Photo: PSAC

Over 200 employees at Natural Resources Canada have been informed that their positions either have been, or will be, cut in the near future. 

Mark Grimson is Union of Canadian Transportation Employees’ Regional Vice President for the Prairies & the North. He says last week, about 100 employees at Natural Resources Canada were told that their positions had been cut, and notices were sent out to over 100 more, warning that they could face the same fate. 

He says the cut workers were responsible for tasks such as forest fire tracking, flood tracking, and identification of other environmental risks. 

Although these are important jobs in an everchanging climate, Grimson says what’s more disturbing is the human impact these job cuts have had. 

“Some of these notifications, such as last week, were brought forward just before the Christmas holidays. That impact can be grave to members families and the way that they’re planning their lives.”

Stress evident in his voice, Grimson says morale is low, but what’s worse is the lack of information workers are receiving. 

“This has been the frustrating aspect for us; some of the information that has been given to us is actually coming from the media. We’re not getting direct information, like we should be, and we get notification on press releases ourselves. There hasn’t been 100 per cent transparency from the federal government.”

Most of the information being received comes in the form of public news releases, not personal addresses. Grimson says it would be nice to hear directly from the federal government.  

“It’s rumor mills. People start to hear something, and then they start to get concerned. We’re not sure. Nobody’s sure. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

These are just the first jobs on the chopping block. Ottawa announced at the start of November that up to 30,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada jobs could be cut due to budget reductions.