The union representing about 27,000 federal employees is asking a parliamentary committee to investigate the requirement to return to public service three days a week.
The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) believes the return-to-office policy is “surrounded by catastrophic failures” and says it should be investigated by the government’s Standing Committee on Operations and Estimates.
CAPE President Nathan Pryor said his members had lost confidence in civil service leaders.
“I don’t know who they serve, but they’re not Canadian taxpayers, and they’re certainly not federal employees,” he told CBC.
“We are deeply concerned that we are seeing the excellence of public services seriously undermined by poorly designed and poorly implemented workplace policies. . And we feel it’s time for legislators to step in.”
The committee he wants to investigate is required to examine “the effectiveness and proper functioning of government operations.” Previous investigations included switching public sector health insurance plans from Sun Life to Canada Life.
In response to CAPE’s call, Treasury Board of Canada President Anita Anand said the decision to return to power was administrative, not political.
“This administrative decision was made by the Treasury Board Secretariat in collaboration with the Privy Council Secretariat and the deputy ministers of each government who support this change,” she said in a French-language statement to Radio-Canada. .
The Treasury Board oversees the operations of the federal government. The agency previously said mandatory reinstatement would create “more effective collaboration and training of new talent” and create “a strong performance culture consistent with public service values and ethics.”
widespread opposition to this obligation
Federal employees adopted remote working during the coronavirus pandemic, but many were reluctant to return to the office three days a week.
They cited a lack of office space, a noisy work environment, a negative impact on work-life balance, and low morale.
Unions representing more than 330,000 federal employees have voiced opposition to the mandate. Canada’s largest federal employee union, the Canadian Public Service Union, challenged the decision in court.
But Gilles Levasseur, a business law professor at the University of Ottawa, said it could be years before the court makes a final decision.
In contrast, he said, if Canada’s Legislature investigates through a standing committee, it could ask the executive branch to explain its decision-making process.
“Importantly, it puts an obligation on political parties to tell us what they actually think about telework,” he said.
The committee is expected to announce this week whether it will launch an investigation.
