Union News - October 2022
After several frustrating rounds of bargaining and no sight of an economic proposal from the employer, our team declared that we were at an impasse. This is never done without a serious necessity to do so, but frankly, the disrespect over wages, and lack of movement on key items such as work/life balance, telework and job protections left us no option.
In our opinion it was clear that the employer wasn’t interested in negotiating items that were important to our membership leading us to believe that they did not have the mandate to give our demands serious attention. Again, these talks were also void of any economic proposal. To put this disrespect in perspective, the majority of the public service who are in negotiations, many of which are also at an impasse, have at least seen the employer’s economic proposals. Having not seen them, we have no choice but to move this process forward and eventually get to the Public Interest Commission to present our case and finally hear theirs.
Make no mistake, the employer by this inaction makes it crystal clear that the inflation and cost of living that is hammering us all doesn’t matter to them. It yells from the top of the mountains that all the good work you did during the pandemic and in every other day of your career doesn’t deserve a raise. It speaks volumes that offers (however offensive they were) have been made to other bargaining teams but CRA can’t make our members an offer. This has happened before. It is a broken record, it is Bill Murray’s Ground Hog Day, it is Yogi Berra’s “déjà vu all over again.”
What is most frustrating is that we have to go through this process again. We have always been ready to negotiate, and it is of no help to our membership to have the employer delay and delay and delay. BUT, it serves them great purpose. While it will ultimately be grossly miscalculated (as history has continuously shown) – the employer would like nothing more than the membership to get angry and as time goes on the membership asks “what is the union doing”? Well, we put economic proposals on the table that reflected the current economic state. We walked them through our proposals on work/life balance to hear nothing but crickets, we made job security a priority by demanding no more contracting out (our membership can proudly do any new work that is needed – we already proved this) – but the employer doesn’t believe that’s a priority.
All this to say we have your backs, we will not give up the fight, and we will get you the respect you deserve through enhanced provisions and better salary. As this process moves along, please be sure to sign up for email notifications and if you have any questions please reach out to your local president. Stay in communication with the union for any information sessions or gatherings. We will be lobbying key MPs and will always welcome your help!
Adam Jackson
2nd Vice-President, Chair of the Bargaining Team