Bargaining

Information on the Joint Consultation Committee – joint message

Further to the Letter of Agreement concluded during the last round of bargaining, the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have now established the Joint Consultation Committee on the Directive on Virtual Work Arrangements and have agreed to convene its first meeting on Thursday, September 7, 2023. Both parties have decided that the Committee will be comprised of four representatives from UTE and four from CRA.

UTE’s representatives will be as follows:

Addendum: 

I have spoken with to the PSAC National President, Brother Chris Aylward, and I am very pleased to report that PSAC and Treasury Board have agreed to continue bargaining talks through the weekend.

Marc Brière
UTE National President

Sisters, Brothers and Friends,

As you are all aware by now, the last round of mediation was not successful. During this entire round of bargaining, there has been no real bargaining effort on the part of the CRA. They have repeatedly come to the table unwilling to move away from their Treasury Board mandate. There has been no true negotiation in regards to the monetary issues that affect us.

Commissioner Treusch,

This is not a letter I ever thought I would have to write but now am forced to, based on the actions of the CRA over the last year and the events of mediation last week.  Your recent email to all employees of the CRA, which includes other bargaining units and excluded employees, in which you state what your final offer is, was an insult to the bargaining process.

Hello Sisters, Brothers and Friends,

The National Office of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) has been receiving many inquiries from members about the Letter of Agreement (LOA) concluded during this round of bargaining and the Commissioner’s message concerning the launch of the mandatory Work Arrangement Agreements (WAA).

Honourable Jane Philpott
President of the Treasury Board and
Minister of Digital Government
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Madam Minister,

By way of introduction, I write to you as National President of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE), a Component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), representing approximately 26,000 members employed by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The Honourable Scott Brison, P.C., M.P.
President of the Treasury Board
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Mr. Brison:

Hello Sisters, Brothers and Friends,

This is to inform you that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has confirmed that the lump-sum payment of $2,500 (gross amount) which is part of the settlement on the new collective agreement will be processed by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) on the November 8, 2023 payroll.

In addition, rates of pay for all members of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) will increase by 3.0% plus a 0.5% wage adjustment for a total of 3.5% effective November 1, 2023.

In Solidarity,

On January 20, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) management presented its bargaining proposals at a Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearing, reaffirming its push for regressive changes to the collective agreement and its rejection of union proposals. Moreover, the CRA once again failed to present its own wage proposal, even while rejecting the union’s proposal.

This is to inform you that Brother Marc Brière, Sister Annette Melanson and I went to meet with the Acting Commissioner, John Ossowski, to discuss the results of our vote on the memorandum of settlement. I reinforced that UTE’s position is to go back to the table and negotiate a fair collective agreement. He committed to me that he would communicate with Treasury Board officials and the Minister of Revenue as soon as possible.  He will inform me as soon as he has some additional information.

The UTE Bargaining team is ready to return to Ottawa immediately.