Workers at ports of entry across Canada will remain on the job Friday afternoon, averting a strike as union leadership and the government have extended mediation until Wednesday.
The Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) said in a post to social media Friday just after 4 p.m. ET that job action involving Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) workers is on hold.
“Picket lines will not be in place until further notice. Stand by for further details,” the union said.
Over 9,000 workers could be part of any eventual job action. They include employees at airports, and land and marine ports of entry.
Parties have been in mediation since Monday and the union had set the 4 p.m. deadline.
The CIU is affiliated with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
Workers are in a legal strike position but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’d walk out after the deadline passes.
About 90 per cent of workers represented by the union are deemed essential, the CBSA said in a statement. That means they must continue to do their jobs, but are free to participate in job action outside their working hours.
The union and CBSA have been in a mediation process this week. Workers were in a legal strike position starting Thursday.
As part of any job action, work to rule is a strong possibility, an associate professor says.
“You can create tremendous lineups of those trucks and tremendous lineups of people,” said Ian Lee of the Sprott School of Business at Ottawa’s Carleton University. “It’ll be very, very disruptive if they do work-to-rule because so many people cross that border every day.”
The union has noted job protections, pensions and automation as issues at the bargaining table. But they’re also looking to secure wage parity with other law enforcement agencies, as well as the “25 and out” retirement provision.