CRA employees issue strike mandate ahead of contract talks

Thousands of Canada Revenue Agency workers, including roughly 3,000 in Sudbury, Ont., could soon be walking off the job ahead of scheduled contract talks for later this month.

The workers, who are represented by the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), voted in favour of strike action.

According to the unions, their members have been without a contract for a year now while the cost of living continues to soar. It adds the government is still talking about major concessions and has yet to respond to the union's wage proposals.

"Our members have sent a strong message to the CRA," said Chris Aylward, PSAC national president, in a statement.

"Workers can't wait and we're ready to show this government we won't let workers fall behind."

Sudbury has the second highest concentration of tax workers, next to Winnipeg and it's only one of three taxation centres in the country, with the third being in Jonquiere, Que.

"People are fed up with waiting. In the past, we've been without a contract for more than four years, twice in a row," said UTE national president Marc Briere.

"So, our members have spoken loudly, loud and clear, that they support their bargaining team and their union and the message is clear for the federal government and the CRA. 'Go back to the bargaining table on April 17 and come with a mandate to negotiate seriously or else we're going to walk out and shut down the CRA and put it to a standstill,' going on strike."

Union leadership isn't giving results of the strike mandate but told CTV News it was an overwhelming majority.

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"We want to have wage increases for our members that keep up with inflation," said Briere.

"Just in the first year of our contract being expired, the consumer price index has been at over 6.2 per cent, so we're asking for good wage increases to keep up with inflation. The federal government is the largest employer in the country and they need to lead by example for other employers for Canadians."

Telework also is a major sticking point for negotiators.

According to the union, the members want it in the next contract.

"Ninety-five per cent of our members teleworked during the pandemic and it didn't prevent them from doing their job," the UTE national president said.

"If it's not broken, don't fix it."

A mediator isn't necessary, he said, and while it might be helpful, it doesn't always make a difference.

The unions were ready to start bargaining on April 11, he said, but the employer wants a mediator present, which delayed things a week.

"The hours of work at the CRA are very important. The articles are obsolete. There are premiums for late shifts that haven't been increased in 15 years. Job security is also important, protections from contracting out to the private sector. At the end of the day, you could summarize this by respect, getting respect from the CRA and the government. Respect that we haven't seen in too long at the bargaining table. People are getting tired of waiting, and waiting, and waiting and they can't wait anymore," he said.

"We're certainly willing to compromise on certain things, but if they think that we're going to give up on our demand on telework< they're absolutely wrong. If they think that we're going to accept wage increases that are far away from the rate of inflation, that's not going to happen either."

The Canadian Revenue Agency has since issued a statement, 'We are confident that the parties will find many areas of potential compromise and trade-off, through honest discussions and concessions by both sides, during the upcoming negotiations."

It goes on to say, "The CRA is committed to doing everything it can to resolve this labour dispute, to resume negotiations and to continue to bargain in good faith and make every reasonable effort to reach an agreement at the bargaining table that is both fair to employees and reasonable to taxpayers."

Diane Lebouthillier, the minister of national revenue, also issued a statement.

"Maintaining a respectful relationship with the public service is and always will be a priority for our government. We recognize the important role that CRA employees play in providing services to Canadian taxpayers from coast to coast to coast. The CRA is, however, an independent and arms-length agency; therefore, we will not comment on the current negotiations," Lebouthillier said.

CTV News did ask if there could be delays to filing tax returns and if the CRA was willing to entertain delaying the filing deadline in the event of a strike and there was no response to those questions.

The next round of talks is slated for April 17 to 20, but the union will be in a legal position to strike on April 14.