not concessions.
Next steps
We will table wage proposals at a later date once we have received and analyzed employer payroll data. Negotiations are scheduled to resume next month, and we’ll keep you updated as things progress.
As always, your solidarity and support are key to achieving a fair contract. Together, we can make CRA a better place to work.
Be sure to go to www.ute-sei.org and www.psacunion.ca for more information and to subscribe for regular updates. Also, should you have any questions please contact your UTE Local.