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The federal government has struck a tentative deal with employees at Canada’s tax agency that will boost their wages 5.75 per cent and abolish controversial severance payments that other public servants had already lost.

Negotiators for the Canada Revenue Agency and the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) reached the deal early Friday morning after this week’s last-ditch marathon round of contract talks to avert a possible strike.

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“It was very long haul, longer than it should have been and we believe we did the best we could without going on strike. We didn’t want a strike and went as far as we could,” said UTE president Bob Campbell.

Campbell said the union is recommending its 29,000 members accept the deal in a ratification vote that will be held within six weeks.

The proposed 5.75 per cent raise will be paid over four years, retroactive to November 2012. The union also has the opportunity to re-open wage talks for 2014 and 2015 to negotiate bigger increases for those years. All employees will also receive a lump-sum $700 signing bonus.