IARN — The Canadian border reopened to fully vaccinated, non-essential international travelers on Monday. However, Canadian border guards represented by the Customs and Immigration Union and the Public Service Alliance of Canada are threatening work-to-rule strike action, which could cause those crossing the border to face long waits.
Without a contract since 2017, Canadian border guards are in a legal strike position as of Friday, August 6th. Mark Weber, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said that long lines and slowdowns are certainly a possibly. Such slowdowns would certainly impact existing and essential supply chain transportation schedules. Weber added that, while most of the border guards are deemed essential service, there are some services that they would not be required to do in the event of a strike action.
“Not all are deemed essential,” Weber said. “The ones that are essential will have to go in to work to do their essential duties. So, those would be duties that involve the protection and safety of Canadians. Collecting duties and taxes and other functions are not things that they will have to do. Slowdowns are absolutely a possibility if we get to a strike position. But this is where we’re at. We need the employer to come sit down with us and actually talk and negotiate.”
“Pay is one issue,” Weber said. “We’ve seen what the RCMP have recently been offered, and we’re far from that, in terms of what we’ve been offered. The other important factors for us, to get ourselves better protections against harassment and discrimination, and create workplaces that we want to be in.”
The Customs and Immigration Union represents about 8,500 employees involved in Canadian border security and patrol duties.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
