OTTAWA—Environment Canada workers are in "complete and utter turmoil" as 776 public servants wait to learn where they will be working, or if they will be working for the government at all in 90 days, says Bill Pynn, national president of the Union of Environmental Workers, which represents 476 of the workers affected. Inside the department, "people are questioning, 'Why you, not me?' " said Mr. Pynn.
The department's announcement on Aug. 4 that it is putting 776 workers on notice, with plans cut 300 of their positions in the next three months, caught public service unions by surprise, Mr. Pynn told The Hill Times last week.
Among the affected workers are almost 100 physical scientists, 19 meteorologists, 45 computer scientists, chemists, biologists and engineers.
The restructuring at Environment Canada affects 11 per cent of the department's 7,000-person workforce.
"I've never seen a cut like this in my 15 years as president of the Union of Environment Workers," said Mr. Pynn, whose union is a branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and represents 5,700 workers.
Environment Canada's announcement brings the total job cuts announced in the public service since early June to more than 1,500. Public Works announced it would cut 678 jobs over the next three years, while Fisheries and Oceans has said it would cut 275 positions. The Bank of Canada, Industry Canada, the Treasury Board Secretariat are also among the other departments and agencies that have said they are cutting staff.
"This is a big shock. We weren't expecting this to happen so soon," said Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, a union that represents 57,000 workers across Canada.
PIPSC represents 227 of the affected workers at Environment Canada. Mr. Corbett said the union was not expecting a cut of this size, especially prior to any decisions on the federal government's "Strategic and Operating Review," in which departments have to come up with five to 10 per cent in cuts to their operating budgets.
The federal deficit is $32-billion, and the government has committed to balancing the budget by 2014-2015. Much of the savings will come from the Strategic and Operating Review, which aims to cut five per cent, across 67 departments and agencies, from the public service's $80-billion operating budget.
Treasury Board President Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) told reporters last week in Ottawa that the cuts at Environment Canada have nothing to do with the review, which he is helming with the help of a dedicated Cabinet committee. Instead, the cut is a response to the department's current financial reality, he said.
According to Environment Canada's Report on Plans and Priorities, which was tabled this spring, the department's budget for 2011-2013 is $1.1-billion. This is set to decline by about $228-million to $936.8-million in 2011-2012. Environment Canada's budget will shrink to $883-million by 2013-2014.
Environment Canada took "a hard look at its spending to ensure the department is spending its resources on priorities like improving air quality and cleaner water for Canadians," said spokesperson Mark Johnson in a statement that was issued to all media.
In its notice to the 776 affected workers, Mr. Corbett said the department made it clear that it didn't have the money to keep the employees on.
Some of the affected employees will go into the Workforce Adjustment Program, where they will be re-trained, said Mr. Johnson. From there, they will be moved to another job, either in Environment Canada or in another government department.
"As a government, we go out of our way to work with each individual to try to see through attrition whether there is another position available within the Government of Canada, or at least work with them for re-training," Mr. Clement told reporters last week.
An average of 520 people leave Environment Canada every year due to attrition. It's into these vacated jobs that the department hopes to move some of its affected workers.
Mr. Corbett said he is hopeful that some of his members will be relocated to new jobs within the public service, but that in the long-term he doesn't think there will be enough spaces to go around.
"I'm very hopeful in the early stages, but as they go through this with department after department, especially considering the Strategic and Operating Review, we're concerned that there are going to be more people than there are positions," he explained.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) said that Environment Minister Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.) needs to be transparent about how his department will cope without so many workers.
Mr. Pynn said that after a meeting with departmental officials, he doesn't know how work will continue to get done.
"That is a question that I posed to the deputy and his team yesterday. I don't think they have a plan," he said.
Mr. Corbett said he hopes that the department re-focuses its priorities so scientists can concentrate on their programs.
"The work just has to get done with the people who are there, that's just the way it works, and there's more work to be done with fewer and fewer people," he said.
Ms. May said she doesn't buy into the idea that cutting jobs means savings the government money.
"Over the years I've seen it done, not just under the Harper government but under other governments, and you have people say, 'Okay, I'll take that nice buyout package,' and then they come back as consultants to the same departments at a higher price, because the work still needs to be done," she said.
Both she and Mr. Pynn noted that Environment Canada is still obligated to carry out a number of monitoring services as mandated by legislation.
"These cuts will diminish the ability of Environment Canada to provide the quality that, number one, Canadians expect and deserve, and number two, what they're mandated to do through legislation," said Mr. Pynn.
Both union leaders said that with the Strategic and Operating Review on the horizon, they don't think this is the last of the cuts headed Environment Canada's way.
Departments are coming up with their savings' proposals now and results from the SOR will be announced in Budget 2012.
"It's too soon to say what impacts [the review] will have on the job totals in the public service," said Mr. Clement.
Mr. Corbett said he thinks the SOR will cause "lasting damage" to the public service.
While Mr. Clement said last week that the Strategic and Operating Review will put him in a situation to make difficult decisions, he drew attention to the United States' own fiscal crisis to offer some perspective on Canada's situation.
"The targets that the Congress and the U.S. administration has to deal with over a multi-year period is $4-trillion dollars. Our target is $4-billion [...]let's face it, our order paper is a lot lighter than what the Americans have to deal with," he said.
The SOR can succeed in saving money without pummeling the public service but it's all about where the government finds the money, said Ms. May.
"If you're going to do it through slashing staffing levels, it's a huge cut to capacity. Cutting staffing cuts into the bone," she said.
Ms. May said she would rather the government work with Parliament, the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the auditor general to find instances of large-scale waste.
"If you're going to look at the evidence in various auditor general's reports over the years, where does the auditor general find the kind of waste that gets headlines? It's not based on 'There's nine meteorologists working that we don't need any more.' It's based on, 'They just spent $15-million on stuff that we don't need in procurement in the G8 Legacy fund,'" she said.
Origin
Source: The Hill Times
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