Taxation employees get one year exemption from return to office

The Union for Taxation Employees (UTE) has received a 12-month exemption for a third of its employees from the Treasury Board's return-to-office policy which mandated federal employees work from their office two to three days a week.

Marc Brière, national president of the Union of Taxation Employees, who is fighting the return-to-office mandate on behalf of 36,000 employees at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), said part of the issue is the Treasury Board's hasty roll-out of the mandate. 

Brière said a lot of the offices didn't have the space or equipment to house the employees the union represents, many of whom work in the agency's call centre.

“There's maybe a bit less space because there's some officers that the lease expired,” said Brière on The Sam Laprade Show with guest host Derick Fage. “But mainly because of the growth of the number of employees in the call centre.”

In 2017, the Auditor General criticized the CRA for being understaffed, pushing the agency into a hiring blitz. The onset of the pandemic resulted in more hiring as the emergency benefits rolled out. 

Brière said the size of the call centre has tripled since 2020, making a return to the office impossible.

In late February, the Treasury Board granted the 12-month extension to about 8,000 of the UTE's employees working in the CRA's call centre. 

However, the Brière still believes the return-to-office should be cancelled for more members given the vast majority of those employees can carry out all of their duties from home.

“I think it's been proven that actually it's more effective people are more productive,” said Brière. “So we're looking for language in the collective agreement to recognize that.”