Feds Reach Tentative Deal with Border Guards
WASHINGTON — The federal government has reached a tentative agreement with the union that represents Canada's border agents.
The deal, announced late Friday night after more than 30 straight hours of mediated talks, comes after a daylong work-to-rule campaign that spawned long lineups at the country's busiest border crossings.
It also comes just days before the Canada Border Services Agency is to begin easing COVID-19 travel restrictions on fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada's Customs and Immigration Union, which represents some 9,000 CBSA employees, had been without a long-term contract since 2018.
About 90 per cent of front-line border workers are classified as essential employees, a designation that prevents them from walking off the job.
Instead, the union launched a broad series of job actions early today at Canadian airports, land borders, commercial shipping ports, postal facilities and office locations.
The four-year agreement covers the previous three years the group has been without a contract and expires in June 2022.
It includes:
- An average annual increase of over 2% per year.
- Better protections against excessive discipline in the workplace.
- The creation of a National Joint Committee to tackle workplace culture problems at CBSA.
- A paid meal allowance for uniformed members, similar to what most Canadian law enforcement agencies provide.
- A commitment letter to advance the work toward the introduction of early retirement benefits for CBSA employees.
- A better grievance-handling process.
- Domestic violence leave.
- Other leave and allowance improvements.
— The Canadian Press.