Federal union warns Canadians will be affected by public service job cuts

The head of the largest public sector union in Canada says services Canadians rely on could be lost as the government cuts jobs. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

The president of the country’s largest public sector union warns Canadians will notice the impacts of job cuts to the federal public service once the programs and services they depend on are gone.

More than 24,000 federal employees have received notices that their jobs could be at risk as part of the federal government’s plans to reduce the size of the federal public service by 28,000 jobs by 2029.

The Canada Strong Budget 2025, released in November, calls for 16,000 jobs to be eliminated through workforce adjustments, while 12,000 positions, including 350 executive positions, will be cut mainly through attrition and early retirement packages.

• Latest information on federal public service, including notices, job cuts, return to office rules and more

Public Service Alliance of Canada president Sharon DeSousa told CTV Your Morning that it has been a “stressful time” for her members, and all Canadians will be affected by cuts to the government.

“You won’t know what programs or services are affected until they’re gone, and often times, that’s when the complaints come in and then they demand that the government staff up,” DeSousa said Tuesday morning.

“We saw this with cuts previously to Passport Canada, to Employment Insurance programs and Canada Revenue Agency. Next thing you know services drop to four per cent, there’s lineups down the street and people are depending on services and they don’t get them.”

DeSousa is urging the government to “look at the services and look at how can we do them better and more efficiently.”

Last Friday, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat released data showing the number of notices issued to public servants in 24 departments in the core public service and a breakdown on planned job cuts through workforce adjustment and attrition/early retirement.

The government plans to cut 8,230 jobs and 425 management positions through workforce adjustments in the 24 core departments, while another 7,762 positions will be eliminated through attrition and early retirement.

Health Canada plans to cut 931 employees and 39 executives through the workforce adjustment, Employment and Social Development Canada will cut 931 employees and 39 executives and Statistics Canada will layoff 764 employees.

DeSousa notes the proposed cuts at Health Canada involve public servants that look at health products and food brands.

“That means it will weaken our oversight of pharmaceutical drugs and health products on our shelves,” DeSousa said.

“Another example is we’re talking about emergency coordination — half of the staff of the government’s operations centre received notices for their positions. That reduces Canada’s ability to monitor, respond, and coordinate and response to natural disasters and national emergencies.”

With more departments expected to issue layoff notices in the weeks ahead, DeSousa said it’s a “very stressful time” for employees while they also continue to work.

“Not only are they required to make sure that these programs run and these services are delivered, but now they have to deal with the additional stress of not knowing whether or not they have a job, as well as there’s a lot of confusion around the government’s announcement of the Early Retirement Incentive.”

DeSousa says there are costing savings to be found within the government, and the union is urging the government to look at the money spent on contractors and office space.

“If the government embraced remote work, there is a cost saving by getting rid of really expensive lease holds, as well as buildings that should have been decommissioned long ago,” DeSousa said. “So, there are options available to the government to make sure that people who reside in Canada do not lose the services that they depend on.”

Early retirement option

The federal government sent information on its new early retirement program to approximately 68,000 federal public servants in December.

DeSousa said two months later, there is “a lot of confusion” about how the early retirement incentive will work.

“They announced this Early Retirement Incentive, and we have no information what it is,” DeSousa said.

“What I can tell you is our members have fought hard to have a workforce appendix clause in their collective agreement and to make sure that it protects their rights and it’s clear and transparent, and they negotiated this. So, we don’t know how this early retirement incentive will, in fact, roll out and what does it mean to their already existing rights.”

The 2025 budget outlined the government’s plan to offer a voluntary Early Retirement Incentive program through the federal public service pension plan. According to the government’s website, the program is “not yet available” and will be implemented once the legislation comes into force.

“Eligible employees would be able to apply to retire with an immediate pension based on years of service with no reduction for early retirement,” the government said.

“Where an application is approved, the annual pension amount would be calculated using the total years of pensionable service up to the early retirement date. Pensionable service refers to the period during which the employee contributed to the public service pension plan.”

The government says employees would need to meet the following eligibility criteria to be eligible.

Group 1: Members who joined the public service pension plan on or before December 31, 2012, and who:

• Are at least 50 years old
• Have at least 2 years of pensionable service
• Have at least 10 years of employment in the public service

Group 2: Members who joined the public service pension plan on or after January 1, 2013, and who:

• Are at least 55 years old
• Have at least 2 years of pensionable service
• Have at least 10 years of employment in the public service

According to the government, the application window will be within 120 days of the legislation coming into force. Approved employees have to retire within 300 days of the legislation coming into force.

With files from The Canadian Press

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