Hours after the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) work-to-rule strike began on Friday, a tentative agreement was reached between the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which represents the CBSA employees, and the Treasury Board of Canada, representing the federal government. While the deal still needs to undergo ratification, further CBSA labor disruptions are not expected, and the flow of border traffic will return to normal.
According to the PSAC, “highlights of the tentative agreement include:
- A four-year agreement from 2018-2022 with 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.”
