Union News - December 2025
Sisters, Brothers and Friends,
To say the least, 2025 has been quite an eventful year. Indeed, the first half of the year has been difficult. Since my last message in the spring, hundreds of term members working in Specialty Collections, Government Programs, Customs Collections, and Insolvency have had their contracts terminated. The same thing happened to term members working in the Debt Management Contact Centres. And it didn't stop there. The contracts of more than 450 members working in the Objections and Taxpayer Relief Programs of the Appeals Branch were not renewed. In May, the contracts of 1,300 members working in the call centres of the Assessment, Benefits and Services Branch (ABSB) were also not renewed.
All of these job losses affected employees appointed for a specified period (terms). Later in May, the Agency conducted its first large-scale Workforce Adjustment (WFA) exercise since the fall of 2016. Approximately 600 members of our union were affected by this exercise, which targeted employees appointed for an indeterminate period (permanent employees). The steps in this process are ongoing, and we continue to assist affected members and try to save as many jobs as possible.
During this time, our union has made multiple representations to the Agency's senior management to reaffirm our strong opposition to all these job losses. We emphasized the impact these cuts have on the lives of thousands of our members, their families, and their communities, as well as on the services provided by the Agency to the Canadian population and to businesses.
This summer, the Agency confirmed more bad news. It had decided not to renew the contracts of 850 term employees working in the ABSB Call Centres. These contracts were due to expire on September 5. On several occasions, we argued to the employer that this made no sense, as the situation in its Call Centres was already extremely precarious and unacceptable.
The Agency was informed that we were preparing to launch a major national campaign to denounce all these budget cuts, their impact on jobs and services, as well as the cuts planned for this fall. I informed the Commissioner that we would begin with the catastrophic situation in the Call Centres to persuade him to change his mind about the 850 Call Centre employees who were going to lose their jobs at the beginning of September, but to no avail.
Faced with the intransigence of senior management, I turned directly to the new Minister of National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne. I met with him to explain the seriousness of the situation and invited him to see it for himself on site, which he agreed to do. On July 3, I accompanied him on a visit to the call center in Montreal. During the visit, I made sure he spoke with a few employees so he could hear what was really going on and how the severe staff shortage was affecting our members, his employees.
The message clearly resonated. The following month, the Agency informed us that it had changed its mind and was renewing the contracts of the 850 call center employees. This was excellent news that we welcomed with enthusiasm. However, this is far from being enough, given the massive cuts made by the Agency over the past two years.
On August 21, with the support of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), we launched the “Canada on Hold” campaign. To say that this campaign was successful would be an understatement. From the outset, it had a spectacular impact. The media were very receptive and reported on it extensively. The public and businesses gave us tremendous support and expressed their deep frustration to federal MPs about the enormous difficulties they faced in reaching call center agents. Opposition parties began to press the government on this issue in the House of Commons, and MPs from all political parties complained to the CRA.
On September 2, Minister Champagne and Secretary of State for National Revenue, the Honourable Wayne Long, issued a letter acknowledging that the service delays and difficulties citizens are experiencing in accessing Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Call Centres are unacceptable. They stated that they take the situation very seriously. In addition, they indicated that they had instructed the Agency to implement a 100-day plan to strengthen services, improve access, and reduce delays.
The first positive consequence of this announcement did not take long to materialize. The Agency immediately hired 400 people from its rehire lists to return to work in the ABSB Call Centres. Subsequently, the Agency also began rehiring more than 100 people from the Revenue Collections rehire lists.
We welcome the intervention and initiative of Minister Champagne and Secretary of State Long. We fully agree with them that the current situation at the CRA is unsustainable and unacceptable. The reason is apparent: the CRA has laid off 10,000 employees since May 2024. The Agency simply does not have enough staff to handle the volume of calls and process taxpayers' files in a timely manner.
Things continued to evolve positively this fall. The CRA had initially informed its employees and our union last May that it planned to proceed with further job cuts this fall through another WFA exercise. It also informed us that it needed to achieve savings of $715 million by the end of fiscal year 2028-2029, in accordance with the request of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Champagne. The renewal of some contracts and new hires were good news and a step in the right direction. However, I made it clear to the Agency, the Minister, and the Secretary of State that this was far from sufficient and that it was impossible to improve service while making such significant cuts at the CRA.
