April 20, 2013

PSAC/UTE Bargaining Team pushing for increased flexibility for employees, increased protections.

This past week (April 15th through 18th) our Bargaining Team spent four days in negotiations with CRA.  The parties spent much of the time discussing issues related to hours of work and scheduling.

Over the course of the week we discussed our proposals for providing more flexibility for employees that work days, proposals that would provide for employees to better balance work/life responsibilities. We also discussed at length on-going problems in workplaces across the country where employees are assigned shifts and specific start-times.  We have proposed a number of solutions to solve problems in these work places, including seniority protections and contract language that would provide employees the opportunity to have a say in the hours that they work.  Scheduling-related problems have been on-going for many years, and our team is determined to achieve new protections for PSAC/UTE members in the context of hours of work.

Also, in light of the additional cuts announced in the government’s budget document tabled in March, our Bargaining Team reiterated our determination to negotiate new protections for our jobs, the services that we provide and the work that we do.

April 30 is an important day for us all at CRA.  In light of these most recent announced cutsto the services we provide, itwill be important that we all demonstrate our opposition to these cuts, and our determination to achieve new protections in this round of bargaining. Be sure to speak with your Shop Steward or Local President for more information.

We have negotiations scheduled the weeks of May 27th, June 17th and July 22nd.  We’ll be sure to update as thing progress.  Be sure to go to ute-sei.org or psac.com to sign up for more updates.

PSAC/UTE members at Canada Revenue Agency

United for a Fair Contract