Members of the Union of Taxation Employees gathered in Ottawa on November 21-23, 2024 for the bi-annual Presidents’ Conference. During the conference, we held a rally on November 22nd to protest the cuts at Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). UTE local presidents, Regional Vice-presidents and National Officers gathered in the rain in front of Place de Ville in downtown Ottawa, where many of our members work. Demonstrators carried banners and flags and denounced the cuts loudly.
Recently, term CRA employees were told that their contracts were going to be cut short, some immediately, some on December 13th. As you can imagine, these hard-working employees were devastated to learn that they would be out of work. To make matters worse, it is happening just before Christmas.
The government is saying that these cuts are necessary in order to be fiscally responsible. However, many of these employees are the same ones who ensure that various taxes are collected. Each collector brings in far more than they cost. At a time when we should be making sure that all outstanding debts owed to the government are being collected, we are letting go employees. Let’s not forget that the CRA has already let go of 2,000 term employees working in Contact Centres this past spring. These employees were answering calls from taxpayers; taxpayers who already say that they wait much too long to speak to someone.
If fiscal responsibility is the goal, one might ask why the government is, with its other hand, promising GST rebates and the Working Canadians Rebate which will cost Billions of dollars. We should also wonder who will be processing and handling calls about the Working Canadians Rebate or calls from businesses about the GST break with fewer employees left to carry on increased workloads. This makes no sense.
One thing is for sure. If the CRA keeps on cutting jobs, it will not be able to perform its various mandates and offer the quality of service that Canadians deserve.
Marc Brière
National President
Union of Taxation Employees