Public Health Agency not renewing contracts of over 800 employees, including 245 at Winnipeg lab: union
The Union of Health and Environment Workers, representing employees at the Public Health Agency of Canada, has raised concerns about the federal government’s decision not to renew the contracts of over 800 workers, including 245 at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Shimen Fayad, the national president of the union, expressed disappointment in the agency’s initial promise to reduce job numbers through attrition, only to see many members now losing their term positions. Some of those affected are long-serving employees, with one individual having 14 years of experience.
The term positions being eliminated include 245 at the National Microbiology Lab, the only Level 4 biosafety lab in Canada capable of handling the most dangerous pathogens. The Public Health Agency had 4,251 employees as of March last year, nearly double the number at the beginning of 2020, according to the Treasury Board.
The agency attributed the job cuts to the winding down of time-limited funding for COVID-19 response and the need to manage resources for future sustainability. In a statement in French, the agency informed staff that contracts for current temporary employees would not be renewed upon their end dates, citing privacy concerns for not providing further details.
In a separate development, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada announced plans to reduce its workforce by 3,300 employees over the next three years, representing a quarter of its staff. The department explained that its rapid expansion in recent years to address global crises, including the pandemic, relied on temporary funding.
The agency, along with other departments, has been instructed to scale back spending to pre-pandemic levels. These decisions reflect the government’s efforts to reallocate resources and ensure financial sustainability across federal departments.