I personally asked the Minister of Finance and the Secretary of State to abandon the planned budget cuts for the Agency and to reinvest significant amounts of money in the budget to hire employees to stop the bleeding and improve service. I informed the Agency's senior management and the Minister's office that our union was willing to work with them to find solutions to reverse the situation and improve the services offered to the public and businesses. I made it very clear that this would inevitably require adding staff, not further cuts resulting in more job losses.
Our union continued to apply pressure and denounce the impacts of irresponsible budget cuts that led us into this deplorable situation. On September 17, we launched phase 2 of the “Canada on Hold” campaign. This phase aimed to denounce budget cuts and job losses across the CRA and their impact on the time it takes to provide the most basic services. We provided concrete examples of the devastating impact of these cuts on citizens and businesses to keep up the pressure on the government.
Subsequently, I had numerous lengthy discussions with Secretary of State Long until the day the budget was tabled on November 4. I reinforced the message that the cuts had to stop and that reinvestment was needed instead. I emphasized the need to rehire staff not only in the ABSB Call Centres, but also in the Taxation Centres, Tax Services Offices, and National Verification and Collection Centres. In short, there are needs everywhere.
Just before the budget was tabled, the Secretary of State told me that my message had been heard “loud and clear.” It seems to be true, at least in part. The budget now includes much smaller cuts and reinvestments. In the end, net cuts (gross cuts minus reinvestments) total approximately $194 million by the end of fiscal year 2028-2029. This is far from ideal, but it is already much better than what was planned. Now it all depends on how the savings and reinvestments will be achieved.
As part of the 100-day improvement plan, the Agency temporarily transferred approximately 400 employees from the ABSB Call Centres to assist with processing T1 adjustments, Appeals, Uncashed Cheques, and Benefits claims in an effort to reduce backlogs. These employees will return to their substantive positions at the end of January 2026. We have expressed serious reservations about the effectiveness of this initiative and will continue to follow up with the employer.
It's one thing to have a 100-day plan, but that's far from being enough. The Agency needs to come up with a solid short, medium, and long-term plan to turn things around and really improve the service to restore its reputation with Canadians, who have had enough, and to improve the working conditions of its employees.
At a meeting held on November 25, the employer shared some very good news with us. The CRA has informed us that it is extending the contracts of term employees at the ABSB Call Centres until September 2026. In addition, the Agency recognized that it needed additional resources to cope with the upcoming tax filing season. It will therefore hire 1,600 additional employees (400 per region) in the call centres with a contract end date of September 2026. The employer will use its rehire lists and launch external processes. Other staffing measures may also be used. We took the opportunity to remind the Agency that we firmly believe it should also add additional staff in other areas, particularly in Taxation Centres.
In addition, I held serious discussions with the Secretary of State, the Commissioner, and other senior Agency officials to convince them to reopen customer service counters to provide in-person service to taxpayers. In our view, the Agency's decision to permanently close these counters in October 2013 was a serious mistake and showed a lack of respect and consideration for a large and vulnerable segment of the population. These service counters also allowed taxpayers with complex cases and businesses to get answers to their questions in a more appropriate manner. We still firmly believe that the CRA should reverse this decision.
We will continue to hold discussions and follow up regularly with the Agency's senior management, and I will also continue to maintain a dialogue with the Secretary of State and the Minister of Revenue with the objective that further positive changes will be announced during the year 2026. It should also be noted that the Agency has postponed the WFA exercise scheduled for this fall to a later date. We will continue to follow up on this matter.
Another piece of good news is that the CRA has also continued to hire collections officers following the budget announcement, with the aim of increasing federal government tax revenues, as we have repeatedly suggested over the past several months.
The Canadian population and businesses deserve to be able to count on high-quality public services. Our members want to provide such services. All that remains is for the government and the Agency to ensure that they give us the tools and resources we need to better serve Canadian taxpayers. We know you can deliver. When we unite and work together, and when the Canadian population joins us in speaking with one voice, we make things happen.
Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Friends, I sincerely thank you for your support of our “Canada on Hold” campaign. Together, and with the support of the public and businesses, we have made a difference and forced the government to reconsider its position on the planned CRA budget cuts. But we must not give up. We must stick together and remain vigilant. Our future and that of public services depends on it.
I invite you to contact your local union representatives if you have any questions or concerns, or if you need representation. They are there to help you.
Once again, I would like to thank you for your dedication to the Canadian population, and please know that we are proud of and appreciate all the good work you do every day.
I wish each and every one of you and your loved ones a wonderful Holiday Season. May the New Year bring you peace, joy, happiness, and prosperity! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Stay safe and take good care of yourselves and your loved ones!
In Solidarity,
Marc Brière
National President