Tentative agreement reached with CRA workers, pickets come down in Sudbury

It was back to work Thursday morning for the roughly 3,000 workers at the Canada Revenue Agency Taxation Centre in Sudbury as news broke that a tentative agreement had been reached.

The deal is for 2021-2025 and once ratified, would come into effect immediately. It tackles several major sticking points, including closing the gap between what it says was their wage and inflation.

"Pretty excited really, it's been a long 15 days and I think the membership was really starting to feel it," said Chris Foucault, president of the Union of Taxation Employees Local 00042.

The tentative agreement includes a 12.6 per cent wage increase over four years. It also includes a $2,500, one-time lump sum payment which represents an additional 3.6 per cent salary for the average worker.

The union also worked to protect the rights of teleworking, which largely ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter of understanding, the new agreement will now require managers to assess remote work requests individually, not by group, and provide written responses.

"You know I'm exhausted, I have not been getting much sleep through this so of course I'm happy it's over," Foucault said.

"It never would have been as effective as it was without all the community support, all the membership, thousands of people, the Sikh Society really came through for us every single day we were on strike."

"Today’s news of a tentative agreement between the federal government and PSAC signals a resolution to the labour dispute that affected one of our community’s largest employers,” Greater Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre said in a statement.

“I wish all the best for a smooth return to work for the thousands of Greater Sudbury residents who have been affected by the strike.”

"Through long hours of negotiations, the CRA and the PSAC-UTE found ways to compromise and, in doing so, succeeded in reaching a tentative agreement, which is both fair to employees and reasonable for taxpayers," the CRA said in its statement.