Union files unfair labour complaint over new federal office mandate for public servants

Unions representing public servants are pushing back on the latest in-office mandates. CTV’s Josh Marano reports.

Canada’s largest public sector union has filed an unfair labour practice complaint after the federal government announced a new policy requiring public servants to be in the office for a minimum of four days a week, starting this summer.

A directive issued late Thursday afternoon said, as of May 4, executives will be required to work onsite five days per week. All other federal employees in the core public service will need to be in the office a minimum of four days per week, as of July 6.

The president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada told Newstalk 580 CFRA she is “quite angry and disgusted” the government announced new in-office requirements at a time when it’s issuing notices to employees that their jobs may be affected by the workforce adjustment.

“To add salt to the wound, they’re going to change the working conditions of everyone in the federal public service without having the infrastructure in place to even house every single one of those workers,” Sharon DeSousa told CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron.

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

DeSousa said the union filed an unfair labour practice complaint with the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board on Friday because the government introduced the new mandate during contract negotiations.

“We’re currently in bargaining and the government of Canada is not above the law and they can’t just arbitrarily change working conditions while you’re in bargaining,” DeSousa said. “We will be looking at every recourse that is available to us to take on this fight.”

DeSousa said the current office mandate, requiring most public servants to be in the office for a minimum of three days a week, is not working.

“It didn’t work when they mandated two days in office. It didn’t work three days in office,” DeSousa said. “I can guarantee you it won’t work four days in office.”

PSAC vowed legal action to fight any changes to the in-office mandate, noting they negotiated an agreement on remote work. DeSousa said the union has won demands for remote work in collective bargaining with the federal government.

“In terms of the types of action that we’ll be taking, our members are fed up. They’re seriously fed up with this government’s inability to get things right,” DeSousa said, adding a strike mandate over the return-to-office mandate is in her membership’s hands.

The president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada wouldn’t rule out a strike vote over hybrid work if negotiations breakdown.

“If my membership wants to walk out because of this, that is a potential thing that could happen,” Sean O’Reilly told CTV News Ottawa. “We’ll see in the months to come exactly how hard we’re going to push back.”

“Strengthen the public service”

The federal government says its new policy requiring public servants to be in the office for a minimum of four days a week, starting this summer, is about “strengthening the public service,” according to the Treasury Board president’s office.

A spokesperson for Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali said public service employees play a “critical role” in delivering services to Canadians.

“As we work together to deliver Canada’s new government’s ambitious agenda at this critical moment for Canadians, we are strengthening the public service’s capacity to deliver results and better serve Canadians,” Mohammad Kamal, director of communications for Ali, said in a statement to CTV News following the announcement of the new in office mandate.

“This approach is about strengthening the public service so it can continue to meet the moment now and, in the years, ahead.”

The new return-to-office mandate applies to public servants in the core public administration, including at Employment and Social Development Canada, Correctional Service Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Shared Services Canada, Statistics Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada.

The directive says separate agencies are “strongly encouraged” to take a similar approach to increasing the in-office requirements for executives and employees.

Kamal says the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) will be meeting with unions to discuss how to implement the new office mandate.

“We recognize that this decision is occurring during a challenging period, when employees are already dealing with change and uncertainty,” Kamal said.

“TBS will be engaging with bargaining agents to seek their input on how best to implement this approach, and to ensure that public service employees have the tools and supports they need to succeed. In a rapidly changing global landscape, Canadians expect us to meet the moment now and into the future.”

The current hybrid rules have been in place since September 2024, requiring public servants in the core public administration to be in the office a minimum of three days per week, while executives are required to be onsite a minimum of four days per week.

In December, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government would be speaking with unions on the “appropriate levels” of in-office work for public servants.

“There will likely be different levels of return, depending on seniority, depending on role, and, obviously, depending on capacity,” Carney said during a question-and-answer session with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe on Dec. 8.

“I’m a huge fan of the public service. We need the public service at this critical time, and we need public servants to have all the tools, including offices and workspaces, that make their jobs as interesting, as impactful as possible.”

The new in-office mandate comes as federal departments notify public servants their jobs may be at risk due to the comprehensive expenditure review. More than 24,000 public servants have received notices their jobs may be affected.

The Canada Strong Budget 2025, released in November, outlined the federal government’s plan to reduce the size of the federal public service by 28,000 positions by 2029, with 16,000 full-time equivalent positions eliminated through the comprehensive expenditure review, while 12,000 positions, including 350 executive positions, will be eliminated mainly through attrition and early retirement packages.

Union proposes savings through remote work

A federal union says the federal government should be looking at “downsizing your real estate footprint” instead of cutting jobs.

“They know that they’re wasting billions upon billions of taxpayers’ dollars just to shove public servants into offices that make them less productive,” Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal.

“To taxpayers, to public servants, to Canadians whose programs they’re gutting right now, the fact that there’s not this huge, obviously efficiency maker on the table, which is giving people remote work rights and then downsizing your real estate footprint. The fact that is not a way to kind of save money and tighten our belt in the middle of a national crisis, and, instead, they’re just cutting programs and gutting programs and services.”

Prier said the federal government did not consult with unions before announcing the office mandate.

In January, the City of Ottawa implemented a full-time return-to-office mandate for its employees, requiring all staff to be in the office five days a week.

With files from CTV News Stephanie Ha and CTV News Ottawa’s Josh Marano and Ted Raymond

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