The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has ensured itself of close to three years of labour peace with most employees after reaching a contract agreement with its largest union.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada has announced that its members have ratified a new four-year contract with the agency that runs to the end of 2011.
The last contract expired at the end of 2007 and some CFIA watchers including former president Ron Doering had speculated that a strong PSAC campaign on the food safety issue and the need for more inspectors may have been a negotiating tactic.
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The new agreement does not deal with the issue of hiring more inspectors although the government has said more hiring is planned. In fact, the contract appears to anticipate job losses at CFIA.
However, the union said the contract contained no concessions and some gains despite the bad economic times.
It said a major victory ending a 41-year bargaining battle was to establish national rates of pay for tradespeople employed by CFIA. Previously, pay rates varied across the country by region.
The agency also strengthened the program that tries to find jobs for employees facing layoffs from CFIA.
Union members receive a retroactive 2.3 percent pay increase for last year and 1.5 percent this year and in each of the next two years.
In a statement announcing the deal, national PSAC president John Gordon said the “current political and economic climate” made the negotiation a tough one for union negotiators. “Their efforts won them a collective agreement that contains no concessions and some key improvements.”
