PSAC-UTE filed for a Public Interest Commission in January – February 4, 2019

At the end of the last bargaining session with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) the PSAC/UTE bargaining team declared impasse and filed for the creation of a Public Interest Commission with the Public Service Labour Relations Board.

Bargaining commenced with the Agency in June of last year. At the outset of negotiations, and in every session since, the union made clear to the CRA the key priorities for this round of negotiations:

• Protections against excessive term employment, along with more permanent jobs and income security.
• Protections against the expansion of shift work, as well as new rights for employees scheduled to work evenings.
• Increased work-life balance, with an emphasis on improved access to leave.
• Improved conditions for call centre workers, including scheduling rights and better protections.
• Union rights in the workplace, consistent with what other federal employers have agreed to.

The bargaining team reiterated these priorities again during the January 2019 bargaining session.

PSAC-UTE also tabled a wage proposal in early December that would ensure fair increases that keep up with the cost of living. However, the CRA stated that it would not table a wage position at the January bargaining session.

The union agreed to meet with the CRA all the same in attempt to resolve the other key non-wage priorities listed above. Despite the fact that other federal employers have agreed to improvements in almost all of these key areas since the last contract with CRA was settled in 2016, the CRA provided zero indication that it would address these issues over the last seven months of negotiations.

For example, even though there are term employees who have worked for many years at the CRA without ever being made permanent, the CRA has said that it will not discuss the matter. Meanwhile, throughout all bargaining sessions, the CRA has continued to insist that the union give up worker rights that have existed in the collective agreement for decades.

The bargaining team is looking for improvements in this round of negotiations, not steps backwards.

Given this lack of flexibility on the part of the CRA, PSAC/UTE filed for impasse with the Labour Board. Bargaining began seven months ago and the union believes it’s time to proceed to the next step in the process. PSAC-UTE awaits news from the Labour Board.

Be sure to go to ute-sei.org and psacunion.ca to see what PSAC-UTE has proposed, for more information, and to subscribe to regular updates. Also, should you have any questions, please contact your UTE Local President.

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CRA fails to respond to union wage proposal and other key concerns; continues to insist on concessions – January 25, 2019

The PSAC-Union of Taxation Employees (PSAC-UTE) bargaining team met with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on January 21-24 to continue negotiations for a new collective agreement.

The team tabled a wage proposal two months ago that would ensure fair increases that keep up with the rising cost of living. However, the CRA opted not to make a wage counterproposal this week, and told the bargaining team it had no mandate to table anything beyond what was offered by Treasury Board in bargaining with PSAC.

Since the outset of bargaining, moreover, the PSAC-UTE bargaining team identified key issues that needed to be resolved in this round, including: evening & shift work, excessive term employment, work/life balance in call centres and job security. No serious progress has been made on any these issues, despite the fact that other federal employers have agreed to improvements in almost all of these areas since PSAC-UTE settled the last contract with CRA.

Negotiations began last June, and since then, little of substance has been accomplished, while the CRA continues to ask us for concessions.

In bargaining, the union provided the CRA with numerous examples of problems, from employees being forced to work evenings and nights to term employees spending years working for CRA and never being offered the opportunity to achieve permanency, while new hires get permanent jobs. The CRA has responded with either outright rejection of the solutions we proposed or, in some cases, it countered with proposals to make things worse. For example, it tabled a proposal that would give management the ability to schedule employees for even longer hours against their will.

On term employment, the lack of permanent jobs and other staffing concerns, the CRA won’t even discuss these at the table. As for call centres, the CRA’s proposals would not provide for significant improvements for members.

PSAC-UTE is determined to achieve a fair contract, one that protects hard fought gains and provides new rights and protections to members. PSAC-UTE members deserve to be treated with respect.

Given this lack of progress in negotiations, PSAC-UTE is declaring impasse and moving to the next step in the bargaining process prescribed by law—the establishment of a Public Interest Commission.

Under the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Act, either party may ask for the establishment of a Public Interest Commission (PIC) in the event that the parties reach impasse and are unable to reach an agreement. A PIC consists of a Chair named by the Labour Board and one representative from each side (union and employer). Once the Commission is created, its representatives set dates for a hearing in which both parties submit arguments and documentation in support of their respective positions. The PIC then issues a recommendation for settlement. The recommendation is non-binding. A PIC is not an arbitration board.

Be sure to go to www.ute-sei.org and www.psacunion.ca to see what PSAC-UTE has proposed, for more information, and to subscribe to regular updates. Also, should you have any questions, please contact your UTE Local President.

We will be sure to provide updates as things progress.

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CRA Bargaining: PSAC and UTE table wage proposals; agency fails to respond to member concerns – December 7, 2018

The PSAC/UTE bargaining team met with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on December 3-6 to continue negotiations for a new collective agreement. While there was considerable discussion on several matters of concern to our members, Agency representatives did not respond with meaningful counterproposals.

Click here to see the wage proposals we made to the agency.

The PSAC/UTE wage proposal aims to: (1) Achieve fair annual wage increases that exceed current inflationary trends; and (2) Introduce a market adjustment that would close the gap between CRA workers and their former co-workers at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) was a government agency that was split into the CRA and CBSA in December 2003. Over time, this led to vastly divergent pay for workers doing similar work in each organization. PSAC/UTE believes CRA workers deserve to be compensated fairly. Agency representatives committed to providing a response to the union wage proposal at the next bargaining session in January.

