The Canadian government says the deadline to file your taxes is staying put at May 1, as a potential strike by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) looms.
On Friday, members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada – Union of Taxation Employees (PSAC-UTE), the union representing CRA workers, entered a legal strike position, preparing to go on strike if an agreement is not reached.
In a statement released March 31, the CRA and the PSAC-UTE said they agreed to meet to resume negotiations and possibly reach a new collective agreement between April 17 and 20.
If a deal is not reached, 35,000 CRA employees will hit the picket lines, in addition to over 120,000 other Public Service Alliance of Canada federal workers who entered a strike position as of Wednesday.
“Our members are falling further behind as inflation soars and wages are stuck in neutral,” National President of the Union of Taxation Employees, a component of PSAC, Marc Brière said in a strike mandate notice released April 7.
“We’ve negotiated in good faith, but our members have had enough. Our bills are mounting, and our families are feeling the pinch. And now, we’re going to show the government that workers won’t wait,” he added.
In the event of a strike, the CRA expects certain services to be delayed or unavailable.
“We anticipate there may be delays in processing some income tax and benefit returns, particularly those filed by paper, and increased wait times in our contact centres,” the agency said in a statement.
The CRA says benefit payments would be prioritized and the Canada child benefit would continue to be processed if a strike were to happen.
Despite the circumstances, they are encouraging Canadians to file their taxes as soon as possible, as they say every year.
