Our members at Canada Border Services Agency have waited long enough. You’ve been without a collective agreement since 2022 as you’ve seen your wages stall and the cost of living rise. Yet CBSA still isn’t prepared to negotiate an agreement that protects our members, and continues to demand concessions at the bargaining table.
That’s why PSAC and CIU will be conducting a nationwide strike vote for the FB group April 10 to May 15, ramping up the pressure on CBSA in advance of our Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearings later this month.
Our FB bargaining team is committed to reaching a fair contract that protects our hard-fought gains in previous rounds of bargaining and provides new rights and protections for our more than 9,000 PSAC-CIU members. Over the past two years of negotiations, our team has fought for wage parity with the broader law enforcement community, stronger job security, access to telework, and protections around contracting out – but CBSA management continues to insist on concessions.
While strike votes are underway, Public Interest Commission hearings will take place April 10 and 22 with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board, where PSAC and CBSA will outline our positions on the outstanding issues, and the PIC will issue a report with non-binding recommendations for reaching a settlement.
If you vote in favour of a strike mandate, PSAC will be in a legal strike position seven days after the PIC releases its recommendations.
We saw what we could achieve last round when we came together – by bringing international borders to a standstill August 6, 2021 through work-to-rule action, we secured important gains for our members, without concessions.
We strongly urge you to vote in favour of a strike mandate to once again show CBSA management that we are prepared to take job action to reach a fair deal at the bargaining table.
We’ve also made it clear that if this government is serious about achieving a new collective agreement, Treasury Board President Anita Anand must honour the commitment made during the last round of bargaining and make equitable 25-and-out retirement a reality for FB members. Law enforcement personnel at CBSA deserve the same treatment and retirement benefits as their counterparts in other law enforcement agencies.
To give you as many opportunities as possible to participate in the vote, we’ll be holding strike sessions virtually with national sessions open to everyone.
Your voting credentials will be sent to your personal, non-work email or by mail to your home address if we don’t have a personal email on file. You will need these credentials to register for a strike vote session.
If you haven’t received your voting credentials by email or regular mail, you may need to update your contact information before you can register to vote.
In Solidarity,
Chris Aylward
PSAC national president
Mark Weber
CIU national president
This article was first posted on the PSAC website.
