News release

April 8, 2004

Food Inspection workers in favour of strike action

OTTAWA – Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) voted 89% in favour of strike action if the current negotiations don't produce a settlement. The PSAC represents 4,000 workers at the CFIA.

The strike vote was held across the country from March 8 to April 8, 2004. For PSAC National President Nycole Turmel, the result clearly demonstrates the level of frustration of CFIA employees.

“It’s high time CFIA management gets serious about reaching a negotiated settlement” said Turmel. “Our members are very frustrated by the pace of negotiations, the employer's tactics and the wage offer of 1% per year for three years. We hope management is now ready to listen to the members’ message.”

The negotiations started a year ago and so far there is no significant progress on major issues. Salaries and working conditions at CFIA continue to be significantly behind those with Treasury Board and other federal employers.

For the President of the PSAC Agriculture Union, Yves Ducharme, CFIA management will have to make serious efforts if they want to solve the pending issues.

"CFIA workers are struggling hard to protect Canadians during crises such as the avian flu and mad cow disease, which inundated our food system," says Ducharme. "Our members continue to work with pride and professionalism despite the enormous burdens placed on them. We demand that their value be recognized at the negotiating table."

Among other outstanding issues, Ducharme cited vacation leave, care and nurturing leave, parental leave, personal and volunteer leaves, and maternity related reassignment or leave and many more.

For Ducharme, CFIA’s refusal to grant the union’s demands on those issues is especially galling as some of these benefits are rights under federal law.

“Our union negotiating team will return to the table with a very strong mandate in support of our demands. If the employer is not prepared to actually start negotiating, we will look seriously at requesting a Conciliation board.”

Talks with the Agency are scheduled to resume on April 19 with a Conciliation officer.

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For information: Joselito Calugay, PSAC Communications (613) 560-4235

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