74th BC/Yukon-RC - Victoria CRA Branch President’s Report

The collective agreement between CRA and the AFS group was signed on Mar. 29, 2018 after over three years of bargaining. It was a four-year agreement for 7.5% for all AFS members, there were also 30 other changes and improvements in the collective agreement and no concessions.

We had a joint AGM with the Victoria AFS Subgroup and had four executive meetings this past year. The major topics of discussion was bargaining and ratification of the tentative agreement.

I am part of the Regional Union Management Committee and we meet four times a year with the CRA’s Regional Assistant Commissioner to discuss various topics including:

Non-advertised staffing,

Conflict of interest guidelines,

Discipline investigations,

Regional staffing strategy, and

Phoenix pay system.

The Phoenix pay system continued to cause headaches and frustration to our members as members are paid too little or too much. Some of the known errors are incorrect acting pay, over deduction of superannuation and union dues, bilingualism bonus not paid, incorrect amount of BC MSP premiums, etc. The federal government estimates it will be another six years before the Phoenix pay system will be fixed. Our members cannot wait that long, it is time to Nix Phoenix, so that we get paid correctly and on time. 

Unauthorized access and disclosure of taxpayer information and the potential consequences remains an important issue.  In the past year, there have been PIPSC members involved in unauthorized access or disclosure of taxpayer information.  Most of these involve members with long service. If you are unsure of what it authorized, please consult with your local stewards.

Our branch participated in the Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie event with the Victoria Branch in support of the PIPSC’s Better Together campaign. Better Together promotional material was handed out and provided key messages about being involved in the union and the importance of the union.

I would like to thank the Victoria CRA Branch executive and all of our stewards for their hard work and dedication.

Phil Choo

Victoria CRA Branch President