OTTAWA….After a week of fruitless negotiations with the new Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is applying for conciliation and holding a strike vote in order to move the process along.

"Our negotiating team is completely frustrated," according to PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President Susan Giampietri. "We had a mandate from our members and we came to the negotiating table prepared to stay for as long as it took to get a collective agreement. The CCRA team, on the other hand, has spent more time away from the table than at it. In five days of negotiations, we have had face-to-face meetings with the CCRA for a grand total of four hours. No wonder we’re frustrated."

"CCRA will no doubt claim that progress has been made. However, their idea of progress was to finally sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the negotiations process which the PSAC was ready to sign last November. If it took them that long to do so little, the prognosis for negotiations is not positive."

"The Alliance has presented a complete set of demands to the employer, including a wage proposal," said Giampietri. "So far, the employer’s team has had virtually only one response: NO. Every time a proposal is presented, CCRA negotiators have had to spend hours away from the negotiating table, no doubt getting their marching orders from CCRA senior executives. Their team appears to have no mandate, or a mandate so restrictive as to make negotiations meaningless, as well as lacking the ability to make decisions. This may be a new Agency, but the employer’s approach to negotiations is anything but; it’s pure Treasury Board."

"At the request of our bargaining team, PSAC National President Daryl Bean has authorized the calling of a strike vote by our CCRA members, starting today," according to Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) National President Betty Bannon. "The vote will be conducted over the next several weeks. We are also applying today for a Conciliation Board to be established. While we are prepared to negotiate with the employer at any time, we refuse to continue at their glacial pace."

"Our preference is to negotiate a satisfactory agreement as soon as possible," said Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise (CEUDA) National President Serge Charette. "However, unless CCRA is prepared to take negotiations seriously, Canadians could face disruptions in service both at tax offices and customs points of entry if we are forced to take strike action."

The PSAC is the bargaining agent for approximately 30,000 employees of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

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For information:

Susan Giampietri, PSAC regional executive vice-president, (613) 560-2225; cell: (416) 200-5532
Betty Bannon, UTE national president, (613) 235-6704
Serge Charette, CEUDA national president, (613) 723-8008, ext. 304

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