Author Archives: Pierre St-Jacques

Influx of Migrants: CIU Calls for More Officers, Creation of Border Patrol

In order to help Border Services Officers (BSOs) deal with the considerable influx of migrants crossing into Canada, the National President of the Customs and Immigration Union, Jean-Pierre Fortin, is calling on Ottawa to restore jobs cut under the previous Conservative government.

“We’re talking about 1,053 jobs” said Jean-Pierre Fortin. “At this time, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is merely reallocating officers from one station to another. It isn’t sustainable in the long term. With a single refugee case taking up to 8 hours to process, there simply aren’t enough officers present to perform all duties associated with protecting our border.”

Increasing the number of border officers is therefore a crucial step the present government must take if it is serious about handling the current situation in a safe and efficient manner.

Border Officers should be allowed to patrol

In addition, Border Officers need to be allowed to patrol between the 117 different land border ports across Canada. “Border Services Officers are trained and equipped to handle difficult situations at the border,” explained the National President. “Allowing BSOs to take the lead in patrolling the border while continuing to work in collaboration with RCMP officers simply makes sense.”

With warmer weather on the horizon and a continuous flow of migrants entering Canada along the border, it is imperative that the government recognize that the level of staffing is inappropriate to deal effectively with the ongoing situation.

Bargaining Has Reached An Impasse: PSAC Files for a Public Interest Commission

The PSAC/CIU Bargaining Team for the FB group spent three days in mediation with Treasury Board and CBSA during the week of January 30. Given the refusal of Treasury Board and CBSA to address FB group priorities, the Bargaining Team has declared impasse.

As part of our ongoing campaign for respect for the border services group, PSAC filed for a Public Interest Commission (PIC) for the Border Services group on February 8, 2017. The group’s critical public safety duties deserve the same recognition given to other law enforcement officers.

Next Step

Under federal law, the PIC is the next step in the collective bargaining process when the parties reach impasse. Over the coming weeks CIU and PSAC will be consulting with branches across the country to prepare next steps in our efforts to get Treasury Board and the CBSA to finally address the issues our FB bargaining team have raised in negotiations.

We’ll be sure to provide updates as things progress. Please see the page What If Talks Break Down for more information on the PIC. For more information on FB bargaining, speak with your CIU Branch President, or sign-up for PSAC email updates.

Parts of this article were originally published on the PSAC website.

Phoenix and Tax Implications

As tax season approaches, many PSAC members are concerned about the effects of Phoenix pay problems on their taxes.

If you have questions about the tax implications of an overpayment or underpayment, or about your T4, here are two useful links:

Government of Canada: Information for employees on tax slips.
Canada Revenue Agency: Questions and Answers – Tax Implications of Phoenix payroll issues

This article was originally published on the PSAC website.

Talks Break Off With CBSA/Treasury Board

We enforce the law. It’s time we were treated accordingly.

Our PSAC/CIU bargaining team for the FB group spent three days in mediation with Treasury Board and CBSA this past week. We made no progress on our key priorities for this round of bargaining. We enforce the law. It’s time we were treated accordingly.

Compensation

Our position reflects wage parity with the RCMP. Management has rejected this proposal and instead tabled the PA wage settlement. This is unacceptable to us as it does not address our wage disparity with the broader law enforcement community.

Retirement Reform

We are seeking a commitment from Treasury Board that the government introduce a retirement regime consistent with other federal law enforcement agencies. Treasury Board has refused to do so. This is unacceptable.

New Protections

We must have new protections against CBSA management in this round – in the context of discipline (PSI and SRI), legal indemnification and against abuse of authority. Management has not addressed our concerns.

Hours of Work

Our team is seeking a paid meal period in line with other law enforcement agencies, as well as protections against management’s unilateral cancelation of compressed work weeks and telework arrangements. CBSA and Treasury Board have done nothing to address these issues. We deserve better.

CBSA Seeking Concessions

Management is seeking serious concessions, from watering down our VSSA protections to making Care and Nurturing leave subject to operational requirements and increasing its duration to a minimum of 12 weeks, to eliminating protections in the context of firearm certification that we have in our current agreement. These concessions are unacceptable.

Given the refusal of Treasury Board and CBSA to address our priorities, we have declared impasse and will be proceeding to the next steps in the process – filing for a Public Interest Commission (PIC). Get more information on the PIC process at http://psacunion.ca/what-happens-if-we-do-not-reach-agreement.

The leadership of the union and representatives from our bargaining team will be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss next steps beyond filing for a PIC. We’ll be sure to provide updates as things progress.

Download the PDF version of this update (bilingual document).

Designated Paid Holiday (DPH) Missing Credits for FB Members

In September 2014, PSAC and the employer signed a memorandum of settlement (MOS) – the Moore settlement – which provided that FB employees who worked on a Variable Shift Schedule be reimbursed for leave used, make-up hours worked, or short shift change notice on a Designated Paid Holiday. More information regarding this matter is available on CBSA’s Atlas Intranet – see atlas/hrb-dgrh/res/lr-rt/messages/hdph_hccf_eng.asp (note that Atlas links are only accessible using workstations connected to the Intranet).

CBSA has posted a form on Atlas for FB members to complete if they are of the opinion that they were not appropriately compensated in line with the Moore settlement. The form is available for download through Atlas: atlas/hrb-dgrh/res/lr-rt/documents/h_ing_form_h_chome.pdf.

NB: CBSA has imposed a deadline of February 28, 2017 to submit the form.

Please note that the employer asserts that the Moore settlement does not apply to sick leave or family related leave. Members required to account for hours over and above 7.5 hours on a Designated Paid Holiday should file grievances on each occasion.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Labour Relations Officer assigned to your region.