Strike votes for over 9,000 workers at Canada Border Services Agency will begin next week.
Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) who work at CBSA will be conducting a strike vote across the country starting April 10.
The two union's last agreement expired in June 2022, and have been negotiating ever since. PSAC then declared an impasse in bargaining in September 2023 after CBSA refused to budge on key issues like wages in line with other law enforcement agencies, better job security, access to telework, and protections from contracting out.
While strike votes are underway, PSAC and CBSA are proceeding to Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearings on April 10 and April 22 with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.
Following the PIC hearings, the commission will release its non-binding recommendations to reach an agreement. If members vote in favour of a strike mandate, PSAC will be in a legal strike position seven days after the board releases its report.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Mark Weber, Customs and Immigration Union National President, says there's been no movement.
"Our employer tends to drag it out, and drag it out, and say no to absolutely everything at the bargaining table until we force the issue, which we're going to be having strike votes coming up very quickly, and hopefully we can get to that soon."
He says job security is a key bargaining issue.
"The CBSA's general approach to discipline is very heavy-handed, it leads to very toxic workplaces, so we do need better protections for our workers from harassment, abuse of authority and such from management."
Weber says their last strike in 2021 - which lasted only one day - showed their strength in standing together.
"As we saw from our last round of bargaining, what we were able to do on August 6, 2021 was really an unprecedented work-to-rule campaign by us that did cause major delays at our borders, and really showed the strength of our membership and what we could do when we work together."
Weber adds that there has been no movement at all from the company, and have been told 'no' to basically all key issues.
The strike votes will be taking place between April 10 and May 15.
If members do strike, Weber says a 'good percentage' of them will still need to report for duty.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides