Border inspectors can't keep their pants up

It's not easy being a customs inspector with the Canada Border Services Agency.

You're considered Canada's first line of defence against international terrorism, but they won't allow you to carry a firearm.

You perform many of the same duties as your counterparts in the United States, but you make significantly less money.

And if you work at the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, they make you work in quarters so small that you have to take off your belt just to fit inside.

Seriously.

That's the scenerio described this week at a meeting of the Joint International Bridge Authority (JIBA) at the Ramada Plaza Ojibway Hotel in the Michigan Soo.

The customs booths on the Canadian side are just three feet wide, and Canada Border Services Agency has formally advised bridge officials that ergonomic standards require them to be five feet across.

One problem, JIBA members were told, is that some of our border guards can't get into or out of the booths unless they remove their equipment-laden belts.

There was a hand-over of leadership at this week's JIBA meeting, but the Canadian Government's request got sympathy from neither the incoming or outgoing chair.

The bridge authority did agree to expedite a US$150,000 electrical upgrade at the main Canada Customs building at the bridge.

But JIBA took no action on the request for bigger booths to help our customs inspectors keep belts firmly fastened and their pants up.

'Give them an axe,' says Jim McIntyre

"What's ergonomic about three feet versus five feet?" asked outgoing chair Shannon Brower.

"Give them an axe. Let them come in from above," quipped former Ontario Sault Mayor Jim McIntyre, elected this week as JIBA's new chair.

JIBA says it's a much bigger job than just putting in wider booths, because the traffic configurations will have to be changed, with room left for just three lanes, not the existing four.

McIntyre pointed out that won't be any problem at all, because in 40 years of crossing the bridge, only once has he ever seen all four lanes actually being used.

Building replacement expected by 2011, possibly earlier

McIntyre believes the dissatisfaction of Canadian border inspectors has as much to do with their difficulties getting a collective agreement as with their working environment.

He compared the situation to his experience during negotiation years at Algoma Steel, when a multitude of grievances evaporated as soon as a contract was signed.

In any case, JIBA is already proceeding to develop a plan to replace the Canada Customs building by 2011 or possibly earlier.

Canada Border Services Agency has recently advised bridge officials that it needs the new booths immediately, and that work stoppages are possible.

Uncertainty over truck route

But JIBA officials are worried that the costly booth renovations may be rendered redundant by the larger building project, although they're been told that the booths may be used as movable components in any new design.

Bridge officials are also concerned about the need to acquire new land for a truck marshalling area, and about the unresolved effect that the new truck route may have on bridge traffic configurations. JIBA member Gerald Johnston said it's important to sit down with stakeholders to reassure them that there are plans to improve working conditions at the border.