The reopening of the Canada-U.S. border in August may not be as smooth as some are hoping for.
More than 8,500 Canada Border Services Agency workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
The employees are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU).
“This is not something that we want,” Mark Weber, CIU national president, said about the looming potential of strike action.
CBSA employees could potentially begin strike action as soon as Aug. 6 — three days before the Canadian border will be reopened to fully vaccinated U.S. citizens.
Weber said any sort of labour dispute could cause significant disruptions at the border, especially as it prepares to reopen.
“A slow-down of traffic and travellers is a possibility, courier and mail could be slowed down, there are a lot of different ways we could go,” he said. “Our strategy committee is talking about which direction we want to take or a little bit of all of them or it could be different at every port.”
Weber said one of the chief concerns for members is better protection against toxic workplace culture at CBSA, which he said is taking a heavy toll on the mental health and well-being of members.
“We work in some very toxic workplaces at the CBSA so we want better protections and better whistleblower protections for that,” he said.
CBSA has consistently been near the bottom of the Public Service Employee Survey for many years and has ranked highest in terms of incidents of discrimination, harassment and workplace violence, according to Weber.
Members are also seeking greater parity with other law enforcement agencies across Canada and a fair remote working policy for non-uniform members
Chris Aylward, PSAC national president, said now is the time for the government to step up for CBSA members the way they have stepped up for Canadians during the pandemic.
“We’ve told the government numerous times that we’re ready to return to the table to negotiate a fair contract that addresses our members’ concerns, but their window to avert a strike is quickly closing,” said Aylward.
