OTTAWA….After two weeks of frustrating negotiations, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) will be stepping up activities in order to bring the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) back to the table with a better mandate.

"Meetings took place over a two-week period but face-to-face negotiations only accounted for five hours during all that time," according to Union of Taxation Employees National President Betty Bannon. "We've had it with this approach to bargaining."

"Our members have already given us a strong strike mandate," says Serge Charette, national president of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise. We're going to be sending CCRA management strong messages that our members don't want and won't agree to a "made by Treasury Board" agreement.

Starting at 11:30 a.m., PSAC CCRA members will be marching from the Ottawa Marriott Hotel (100 Kent St.), along Wellington Street, to rally at CCRA Headquarters where Bannon and Charette will announce what actions the union will be taking.

Date: Friday, March 31, 2000

Time: 12:00 noon

Place: CCRA Headquarters - Connaught Building

          555 MacKenzie Ave, Ottawa

          (across from the Chateau Laurier & Major's Hill Park)

Spokespersons:

Serge Charette, national president, Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise

Betty Bannon, national president, Union of Taxation Employees

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