Employer refuses to agree to protections that have been agreed to by other federal employers.

This past week (May 27th through 30th) our Bargaining Team spent four days in negotiations with CRA.  We spent much of the time discussing new protections against the contracting out of jobs and for hours of work. 

Since the beginning of this round of bargaining our negotiating team has made it clear that we want to achieve new protections for PSAC/UTE members at CRA.  This was repeated this week, particularly in the context of the recent announcements made by the government about performance management, and in the wake of budget cuts. 

• We are asking for new protections against the contracting out of our work and our jobs.  For example, earlier this month, CRA confirmed that the work performed by records storage employees was contracted out to a private company, and the jobs abolished.  In workplaces across the country, more and more students are being brought in to do our work.  We are not opposed to students having occasional work opportunities for educational purposes, but we must protect ourselves and our jobs. 

• We also discussed proposals to make sure that employee preferences are taken into account when work hours are scheduled, and that our years of service be respected. 

Our proposals are based on what has already been agreed to by other federal employers.  And yet this past week the employer said no.  We told the employer that we are sticking to our position on these matters.   

Our team did make progress on the expansion of bereavement leave, and management agreed to provide responses on designated paid holidays and overtime when we meet in June.

PSAC/UTE locals across the country have activities planned around Public Service Week.  We strongly urge all members to participate in union-organized activities and not to attend those organized by the employer.  Our bargaining team would also like to thank and congratulate the thousands of union members that took part in April 30th activities in support of our bargaining efforts.

We have negotiations scheduled the weeks of June 17th and July 22nd.  We’ll be sure to update as thing progress.  Be sure to go to ute-sei.org or psac-afpc.com to sign up for more updates.

PSAC/UTE members at Canada Revenue Agency

United for a Fair Contract