Canadian border staff to begin work-to-rule strike action starting Friday -union

FILE PHOTO: A general view of Canadian border checkpoints at the Canada-United States border crossing at the Thousand Islands Bridge, which remains closed to non-essential traffic to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada September 28, 2020. REUTERS/Lars Hagberg

(Reuters) -Almost 9,000 Canadian border staff will begin "work-to-rule" strike action starting on Friday, the union announced on Wednesday, days before Canada begins allowing fully vaccinated U.S. visitors in the country for the first time in 16 months.

Talks between two unions representing Canadian border guards and staff - the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) - and the federal government reached an impasse in December 2020, and the unions served the federal government on July 27 with a strike notice.