Employer resists expansion of leave provisions and enhanced protections of current ones.
This past week (June 17th through 20th) our Bargaining Team spent four days in negotiations with CRA. The parties discussed increased protections for our work and for current leave provisions, as well as new rights for part-timers.
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Recently the government has made a number of statements threatening to attack our working conditions by cutting sick leave and clawing back two weeks of pay. In bargaining this week we reminded CRA that the employer has made no proposals concerning sick leave for this round of bargaining and therefore our sick leave will remain unchanged for this collective agreement. We also reminded CRA that any changes in pay must be negotiated at the bargaining table. The Agency also confirmed that it has no plans to change its policy concerning performance reviews, and that it must consult with our union should it contemplate any changes.
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We have made proposals to expand personal leave. We have also made proposals to add language to our contract that would protect Leave with Income Averaging and Medical Appointment leave. CRA rejected all of these proposals. We also discussed our proposals concerning acting pay and the banking of comp time. CRA rejected these proposals as well.
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We have made proposals ensuring rights for part-time workers, including seniority rights and access to full-time hours when they become available. CRA said no to these proposals as well this week, this despite the fact that they have been agreed to by other federal employers.
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Lastly we discussed this week the on-going issue of student hiring. We again said that we are not anti-student, but that students should not be hired and brought in by the Agency to be used as cheap labour and to do work that can and should be done by workers represented by our union.
Negotiations are scheduled the week of July 22nd. We will continue to update you as things progress. Be sure to go to ute-sei.org or psac.com for more information and to sign up for more updates.
PSAC/UTE members at Canada Revenue Agency
United for a Fair Contract
