Stephane LeBell (left) and Joey Dunphy (right) are just two CBSA union members fighting for a new contract and a better work-life balance. (Danielle McCreadie)
Canada Border Services Agency officers are asking for respect as they negotiate a new contract from the federal government.
Workers in New Brunswick held a rally in Saint John Tuesday afternoon outside the CBSA building on Canterbury Street.
Joey Dunphy, the third national vice-president for the Customs and Immigration Union, and a bargaining member, says CBSA officers have been without a contract for two years.
“That’s the new norm with the federal government,” he said. “Last time it took us four years to negotiate a contract.”
By the time the union had gotten to sign it, Dunphy explains it had already expired, pushing them right back into negotiations.
Dunphy says CBSA officers are technically law enforcement, and are the second largest force behind the RCMP. Yet he says they don’t get nearly the same amount of respect.
The union representing over 11,000 officers across the country, and 352 in New Brunswick, has been at the negotiating table with the Treasury Board of Canada for the past year.
Dunphy says some of the things they are asking for are paid meal breaks and a ’25 and out policy’, which would allow officers to retire without penalty after 25 years of service, something that he says is standard for law enforcement.
Above all else, they want respect.
“This is our first chance to negotiate with the new liberal minority government. We’ll see if they have a change of heart… and after that we’ll reassess, but we’re certainly going to start putting pressure on the government,” he said.
Dunphy says they’re also seeking additional protections against their employer after an incident of poor-taste “bragging” by the CBSA a few months ago, where the agency posted about disciplinary methods online.
“If you do this you get this many days of suspension, and they bragged that they’ve disciplined our members for over 1,100 days in the past year,” he explained.
I’m outside the Canada Border Service Agency building in Saint John, where workers are rallying in hopes of getting a new contract from the federal government. pic.twitter.com/HMiihfrm91
— Danielle McCreadie (@danimccreadie) January 7, 2020
Stephane LeBell, president of the union for N.B. and P.E.I., says constantly waiting for new contracts takes its toll physically, mentally and financially.
“It’s the waiting game that always takes a long time, and we don’t want that any more,” he said.
Dunphy and other union members had a meeting with MP Wayne Long Tuesday morning to discuss their growing concerns, which he says went very well.
Long says he’ll take their concerns back to Ottawa when the house sits later this month.
“I’ll be meeting with Minister Jean-Yves Duclos at Treasury Board, and I will be taking their case forward. I certainly support their asks. I think their asks are reasonable, it’s really not about wages. Really the fundamental line is a culture of respect from our government,” he said.
“It starts with communication, it starts with having dialogue, and it starts with an understanding with what they do. I don’t think a lot of Members of Parliament understand exactly the risks they take, the work they do, how they keep us safe day in and day out.”
Long promised to write the bargaining unit a letter of support, which Dunphy says they are “anxiously awaiting.”
The union heads back to negotiations with the Treasury Board in two weeks.
