(Montreal) Unionized employees of the Canada Revenue Agency have voted for a strike mandate.
Members of the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which represent 35,000 public servants working at the CRA, voted “resolutely” in favor of the strike, the unions said on Friday.
ARC employees have been without a contract for over a year.
The PSAC said in a statement that a final round of bargaining has been set for April 17-20 between the union and the Canada Revenue Agency. CRA members are in a legal strike position on April 14, it has been reported.
“Our negotiating team is still trying to get a fair and equitable agreement, but if the CRA continues to drag and negotiate in bad faith, we are ready for anything, even to walk out,” said the PSAC on Twitter.
UTE National President Marc Brière clarified by email that the vote asked “whether or not our members agree to give us a strike mandate, including an indefinite general strike”.
As the “cost of living skyrockets,” PSAC National President Chris Aylward says the union “will not let the employer make the members any poorer.”