Civil service cuts could cost Canada billions
Posted May 24, 2012 10:56:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – The federal government may not have budgeted for all the severance it will have to pay out to public servants who lose their jobs through government downsizing.
In March, the federal budget announced it would eliminate 19, 200 civil service jobs to cut spending. The government banked on $900-million in severance for those employees, but that number is expected to double once accumulated severance for workers is factored in.
The government is currently in the process of re-negotiating deals with 27 unions that it’s offered accumulated severance to eliminate it. After severance, there is transition support for civil servants which offers, in some cases, 22 weeks of severance for just one year of work.
Workers who see their jobs eliminated and don’t land work elsewhere, are also entitled to $11, 000 dollars for tuition and skills improvement.
“Their gradually getting rid of severance for people who voluntarily quit or retire, and I think that’s a good thing, but it’s obviously going to cost a fortune to get rid of it because previous governments had already agreed to it,” said Gregory Thomas of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said it’s “absolutely insane,” to pay workers who continue to work or leave voluntarily.
The head of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, Gary Corbett, said accumulated severance was always on the table during negotiations, and the membership wasn’t giving it up for nothing.
