More than 200 federal government employees in B.C. have received layoff notices, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) reports.
The B.C. layoffs are among the 5,000 public service workers in 23 government departments who received layoff notices Wednesday, the PSAC stated in a press release.
“Here in B.C., more than 200 workers are affected,” said Bob Jackson, PSAC regional executive vice-president for BC. “This is just the beginning.
“The government admits to over 19,000 direct job losses, and this number doesn’t include losses stemming the government’s ongoing strategic review, from cuts to organizations like the CBC, and the spinoff effect in the private sector.”
The recent layoff notices mostly affect the following departments in B.C., according to PSAC:
- 49 client service agents in the Department of Veterans Affairs;
- 44 positions at Citizenship and Immigration Canada;
- 41 in the Department of National Defence;
- 42 in the Public Health Agency and Health Canada.
The layoffs are part of the Conservative government’s 2012-13 budget, which included internal government cuts of $5.2 billion annually, and the elimination of more than 19,000 federal public service jobs over three years.
