Sisters, Brothers and Friends,
As you should be aware by now, the Canada Revenue Agency has decided to implement a moratorium on the administrative conversion of term employees under its Staffing Program.
This moratorium will take effect on Monday, April 8, 2024, and will remain in place until further notice. During this period, service by term employees will not count towards the three (3) years of cumulative service required for administrative conversion to indeterminate (permanent) status.
The employer informed us of its decision this past Tuesday. Please note that we were not consulted prior to this decision.
We understand that the Agency is concerned about possible budget cuts to come over the next few months and years. They have expressed the need to manage the financial risks associated with an increased number of administrative conversions and the ratio of “term employees” to “indeterminate (permanent) employees”. We believe these challenges could be met through other options, such as attrition.
We feel strongly that there is no need for a moratorium at this time, and that it sends the wrong message to the employees. The employer is being overly cautious by taking this step now, before there is a real and urgent need to reduce its workforce, if and when budget cuts do materialize, especially given that a third of our members are terms.
A moratorium on term conversions should be a last resort.
The Agency has the authority to put such a moratorium in place under its Staffing Procedures and, unfortunately, as this is outside of the collective agreement, we have no way of preventing it.
Obviously, we don't agree at all with the imposition of this moratorium, and we've made that clear to the employer. We have asked the Agency to provide us with various updated information and statistics, including the total number of term employees and the breakdown of cumulative service performed by these members. We will continue to express our disagreement and opposition to this move.
For an employer that prides itself on putting People First, the Canada Revenue Agency certainly doesn't demonstrate this to term employees and sends a terrible message to all its employees. The Agency should be embarrassed about continuing to use this "slogan", because it's starting to ring hollow to more and more of its employees and has even become an irritant to many. In our opinion, the Canada Revenue Agency should show more respect to all its employees, including term employees, as they represent its greatest asset.
At this time, we are lobbying the employer to ensure that permanent employment offers are made first to our current terms while the moratorium is in place. We are also advocating for the moratorium to be lifted as soon as possible.
In Solidarity,
Marc Brière
National President
Union of Taxation Employees