Federal union hears ‘persistent rumours’ of new office mandate for public servants

Union leaders are calling on the Treasury Board to confirm if it plans to have all public servants in-office 5 days a week by 2027. CTV’s Stefan Keyes reports.

A federal union is calling on the president of the Treasury Board to confirm whether the federal government is considering a new return-to-office directive requiring public servants to be in the office more days a week.

The federal government’s hybrid work rules require public servants in the core public administration to be in the office a minimum of three days per week, while executives are expected to be on-site a minimum of four days a week. The rules apply to all employees in the core public service.

In a letter to Treasury Board president Shafqat Ali, sent on Friday, the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) said the union has heard “persistent rumours of an imminent new return-to-office (RTO) directive.”

“We would be deeply concerned, and frankly extremely disappointed, to learn that the employer is preparing yet another major policy shift without actively seeking and fully integrating union and worker input in advance of making a final decision,” Nathan Prier said in the letter.

“The last RTO rollout was a complete fiasco. Employees suffered, managers suffered, departments struggled, and the process failed in every dimension: planning, communication, fairness, and operational logic. Repeating those mistakes would be unacceptable.”

Prier’s letter says there are rumours the government may introduce a new directive this month requiring employees to be in the office up to five days a week “as early as 2026.”

In a statement to CTV News Ottawa Monday morning, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) would not say whether changes to the office mandate are being considered.

“The Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace has not changed. We have no further information to share,” a spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Ali said the Treasury Board president is in regular contact with unions.

“We thank public service employees for their continued dedication to building Canada strong,” the spokesperson said.

“The Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace, which sets a minimum attendance requirement for the federal public service has not changed.”

On Monday, La Presse quoted an internal document from the Treasury Board Secretariat that the government is considering requiring public servants to be in the office full time by Jan. 1, 2027.

Prier is requesting a meeting with the Ali to clarify the federal government’s plans for federal public servants.

“Clearly, the new boss is same as the old boss. We had high hopes after our recent meeting with TBS President Ali, but evidently he, and probably Clerk Sabia, are not interested in productivity gains, reducing costs for the Canadian taxpayer, attracting top talent, regional representation, or environmental impacts of useless commuting and, instead, are rushing a return to one of the most expensive and inefficient workplace models,” Prier said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

“This government claims to be looking for efficiencies but ignores obvious solutions, preferring instead to gut public services during a national crisis. We should be converting our offices to housing, but instead we’re wasting billions to make public servants less productive — Mark Carney should explain to Canadians who exactly this decision is serving, because it certainly isn’t taxpayers.”

Sharon DeSousa, National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada told CTV News Ottawa in a statement the plan to return workers to the office five days a week is “completely out of touch with what’s best for workers and taxpayers.”

“The government’s own analysis shows it could save $6 billion by expanding remote work for tens of thousands of federal workers and selling unneeded office space. If this government is serious about finding savings, the commonsense decision would be to support remote work for workers who can do their jobs remotely. It seems Prime Minister Carney would rather spend more on office space while cutting jobs and gutting public services people depend on,” DeSousa said.

“The current three-day in-office model has been a disaster since the start. Offices don’t have enough desks, and shared workspaces are booked solid, so workers end up trapped on virtual calls all day in overcrowded spaces. The chaos will only get worse. In Ottawa-Gatineau, mandating all federal workers to commute to the office five days a week would create a traffic nightmare for everyone. Wasting taxpayers’ money to make traffic congestion worse, especially for workers who can’t do their job remotely like first responders, healthcare, or construction workers, makes zero sense.”

DeSousa says it’s not too late for the government to reconsider.

As of Jan. 1, 2026, all City of Ottawa employees will be required to be in the office five days a week. City Manager Wendy Stephanson announced in August that the city would return “five days in the office as the new standard for all city employees.”

The City of Ottawa currently employs approximately 17,100 full-time equivalent positions, which includes police, fire, paramedics and Ottawa Public Health. While 85 per cent of municipal staff are required to be on site or in the office five days a week, Stephanson said 93 per cent of staff are currently in the office five days a week.