Union also tells workers 'needs of downtown core shouldn’t fall on backs of workers and federal public service'
One challenge for employers calling workers back into the office after they had been allowed to work remotely for the past few years is finding the space to accommodate these workers.
And that’s the case for several federal government offices, according to a recent report.
Despite the federal government’s mandate requiring public service workers to report to the office at least three times a week, several government workplaces are not ready to welcome these workers back, reports the Ottawa Citizen.
These federal departments and agencies include:
- Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
- Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
- Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC)
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC)
- Statistics Canada
- Canadian Space Agency
- Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
- Pacific Economic Development Canada
- Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
- Health Canada
- Public Health Agency of Canada
The full implementation of the federal government’s return-to-office mandate for workers – announced earlier this year – is now in effect.
These officers simply need more time, they say.
The CHRC, for example, received an extension during the last round of return-to-office changes in 2023 to adjust its workspaces and make “major improvements to technologies and safety tools,” said Véronique Robitaille, a spokesperson for the CHRC, in the Ottawa Citizen report.
The same case should apply for this round of return-to-office (RTO) requirement, she said.
“While some of these adjustments have been made at the Ottawa headquarters, some of the regional offices had to undergo major preparation and are not ready to receive staff yet,” Robitaille said.
“Even with all the preparations being implemented, the Commission will need additional time to ready all the workplaces and implement the return to the office for 3 days a week and hopes to be fully compliant with the Hybrid Directive by year-end.”
Most Canadian workers are OK with heading back to the office – but employers may not be ready to meet their needs, according to a previous report.
‘Buy nothing,’ PSAC tells workers
Meanwhile, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) continues to fight the federal government’s RTO mandate.
In an Instagram post, PSAC originally told workers to “buy nothing”; that was later changed to “buy local,” according to a CBC report.
While businesses have been calling on the federal government to mandate that workers return to the workplace to boost downtown economies, “the needs of the downtown core should not fall on the backs of workers,” the group said.
“Our working conditions shouldn’t be leveraged by politicians to appease commercial interests.”
I’m very disappointed to see @PSACNCR targeting small businesses in their dispute with the federal government. Downtown businesses are not responsible for decisions about back to work. They’ve suffered significantly as a result of the pandemic. Let’s keep them out of the line of… pic.twitter.com/fBTDo553Wu
— Mark Sutcliffe (@_MarkSutcliffe) September 11, 2024
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe tweeted that he was “disappointed” with the group “targeting small businesses in their dispute with the federal government”.
“Downtown businesses are not responsible for decisions about back to work,” said Sutcliffe. “They’ve suffered significantly as a result of the pandemic. Let’s keep them out of the line of fire. Let’s support them and support a thriving downtown.”
In 2023, more than 155,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members working for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) held a strike after the Treasury Board required workers in core public administration to be on site at least two to three days each week, or 40% to 60% of their regular schedule.