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One of the unions representing employees at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) mounted a novel protest against planned government cuts in downtown Ottawa on Friday.
At the corner of Sparks and Elgin streets, a block south of Parliament’s East Block, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) set up a table laid out with food items recently recalled by the agency, including lettuce, pistachios and meat products.
The installation was meant as a warning against the reported plan to cut over 500 jobs from the agency as part of the federal government’s larger workforce reduction strategy.
While every government department is important, “definitely food inspection is one of the key ones,” said PIPSC president Sean O’Reilly.
One of the union reps seated behind the table was Stéphanie Fréchette, a CFIA employee who has worked there for decades, including a stint as a meat inspector.
She wore a white lab coat over her winter jacket.
Details about the planned cuts are scant, she said, but “even if you’re not affected, your coworkers are and it’s very stressful for everyone.”
Stéphanie Fréchette, a CFIA employee who also serves on the executive of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, was among those seated behind table Friday.
(Guy Quenneville/CBC)
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, another union speaking for CFIA workers, has said 1,371 employees at the agency have received workforce adjustment notices.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has announced plans to shrink the larger federal bureaucracy by 16,000 full-time equivalent positions — which is not necessarily the same as 16,000 individuals — over three years.
At Friday’s protest, a placard resembling a giant receipt itemized what PIPSC is worried the cuts at the CFIA will mean, including dips in disease surveillance and emergency response.
The installation was just a block south of Parliament’s East Block. Music wafted in from the nearby D’Arcy McGee’s restaurant. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)
In an emailed statement, the CFIA said that despite “an overall context of spending reductions,” the government is reinvesting $30 million into the agency, “primarily to strengthen food safety inspection and frontline services.”Â
The agency boasted a workforce of 6,380 as of last year, according to the latest department-by-department workforce figures reported by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
Are you a Canadian Food Inspection Agency worker directly affected by the cuts or worried about their larger impacts? Contact Guy at guy.quenneville@cbc.ca