BY CRAIG GILBERT
Hundreds of striking Public Service Alliance of Canada members are on the picket line outside the Canada Revenue Agency's office at Lasalle and Notre Dame.
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The 1,400 or so members of United Taxation Employees (UTE) Local 42, along with about 28,500 other PSAC members across the country, came into a legal strike position at midnight.
Their collective agreement expired Oct. 31 2003. Negotiations since then have failed to close the gap between sides.
The issue is wages.
The CRA is offering hikes of two per cent, 1.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent in each of the three years of the contract.
The union, in an effort to make up for the lack of a cost of living allowance in their contract language for the last 12 years, is ideally seeking eight per cent in each of the next three years: COLA plus 4.75 per cent in the first year and COLA plus 4.5 per cent in year two and three.
In a non-binding report released Aug. 31, an independent conciliator recommended wage increases of three per cent, 2.75 per cent and 2.5 per cent each year, respectively.
Union officials have indicated they will proceed with rotating strikes at CRA offices without warning. Keeping taxpayers in mind, they want to avoid a general strike if at all possible.
The unionized employees perform a variety of administrative functions, including handling tax returns, mail and sending out notices.
