On May 13th, 2014, CIU’s National President, Jean-Pierre Fortin, met with Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney. The meeting provided him with an opportunity to raise some of the major issues the CIU is facing.
Brother Fortin highlighted the poor/confrontational relationship between CIU and CBSA (nationally and in some regions) and as an example, referred to the Agency’s April 10th communications in which some of our members are threatened with the loss of their job and could be up to two years at home on leave without pay. The Minister was also informed that CIU believes these actions to be illegal. He was provided with CBSA’s correspondence as well as our communiqués outlining the union’s response (filing ULP complaint, Human Rights complaint and policy grievance).
Brother Fortin also suggested that a step in the right direction would be to remove the penalty for those who have 25 years of service so that some of our members could retire with dignity. This initiative would put us on the same footing as other law enforcement agencies, specifically with Correctional Services.
With the Beyond the Border Agreement in place and increased technology at the border, CIU’s National President reminded the Minister that to be effective, we needed to remain unpredictable. He also raised the subject of port runners and the need to create mobile units (border patrol).
This was the first formal meeting between CIU’s National President and the Minister. Brother Fortin was pleased that the Minister allocated over 40 minutes to discuss the issues that are of concern to CIU, and hopes that their open and straightforward exchange will be of benefit to our members.
