A local initiative, the coup nevertheless echoes the exit of the federal public service unions. Outraged by the compulsory presence in the office three days a week, they want to jeopardize the survival of the Trudeau government.
“Since the strike, it’s been one after the other,” complains Julien Nobert, president of the local section of the Tax Employees’ Union, who deplores the unilateral measures decreed by the government. To add insult to injury, the announcements were made on May 1, Labor Day, the unionist is indignant.
A call was therefore made to the workers present in Shawinigan-Sud, Tuesday morning, for a show on the theme “People first, it’s us too!” Some 120 union members – perhaps a third of the workers present at the office – responded to the slogan, taking the time to chant a few slogans, before returning to their posts.
Spontaneous demonstration at the Shawinigan-Sud tax center. (Stéphane Lessard)
Lack of space in sight?
Returning to the office one more day a week brings to the forefront the question of available space in the future tax center, whose plans have undergone a slimming treatment – one wing and one floor less. We were counting on teleworking to provide employees with security in terms of maintaining jobs, despite the reduced number of workstations.
Julien Nobert, president of the local section of the Tax Employees Union. (Stéphane Lessard/Le Nouvelliste)
The new measures for compulsory return to work, “face-to-face”, once again sow doubt on the job prospects at the Shawinigan-Sud tax center. Especially since elsewhere in the country, points out Mr. Nobert, 1,500 call center employees have just been laid off.
“At three [jours par semaine], it fits, but very very tight, we have perhaps around thirty offices room for maneuver… but the space provided for Employment and Social Development Canada is a wardrobe… we will Where do these people sit? Downtown? There was no room! What’s going to happen?”
Julien Nobert promises new coups and assures that civil servants in Shawinigan-Sud will stand together with their colleagues across the country, until the government backs down. “We are proposing solutions to our local management teams, but they are not being listened to,” he laments.
