Tentative Deal Reached With Border Service Workers
MONCTON — Strike action has ended after a tentative deal was reached between the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Customs and Immigration Union and the Canada Border Services Agency.
The four-year tentative deal was reached late Friday night.
In a news release, PSAC National President Chris Aylward says, “We are relieved that CBSA and the government finally stepped up to address the most important issues for our members to avoid a prolonged labour dispute.”
Conditions of the deal include an average pay increase of over two per cent per year, retroactive to 2018, a better grievance-handling process, and the creation of a National Joint Committee to tackle workplace culture problems at CBSA.”
Work-to-rule strike action began at 7am Friday morning.
Negotiations between PSAC-CIU and CBSA began in January 2019 but reached an impasse in December 2020. National strike votes were held in June and July 2021, and PSAC-CIU announced issued an official strike notice on August 3.
CIU National President Mark Weber says. “Finally, after three years of negotiations, we’ve resolved longstanding issues that will go a long way towards making CBSA a better, safer place to work for our members.”
The border into Canada from the United States is scheduled to re-open on August 9th to fully vaccinated U.S. travellers.
Tara Clow is the news director with 91.9 The Bend in Moncton, a Huddle content partner.