Canadian border workers to vote on 4-year tentative deal for next 2 weeks
CBC
Thursday marks the start of two weeks of scheduled ratification voting for Canada's border workers.
Votes can be cast until July 4 at 12 p.m. ET. All sessions are online.
Last week, a tentative four-year deal was reached during mediated talks between the federal government and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Customs Immigration Union (CIU).
There are approximately 9,000 unionized border workers in the country spread across the various port of entries.
After voting concludes on July 4, Patrick Bragg, spokesperson for PSAC, says he expects results shouldn't take too long and will be made available in the afternoon.
The tentative contract is retroactive by two years and starts from June 2022.
Union officials say, if approved by the membership, the deal would see a 14.8 per cent pay increase. And that rise jumps closer to 15.7 per cent when you factor in compounded increases over the length of the pact — surpassing recent gains from other law enforcement agencies in Canada.
The contract also includes a one-time pensionable lump sum payout of $2,500 when the deal is inked — as well as improvements to things like shift premiums, scheduling, leave, vacation eligibility, voluntary telework and greater protections around technological changes.
With the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives neck and neck heading into election day on Saturday, there are also a record number of Independent candidates who — if voted in — could hold the balance of power in a minority government scenario. British Columbians have only elected one Independent MLA in the last 60 years. Vicki Huntington won a seat in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013. But University of the Fraser Valley political scientist Hamish Telford said the situation could be different this election cycle. Of the 40 Independent candidates running, six of them are incumbent MLAs, who carry the benefit of name recognition in their community. "So we've got Independents in this election who I think we could deem to be viable shots at actually winning a riding, which is not normal," Telford said. "They're still long shots, but they are certainly plausible candidates."
Though Bill C-282 has received cross-party federal support in Ottawa, Alberta's provincial government says it's not a backer of the Bloc Québécois legislation that aims to prevent Canada's supply-managed sectors — dairy, poultry and eggs — from being included in future international trade negotiations.
A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder and 15 others are facing criminal charges for allegedly running a drug-trafficking operation that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Canada and used violence — including murder — to achieve the group's goals, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.