As the summer travel season arrives, Canadians and visitors may find themselves boundary — The delays could also deal a blow to the economy.
It all depends on the underlying strike By workers Canada Border Services Agencywhich could start as early as Thursday.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada has more than 9,000 members. Canada Border Services AgencyWorkers, including border guards, have been given a strike authorization. The two sides will mediate on June 3 and the union will go on strike on June 6.
The union said similar action three years ago “nearly brought cross-border commercial traffic to a standstill, causing severe delays at airports and borders across the country”.
But the Treasury Committee said 90 per cent of frontline border officers were designated as essential staff, meaning they could not stop working during the strike.
So how destructive will a strike be?
Union members can adopt a work-by-rule approach, whereby employees must strictly complete their work in accordance with the terms of the contract.
Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University's business school, said that means border crossings could take much longer than usual. Not only would that cause problems for tourists, he said, it would also disrupt the economy, as $2.5 billion worth of goods cross the border every day.
“Staff working in essential service positions must provide uninterrupted border services. They cannot follow the rules or deliberately slow down border processing,” the Finance Commission said.
A spokesman said the border agency would discipline workers “who engage in unlawful work practices”.
But Lee noted that border agents have broad discretion in asking questions. He said it was unclear how the government could argue that guards “violated the law by using their full discretion and authority.”
Stephanie Ross, an associate professor of labor studies at McMaster University, said there are logistical barriers to government action. She noted that working by the book means strictly adhering to job responsibilities.
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“People do their job. How do you punish people who follow procedures?”
Ross said working by the book is very effective.
She said because border officials are following strict rules and regulations, it could take people an extra 10 minutes to cross the border, “which could create a huge chaos that would be exacerbated by the thousands of individuals, semi-trailers and various vehicles coming into Canada.”
What do CBSA employees want?
Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which is part of PSAC, said working by the book could cause chaos, but the union “is not there yet.”
Weber said union members want pay parity with other law enforcement agencies and will compare pay to first-class Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.
The CBSA is also short thousands of staff, and the union wants those vacancies to be filled by permanent employees rather than replaced by contract workers.
Other issues include protections around pension benefits and “harsh discipline,” Weber said.
Another concern for unions is that technology will take over jobs that officers would otherwise do, as has been the case with self-service kiosks that have popped up at Canadian airports.
Weber said the CBSA is “trying to set up a self-checkout system at the border, like you would see at a grocery store.”
He said this amounted to “waiting for smugglers to self-declare without the presence of police officers, which is very concerning from a national security perspective”.
This is linked to the fight by public service unions for work-from-home arrangements.
What do the new civil service regulations have to do with border guards?
In response to Ottawa's recent announcement that federal employees will have to work in the office at least three days a week starting in September, the Public Service Union said the new policy will spark “a whole summer of discontent.”
That includes a CBSA strike, said then-PSAC president Chris Aylward, who told an earlier news conference, “The government has to be prepared for discontent throughout the summer. Whatever it looks like, whether it's at the border, whether it's at the airport.”
Weber said remote working is a key issue for the union, which wants to include home working in the collective agreement, with more than 2,000 of its members either currently or previously working remotely, including during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the government had previously promised to set up a panel and consult on work-from-home arrangements, but later broke its promise and announced that everyone would be required to work three days a week.
That means unions will be skeptical if the government simply offers another letter of understanding. “What's the value of that?” Weber said.
“We remain at the negotiating table and committed to reaching an agreement that is fair for employees and reasonable for Canadian taxpayers,” Martin Potvin, a spokesman for the Treasury Board, said in a statement.
“By working together to negotiate in good faith, we are confident that we can reach an agreement quickly.”
Weber said the government has the power to “propose a contract to avoid a strike. We are ready to sit down and negotiate a fair contract.”
Ross said there is always some posturing before a strike, but the 96 percent vote in favor of a strike was “very strong.”
She noted that many of the issues were the same as when the union went on strike in 2021.
“If we think about it in the long term, there's reason to believe that the situation at CBSA has been getting worse, and that makes the mobilisation we're seeing on the union side all the more serious.”
Workers have been negotiating for two years without a collective agreement, Ross noted, meaning “they are very frustrated about the lack of pay.”
She said both sides are now waiting to see which side is willing to make concessions.
She said the government may not believe unions “are sufficiently organised and united to deliver on this damaging work regulation”.
“But they might find out. All of us might find out.”