Key concerns still not addressed 

The PSAC/UTE bargaining team also reiterated previously tabled priorities for this round of bargaining:

• Increased work-life balance, with an emphasis on improved access to leave.
• Improved conditions for call centre workers, including scheduling rights and better protections.
• Protections against excessive term employment, along with more permanency and job security.
• Protections against the expansion of shift work, as well as new rights for employees scheduled to work evenings.
• Union rights in the workplace, consistent with what other federal employers have agreed to.

While there was some constructive discussion around call centres and family-related leave, the CRA ultimately provided little of substance in response to the bargaining team’s various proposals. The only progress made during this session pertained to some ‘housekeeping’ matters.

The bargaining team is scheduled to return to the table the week of January 21. PSAC and UTE are calling on the CRA to return to the table in January ready to address these key concerns for our members.

Be sure to go to ute-sei.org and psacunion.ca for more information and to subscribe for regular updates. Should you have any questions, please contact your UTE Local President.

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CRA Bargaining: PSAC and UTE push for job security and new protections – October 26, 2018

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PSAC Dental Plan Arbitration – October 2nd, 2018

After lengthy negotiations and an arbitration process, PSAC has won a major victory for the Public Service Dental Care Plan, which will result in substantial improvements for your coverage.

“The government dragged this process out by trying to get us to accept reduced coverage for our members,” said Chris Aylward, National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. “But our position has always been that our members deserve better, and I’m very pleased that the arbitration panel agreed with us.”

The major highlight is a 47% increase to the annual maximum for routine and major services. The current maximum of $1,700 per year will gradually increase to $2,500 per year as follows:

• $2,000 per year starting on January 1, 2019;
• $2,250 per year starting on January 1, 2020; and
• $2,500 per year starting on January 1, 2021.

Additionally, as of January 1, 2019, the following changes will be made:

• Dental implants will be covered. Implants had been partially covered by deeming them to be another procedure (i.e. bridge or denture). This would often lead to gaps in (or problems with) coverage. They are now covered in their own right.
• Coverage for replacement fillings for children will be possible 12 months after the initial filling was done (instead of 24).
• Congenitally missing teeth will be covered until age 21 (up from 19).
• Coverage during suspensions is improved.
• An allowable break in service to become eligible for the plan is extended from 5 to 7 days. Ability to have coverage for extra scaling approved retroactively. Currently, this may only be approved going forward.

The full text of the new dental plan will be posted online in the near future.

The government made a large number of proposals to the arbitration panel that sought to weaken the dental plan. Very few of them were accepted and the ones that were accepted are small and have a very minor impact on plan members. These are:

• Charges for oral hygiene instructions will now be limited to once per lifetime per adult (and remain once per year for children).
• Coverage is eliminated for minor issues such as:
  • The assistance of a second oral surgeon.
  • Dental professional peer consultation.
  • Trauma control if done at the same time as treatment for caries or pain control.
  • Enlargement of the canal or pulp chamber as a part of dental treatment separate from doing a root canal.

Any other proposals that are not mentioned above will remain status quo without change.

For further details please visit the PSAC National Website.

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UTE Bargaining Update – September 11-13th, 2018

Our PSAC/UTE Bargaining Team met with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on September 11-13 to continue negotiations for a new collective agreement. While some matters were resolved with respect to leave without pay and leave for staffing processes, the CRA spent considerable time focusing on employer proposals.

We again pointed out to the Agency that we are interested in improvements for PSAC/UTE members at CRA, and will not take steps backwards. With respect to our key issues, we again reiterated that the following matters need to be resolved:

1. Precarious work: CRA has one of the worst track records in the public service when it comes to term and student employment.
2. Hours of work: Issues have arisen around hours of work, with employees being increasingly scheduled for evening work.
3. Call centres: Many problems that require resolving within call centres.
4. Work-life balance: Staffing issues and increased work-life balance.

We will be tabling wage proposals at a future date, once we have had the opportunity to fully discuss our non-economic proposals and have employer payroll data. We are scheduled to resume negotiations October 22nd. We’ll be sure to provide updates as we progress.

As always, membership solidarity and support are the key to us achieving a fair contract. Together, we can make CRA a better place to work.

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UTE Bargaining Update – June 21, 2018 & July 6, 2018

Our PSAC/UTE Bargaining Team met with the CRA on June 20^th and 21^st to commence negotiations for a new collective agreement (as our current agreement expired on October 31, 2016). Our Team made clear to the agency that, while the union is ready to negotiate in good faith, we are not interested in steps backwards for our members and are looking to achieve improvements in this round of bargaining.

We exchanged our non-wage-related proposals with the Agency. A copy of our proposals and those of the employer can be found here. We will be tabling wage proposals at a future date once we have received and analyzed employer payroll data. Some of the highlights of our proposals of particular interest to the Hamilton local include:

• Employees in Call Centers who are required to staff the telephone lines be entitled to additional rest periods of 5 minutes per hour.
• Employees working in a temporary position for three (3) years, or in concurrent temporary positions for three (3) years, shall be offered a permanent position. The hours associated with the position shall be consistent with the hours of the temporary position held at the time of conversion.

We held further negotiations from July 3rd to 5th. Topics discussed included:

• Increasing work-life balance for our members.
• Vacation scheduling
• Poor working conditions in call centres
• Excessive term employment
• Evening and shift work

Further negotiations are now scheduled for September. We’ll be sure to provide updates as we progress. As always, membership solidarity and support are the key to us achieving a fair contract. Together we can make CRA a better place to work.

Be sure to go to www.ute-sei.org and www.psacunion.ca for more information and to subscribe for regular updates. Also, should you have any questions please contact your UTE Local President.