New round of federal public service cuts coming this week
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/politics/story/2012/06/26/pol-public-service-cuts.html
Hundreds of federal public servants are expected to learn Wednesday whether they could lose their jobs.
Almost a dozen departments and agencies will be informing employees this week that their jobs have been declared "affected" because of budget cuts.
In its March budget, the federal government said 19,200 public service sector positions would be cut over the next three years in an effort to find government savings of $5.2 billion.
Thousands of employees have already received notices that their jobs are "affected" through previous waves of announcements that started soon after the budget. But several departments haven't yet announced how many jobs will be cut and employees have been anxiously awaiting news since March.
Some of the departments that will be announcing their cuts for the first time this week, or further cuts, include:
Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Fisheries Canada, Transport Canada, Industry Canada, Justice, National Defence, Infrastructure Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency.
Gary Corbett, head of one of the unions that represents public servants, said Tuesday he expects about 500 of his members to be given affected notices starting Wednesday. The unions are given 48 hours notice by the government. About 3,000 members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada union have already been given notices. Corbett said he expects rounds of cuts to continue to trickle out over several more months.
"I do not think it is the last round," he said. "I think there will probably be some more announcements over the summer."
Once it is decided how many positions are to be eliminated, employees may be declared "affected" and have to compete with their co-workers to keep one of the remaining jobs. Other employees are declared surplus right away.
Laid off employees, however, aren't necessarily off the payroll immediately. There are several options available to them through their union agreements. Efforts are made, for example, to place them elsewhere within the public service and it can take up to a year before an employee declared surplus might actually be out of work.
Stressful process
"This is a three-year budget remember, you won't see everything in the first year," Corbett said.
The union head said the competition process that some employees have been going through is stressful. Five people in one office may be fighting for three jobs, he said as an example.
"You can imagine what that does," said Corbett. "You might have had lunch with the person the day before and then all of a sudden you're a competitor for your future."
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, the other major union that represents federal public servants, also confirmed it is expecting news this week of more of its members being affected.
PSAC and PIPSC have filed grievances with the government, alleging that many departments are not living up to the terms negotiated in workforce adjustment agreements with the unions. The agreement allows for employees to swap jobs with non-affected employees who want to leave their jobs. It is up to managers to decide whether the job exchange is allowed.
The unions are saying that some departments are refusing to allow job exchanges or have failed to facilitate the option in the first place. The unions are encouraging employees whose requests have been denied to file grievances.