Summary: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Informatics (CFIA-IN) Group bargaining team is pleased to announce that on June 6, 2024, we reached a tentative agreement with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to conclude this round of collective bargaining. We believe we have reached the best deal possible in what has been a challenging round of negotiations.
Highlights of this tentative agreement include:
- four-year agreement expiring May 31, 2026
- wage increases totalling 14% over four years, compounded to 14.84%
- $2,500 one-time pensionable lump sum allowance to be paid to all employees in the bargaining unit on the date of signing of the collective agreement
- improvements to reporting pay
- increases to shift and weekend premiums
- the time required to receive 4 weeks of annual vacation leave has been reduced from 8 years to 7 years
- specific improvements to bereavement leave, care leave and family-related leave provisions
The tentative agreement also incorporates new language negotiated at the PIPSC Central Table, which include:
- new Letter of Agreement for Telework, strengthening the grievance process to address denied telework requests
- new Leave for Traditional Indigenous Practices
- new Memorandum of Understanding for Parental Leave
This agreement must now be ratified by the CFIA-IN Group membership. An electronic vote will be held to ratify this agreement. All regular members in good standing will receive the voting instructions by email.
We hosted an online information session on September 16 to provide more details on the agreement and give members like you an opportunity to ask questions before you vote.
Recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Cs6RdHJQBCA5smUtfXsUUly4P2e8zKd/view?usp=sharing
The voting will be open from September 23, 2024, at 9 am ET to October 3, 2024, at 5 pm ET. You will receive voting instructions via email. If you do not receive the voting ballot by September 24, 2024, please email Elizabeth Morin at emorin@pipsc.ca.
You will find all the information concerning the tentative agreement below. It is important that you review everything prior to voting and before asking questions to the Bargaining Team.
Please review the attached documents:
- CFIA-IN Summary of Changes
- CFIA-IN Tentative Agreement
- CFIA Central Table Summary of Changes
- CFIA Central Table Tentative Agreement
- Telework Letter of Agreement
A “Yes” vote means: You are accepting all the changes proposed in the tentative agreement. Those changes will take place at the date of the signing (except as otherwise noted) and the employer will implement them, including any retro pay, within 180 days after the signature of this agreement (up to 460 days for manual processing).
A “No” vote means: You reject the tentative agreement and instruct the CFIA-IN Group Bargaining Team to pursue further negotiations, with a high likelihood of heading to arbitration.
The CFIA-IN Group Bargaining Team believes we accomplished the best deal possible in what was a difficult round of negotiations.