In a victory for members at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) who have gone above and beyond to support Canadians during this pandemic, PSAC-UTE has reached a tentative agreement that provides fair wages, no concessions and improved working conditions.  

In addition to these successful talks, PSAC-UTE members will also be awarded a Phoenix damages settlement to compensate members for the pain and suffering caused by the broken pay system. Please see the UTE website for more on the Phoenix settlement signed with the CRA.

Wage settlement 

The PSAC-UTE bargaining team successfully secured fair wage increases and wage adjustment averaging at 2.07% per year.  

Total economic increases with full retroactivity: 

Economic increase breakdown 

PSAC-UTE members will receive the following wage increases: 

In addition to those wage increases, the following wage adjustments were also obtained: 

Lump sum payments 

• A one-time lump sum payment of $400 to each employee in the bargaining unit on the date of signing of the collective agreement
• A one-time payment of $500 in recognition of the extended collective agreement implementation deadline and an additional $50 for every subsequent 90-day delay

Term employees to become permanent after 3 years 

In tandem with our settlement at the bargaining table, the CRA has agreed with UTE to modify its term roll-over policy. Term employees will no longer have to wait 5 years for permanency. Term employees shall now be made permanent after 3 years of employment with the CRA. Further details will follow soon.

Other improvements

• New scheduling appendix for call centre employees: The CRA must now solicit volunteers for evening work during tax season and distribute such hours to volunteers on an equitable basis
• New article for call-centre employees: For the first time, the collective agreement establishes minimum standards of work for our members who work in call centres. This breakthrough provides five consecutive minutes off the phone per hour for these employees. In addition, the employer has agreed that call monitoring is to be used for guidance and feedback while a new joint union-management committee is to be established to ensure that fair and transparent guidelines are put in place with respect to call monitoring in CRA call centres
• New paid domestic violence leave of 10 days
• Inclusion of step-brother, step-sister, daughter-in-law and son-in-law in the definition of family
• Better language on return to work following a maternity or parental leave, giving more flexibility to parents who wish to change positions within the federal public service
• Improvements to parental leave pay
  • Updated language to match the new legislation including a new extended leave option and the sharing of parental leave
  • Expanded supplementary allowance for every week an employee is on extended or shared parental leave
  • Additional weeks for parents covered under the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, when both parents work in the public service
  • Update of language to account for new legislation reducing the waiting period for employment insurance to one week from two weeks
• Updated and improved language to match new legislation on compassionate care and caregiving leave
• Better language to allow the use of employer facilities for union activities, plus a written commitment from the CRA to continue discussions with the union on the issue of union access to the workplace
• Changes to workforce adjustment what represent the most significant improvements since it was first signed as an appendix in the collective agreement:
  • Reduction involuntary layoffs by allowing volunteers to come forward to leave the public service during times of workforce adjustment
  • Improvements to the alternation process
  • More union involvement, ensuring employees have the right to union representation during a WFA
  • Improvements to the monetary provisions, including the education allowance, the counselling allowance, and the transition support measure
• Increased flexibility for employees to submit vacation leave requests: The employer must now respond to employee vacation leave requests within fifteen days
• Increase in maternity related reassignment or leave qualification from 24 to 78 weeks following the birth of a child
• Broadening of the definition of family with the addition of a person who stands in place of a relative for:
  • Leave without pay for the care of the family
  • Bereavement leave
  • Leave with pay for family-related responsibilities
• There is no longer a cap of 7.5 hours for the employee to use family-related responsibilities leave to attend school functions
• Bereavement leave was formerly for seven consecutive calendar days. Now an employee can split it into two periods so that they can access some days at the time of death and other days at a later period (but within 12 months) for the purpose of attending a memorial or ceremony
• Ability to take a leave without pay for personal needs twice instead of once during the employee's total period of employment in the public service
• Expansion of travelling time eligible for overtime pay from twelve to fifteen hours
• An increase in meal allowance for overtime from $10 to $12
• A new leave provision for members elected to union leadership
• Expansion of leave with pay for employees involved in staffing processes
• Union member participation in collective bargaining and certain Labour Board proceedings no longer subject to operational requirements
• Expansion of bargaining unit information to be provided to union on a quarterly basis
• Extension of previous incentives for SP-04, SP-05 and SP-06 working at the Compensation Client Service Centres and performing duties that are directly linked to pay operations and transactions at the Agency (the MOU outside the collective agreement is extended to September 1, 2020 including one-time $4,000 incentive payment upon hiring and double overtime)
   

Full text and next steps 

We will share the final text and full details of the tentative agreement as soon as it becomes available. Shortly thereafter, PSAC-UTE members will be invited to participate in online ratification votes. Details about the votes will be shared as soon as possible. 

Our bargaining team unanimously recommends the ratification of the tentative agreement. 

To ensure that you receive all updates and can participate in the ratification process, please ensure that you have either updated your contact information on PSAC’s member portal, or that you create an account if you have not done so already.