Members Urging Federal Government to Act on High Gas Prices

You can support our RSMC members who are feeling the squeeze at the gas pump!

RSMCs and some of our private sector courier members are taking the hit for today’s high gas prices, as part of the increased cost of doing their job. This burden does not belong on the individual worker.

What is the issue?

RSMCs are currently compensated for their mileage up to the CRA cap for non-taxable automobile allowances for 2022. That cap was set in December 2021, based on November 2021 inflation figures. But inflation has changed in 2022, and gas prices are off the charts. The only way to get better compensation for our members – without it all becoming taxable – is to have CRA increase the cap on an emergency basis.

RSMC members in British Columbia created a petition to urge the federal government to do just that, and Lisa Marie Barron, MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, has sponsored it.

The petition already has thousands of signatures and is open until June 10.

It is within the federal government’s reach to act and get RSMCs some immediate financial relief. Please encourage your members to sign the petition at: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4007

Once that’s done, we can work on longer-term solutions – including putting the burden of gas prices onto employers, where it belongs, instead of on individual workers.

This is not just an issue today. It’s not the first time that we’ve seen critically elevated gas prices, and it won’t be the last. The onus belongs on employers to improve energy efficiency system wide. Workers should not pay the price for the whims of the global energy market, especially when it cuts into our earnings as a cost of performing our jobs.

In solidarity,