The unions representing more than 9,000 Canada Border Services Agency employees have ratified a four-year collective agreement that includes pension and benefits gains.

The agreement with, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Customs and Immigration Union, includes a pensionable $2,500 one-time, lump-sum payment for all employees upon the date of signing. For members approaching retirement, the pensionable lump sum payment will contribute to their average salary for their best five years of service and increase their overall pension payments in retirement. In addition, a new pensionable, annual allowance of $1,000 will be added for non-uniform employees.

Employees will now be able to access four weeks of vacation leave after seven years of employment instead of eight years, as well as expanded access to family-related responsibility and bereavement leave.

Read: Unions welcoming equitable pension reform for frontline public safety, law enforcement workers

The agreement also includes a letter of agreement that requires managers to assess remote work requests individually, not by group, and provide written responses that will allow workers and the PSAC to hold the employer accountable to equitable and fair decision-making on remote work. Members will also see wage increases totalling 14.8 per cent over four years — representing a compounded increase of 15.73 per cent — retroactive to June 2022.

In other news, the union representing more than 140 employees at the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel in Vancouver has ratified a three-year collective agreement that includes multiple benefits gains.

The agreement will see members receive an increase in vision coverage from $250 to $350, an increase in paramedical coverage from $500 to $750 and an increase in orthodontics from $2,000 to $3,000. In addition, the agreement recognizes the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Boxing Day as paid holidays.

Workers will also see wage increases between 22 per cent and 32 per cent over the course of the three-year agreement, depending on classification.

Read: Nestlé, Unifor agreement includes pension, benefits gains