{"id":429389,"date":"2026-01-24T03:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T03:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/429389\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T03:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T03:17:14","slug":"public-sector-unions-say-nearly-10k-employees-got-layoff-notices-this-week-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/429389\/","title":{"rendered":"Public sector unions say nearly 10K employees got layoff notices this week – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost 10,000 federal public servants have received notices in the past week warning them that their jobs may be cut, say the unions representing them.<\/p>\n

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The Public Service<\/a> Alliance of Canada said more than 5,000 of its members received \u201cworkforce adjustment notices\u201d this week.<\/p>\n

They include 1,172 workers at Global Affairs Canada, 775 workers at Transport Canada, 598 workers at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and 895 workers at Health Canada.<\/p>\n

Notices were also issued to staff at other federal departments, including Public Safety Canada, Canadian Heritage and Immigration, and Refugees and Citizenship Canada.<\/p>\n

Workforce adjustment notices tell employees their jobs may be affected by cuts. It\u2019s not clear how many of those who received the notices will ultimately be laid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic services aren\u2019t just a budget line \u2014 they\u2019re a lifeline for communities and families,\u201d Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa said in a news release. \u201cWhile the government\u2019s planned cuts may appear to save money, make no mistake, we all pay the price through slower services, longer waits and weaker programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Canadian Association of Professional Employees said roughly 2,550 of its members received notices this week, including 534 employees at Employment and Social Development Canada and 103 people at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.<\/p>\n

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The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada said more than 2,700 of its members received notices this week.<\/p>\n

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The union is warning that cuts to science-based departments will weaken Canada\u2019s ability to prevent disasters, respond to emergencies and protect public safety and the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not abstract programs or administrative red tape,\u201d said Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada president Sean O\u2019Reilly. \u201cThese are the experts who prevent oil spills from becoming catastrophes, who ensure dangerous goods don\u2019t explode on our railways, who make sure Canadians can trust weather warnings, and who protect species from extinction.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tRead the full transcript of Carney\u2019s speech to World Economic Forum\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\u201cCutting this scientific expertise puts public safety and the environment at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa is looking to cut program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over the next five years through its \u201ccomprehensive expenditure review.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest federal budget said the exercise will involve \u201crestructuring operations and consolidating internal services.\u201d It said it also will deploy workforce adjustments and attrition to return the size of the public service to \u201ca more sustainable level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government plans to cut the number of public service jobs by about 40,000 from a peak of 368,000 in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

The plan will see a reduction of 1,000 executive positions over the next two years, and a 20 per cent cut to spending on management and consulting services over three years.<\/p>\n

The federal government has sent letters with information on its planned early retirement program to almost 68,000 public servants who may be eligible.<\/p>\n

The government said it\u2019s trying to boost the rate of attrition and avoid cutting younger workers by offering a voluntary program allowing workers to retire earlier without incurring a pension penalty.<\/p>\n

The federal budget said the government intends to implement the one-year early retirement program as soon as this month.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 10,000 federal public servants have received notices in the past week warning them that their jobs may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,5888,15263,44,714,2048,109316],"class_list":{"0":"post-429389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-government-workers","11":"tag-layoffs","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-public-sector","15":"tag-public-service"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}