About 9,000 Canadian Border Service Agency workers are preparing to begin job action across the country today and say travellers should expect long lineups and lengthy delays at border crossings and airports.
Posted Aug 06, 2021, 06:15AM EDT
About 9,000 Canadian Border Service Agency workers are preparing to begin job action across the country today and say travellers should expect long lineups and lengthy delays at border crossings and airports.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada and its Customs and Immigration Union, which represent the workers, served a strike notice to the government on Tuesday.
If a contract isn’t reached by 6 a.m. Eastern Time Friday morning, the union has said its members will begin a “sweeping” series of actions at Canadian airports, land borders, commercial shipping ports, postal facilities and headquarters locations.
Ninety per cent of frontline border workers have been identified as essential so they will continue to offer services, if there is a strike, said the CBSA, in an email.
The CBSA “will respond quickly to any job action/work disruption in order to maintain the safety and security of our border, ensure compliance with our laws, and keep the border open to legitimate travellers and goods,” said spokesperson Jacqueline Callin.
The dispute comes as Canada is preparing to allow fully vaccinated Americans to visit without having to quarantine starting Aug. 9 and will open the country’s borders to travellers from other countries with the required doses of a COVID-19 shot on Sept. 7.
