PSAC Members Off the Job

News Item Entered: Wednesday, October 13, 2004

The following article is excerpted from the 12 & 13 October 2004 edition of “globeandmail.com”. Please note that Customs officers (referred to in the article as “customs agents”) are not on strike, but may be adopting work practices that slow border crossing.

It has just been announced that the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and numerous other government departments and agencies are on strike. The strike affects 80, 000 members in the Program and Administrative Services Group; 10,000 in the Operational Services Group; 10,000 in Technical Services, and 25,000 at the CRA.

The federal government slowly began hammering out agreements with legions of striking civil servants yesterday, as pickets blocked the entrance to public buildings across the country and striking customs agents slowed traffic across the border.

The labour turmoil climaxed when 120,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada entered a legal strike position at midnight Monday. They closed passport offices and prevented access to many federal offices, including those run by Revenue Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

With members employed in most areas of government, the public is likely to be impacted by the strike almost immediately. The strike will impact the payment of GST/Duty cheques, EDI, border crossings, and overall processing of shipments.

Please continue to access the CSCB web site page dedicated to strike information for updates, at: http://www.cscb.ca/strike/thelatest.htm