PSAC and the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) have officially launched a new round of negotiations with Treasury Board and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) as part of the ongoing fight to make CBSA a better place to work for more than 9,000 PSAC-CIU members in the FB Group.
Our FB bargaining team met with the employer June 17–18 to exchange proposals, with our team seeking improvements on a wide range of topics.
PSAC proposals package Employer proposals package
Key issues at the table this round include:
- An expansion of leave provisions, including annual leave, modelled on what is provided to other law enforcement employees, including the RCMP.
- New rights in the context of discipline and abuse of authority to protect against CBSA’s heavy-handed management style.
- Mechanisms that allow members to transfer to different ports and offices.
- Enhanced protections for variable shift schedule arrangements (VSSAs), shift work, and hours of work.
- The critical need for access to telework in our collective agreement.
- Significant increases to shift and weekend premiums.
- Protections for our jobs and our work in the context of AI, contract workers, and student use.
The employer also tabled their proposals. These include, among other things, changing shift change notice from seven days to 48 hours, eliminating the weekend premium on overtime, and new restrictions on access to Care and Nurturing Leave. On hours of work, management indicated an interest in more “flexibility.” Management also said that “enhancing management authority” is a priority for the CBSA in this round.
We told CBSA management that, while we are prepared to bargain in good faith, our union is looking for improvements in this round of negotiations, not steps backward. We will not give up hard-fought rights.
Next steps
We return to the table on September 9–11. Proposals on wages and allowances will be tabled at a future session once we receive payroll data from the employer.
Make sure you’re on our mailing list to receive the latest bargaining updates. If you have questions, speak with your CIU branch president or an FB bargaining team member.
Meet your FB bargaining team
Pictured above are the members of your FB bargaining team, who represent PSAC-CIU members in this round of negotiations. From left to right:
- Carl (CIU 10007 Montreal)
- Stewart (CIU 00024 Toronto)
- Eric (CIU 40031 Saskatchewan)
- Jordan (CIU 00016 Niagara Falls)
- Brea (CIU 40031 Saskatchewan)
- Ryan (CIU 60004 New Brunswick–PEI)
- Lisa (CIU 00024 Toronto)
- James (CIU 70027 Eastern Ontario)
- Candice (CIU 00023 Fort Erie)
- Rama Ngenzebuke, PSAC research officer
- Colin (CIU 20040 Vancouver)
- Morgan Gay, PSAC negotiator
This article was first published on the PSAC website.
