Civil servants have promised a series of demonstrations to protest the federal government’s return-to-work mandate requiring them to go back to the office at least three days a week as of Sept. 9.
Senior managers will be expected to return to the office four days a week.
In an op-ed in the Hill Times on Aug. 6, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) President Sharon DeSousa said having workers spread out across the country makes the civil service more inclusive.
“Forcing employees into a random office one more day a week to spend their days in Zoom meetings won’t prepare our workplace for coming technological advances,” she said, adding empty government office space could be repurposed as affordable housing.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand told reporters in May that hybrid work for civil servants “is not within the collective agreements. It’s something that, at the time of the negotiations, the Government of Canada retained prerogative over to determine the scope of the hybrid environment.”
While unions insist productivity isn’t affected by civil servants working from home, the evidence contradicts that presumption.
According to a Postmedia story last week, the federal civil service grew by more than 10,000 new positions last year. We now have a record 367,772 public employees.
As a result, the federal payroll has skyrocketed more than $27 billion since 2015 to a record high of $67.4 billion in 2022-23. At the same time, the government has been adding more “consultants” — private contractors who presumably perform tasks the civil service is unable to do.
We applaud Anand for enforcing the back-to-work mandate, but urge her to take it a step further and require her fellow cabinet ministers and MPs to return to their offices.
The House of Commons is now in a hybrid model, meaning MPs aren’t required to attend in person. That’s a huge mistake. While convenient for those who live some distance from Parliament Hill, politicians should be cautioned that the work of government requires them to show up. They’re paid handsomely and have travel and accommodation allowances for that very reason.
What’s sauce for the civil service is gravy for MPs. We need them all back to work.