Fellow members of the CT Community,
I know the announcements about the upcoming Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER) earlier this week will have caused a great deal of stress and anxiety for many of you. I wanted to reach out to let you know that ACFO-ACAF is committed to doing everything we can to support our members and we will be pressuring the employer to do the same.
While the specific targets and timelines are new, we’ve known for some time that some sort of expenditure review and reduction in overall spending was inevitable and we have been proactively preparing for this upsetting news.
At ACFO-ACAF we are fully staffed in our Labour Relations department and we updated the website several months ago with relevant resources and explainers related to any potential Workforce Adjustment measures that may be part of departments’ efforts to reduce expenditures, including a dedicated Alternation Network for our community: https://www.acfo-acaf.com/workforce-adjustment/.
We also know that many members have been involved in Refocusing of Government Spending (RGS) efforts in recent years. We expect the CT Community to play a role in the CER process just as they did in RGS and we believe this is an opportunity to demonstrate the value of our community in ensuring the government is efficient, accountable and strategic. We have always been and will continue to be proud to serve Canadians however we are called upon to do so.
I plan to spend the next few months attending union-management meetings along with key members of the ACFO-ACAF staff, advocating for our community as the first phase of the CER progress unfolds. We will keep members updated as we learn more about how departments intend to meet their targets.
Take care of yourselves and your colleagues in this challenging time and remember that you have access to mental health supports through your health benefits and through the Employee Assistance Program: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/occupational-health-safety/employee-assistance-services/employee-assistance-program.html.
And as always, reach out to ACFO-ACAF if you have specific concerns about your own workplace rights or challenges via labourrelations@acfo-acaf.com.
We’re in this together,
Rob Hawkins, President
ACFO-ACAF