Offended, the Union of Taxation Employees, on strike, claims to have received a lesser offer from the Canada Revenue Agency than that which was presented to the 120,000 other members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada ( PSAC) who were negotiating with Treasury Board.
The Union of Taxation Employees is also affiliated with the PSAC. Its members are still on strike, unlike the four other groups of the Alliance, which reached an agreement in principle regarding the renewal of their collective agreements, on the night of Sunday to Monday. It represents 35,000 members.
During a press conference Wednesday in Ottawa, the national president of the Union of Taxation Employees, Marc Brière, said that his members were “insulted” and that they had interpreted the offer as a slap in the face. .
“Being treated like this, with disrespect, makes no sense. I can tell you that our members are insulted, are tired. I would even tell you that they are tired of waiting. They’ve waited long enough. And now is the time for it to stop. Today, the Revenue Agency must give us a fair contract, a contract that our members deserve for the work they are doing and that they have done during the pandemic, ”thundered Marc Brière.
Alongside him, PSAC National President Chris Aylward warned that if members of his affiliate union don’t get a better offer on the table soon, they will march to the Liberal Party of Canada convention.
“If that doesn’t happen, we’ll see tomorrow, we’ll go for a walk, pay a visit to the Liberal Party of Canada for its national convention which will take place tomorrow in Ottawa,” warned Mr. Brière.
If the strike still lasts, he fears a large backlog in the files that will not have been processed.
Asked to comment, the Public Affairs Branch of the Canada Revenue Agency did not confirm that the CRA’s offer was lower than that which the Treasury Board presented to the other members of the Alliance of the public service of Canada. But she didn’t deny it either.
“We are at the negotiating table with the union and we are working tirelessly to reach an agreement that is fair for the employees and reasonable for the taxpayers,” she replied.
The PSAC groups concerned by the agreement in principle that has been reached with the Treasury Board will have to decide on it in the coming days.
On another note, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), which represents small and medium-sized businesses, has outright called for the passage of special legislation to end the strike at the Canada Revenue Agency .
“SME owners are worried not only about the difficulty of accessing services and the deadlines to be met, but also about the cost of public service wage agreements,” the employers’ federation said in a press release.