WFA Update- April 2013

Now that the government has tabled its Budget and Reports on Plans and Priorities, there have been several media reports of possible further public service staffing cuts.

ACFO has been in discussions with Departments slated to be impacted by further staff reductions.At this point, the Association does not anticipate further cuts to the FI community.

While some Departments, such as Statistics Canada, HRSDC, and Veterans Affairs are facing substantial staff cuts, few FIs are being workforce adjusted, as the following table illustrates.   

Many other large departments have not affected any FIs in carrying out their workforce adjustment, including Canadian Border Services Agency, RCMP and Treasury Board Secretariat. We have been told that CIDA’s restructure into DFAIT is an effort to coordinate Canada’s international actions, and not for budgetary reasons.

In comparison to other occupational groups, there have been very low levels of FIs being workforce adjusted. Despite the shrinking federal workforce, FI positions across all classification levels remain in demand. Even in instances where FI positions have been eliminated, in most cases FIs have been quickly absorbed into other positions due to the systemic shortage of financial reporting capacity within the federal Public Service.

The following chart indicates the current status of Association members’ WFA processes, broken down by level and outcome, as of April 17, 2013.

Three quarters of affected FIs have now received final decisions in respect of how workforce adjustment will impact their positions; of these, 86% have been retained in the public service.  Of the 60 FIs whose employment was severed as a result of WFA (less than 1.5% of our membership), most left voluntarily into early retirement.

Nonetheless, the Association recognizes the strain WFA puts on the livelihoods of the individuals who have been impacted.ACFO is committed to providing support to all members impacted by WFA, whether they are directly affected or they are left to deal with the stress, anxiety, and changing responsibilities that WFA has created.

For more information in this matter, or for any support relating to the WFA process,please contact ACFO Director of Labour Relations Scott Chamberlain at schamberlain@acfo-acaf.com or call the national office at 1-877-728-0695, or local (613) 728-0695.