Layoffs expected at Brandon research centre

The federal government’s plan to reduce the size of the public service is expected to affect employees at the Brandon Research and Development Centre, Agriculture Union’s president told the Sun.

The union, which represents federal workers in the agriculture sector, is part of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)

The union was aware that budget restraint was coming, but was not consulted on the specifics of the cuts, Milton Dyck said in an interview on Saturday.

“In Brandon, the cuts will directly affect the Brandon Research and Development Centre, as seven members of our union out of approximately 70 union members at the centre have been identified as impacted so far,” Dyck said.

“When you include other unions, we’re probably looking at around 10 positions being reduced at the centre.”

Dyck said the summer employment opportunities at the centre could also be affected depending on which programs are cut.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has already seen a reduction in staffing over the past decade, dropping by about 10 per cent, even as the broader federal civil service grew by roughly 30 per cent during the same period, he said.

“At that point, it was just a top-down order,” he said. “Find 15 per cent to cut, whether you can or whether you can’t.”

Thousands of federal employees across Canada have received workforce adjustment notices following the federal government’s comprehensive expenditure review, aimed at cutting program spending and administrative costs by about $60 billion over the next five years.

The plan includes reducing the public service by approximately 40,000 positions from a peak of 368,000 employees in 2023-24.

Dyck warned that the staffing reductions will limit the scope of work carried out at the Brandon facility and reduce its overall impact on the community.

“This centre will not be doing the breadth of work that it has been doing,” he said. “It won’t have the same impact on the community in terms of employment and research capacity.”

He said federal agriculture research has faced a steady decline over the years, pointing to past closures and cuts, including the loss of Brandon’s beef research program in 2012.

“This is part of a long, ongoing diminishment of the federal government’s commitment to agriculture research,” Dyck said.

Nationally, PSAC said 1,775 workforce adjustment notices were issued to its members last week alone, bringing the total to 2,273 since the federal budget was released in November. Other unions, including the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, report thousands more notices issued to their members across multiple departments.

Workforce adjustment notices inform employees that their positions may be affected, but do not guarantee layoffs. However, Dyck said the uncertainty surrounding timelines is taking a significant toll on workers.

“Some people have been told their positions are gone, others are in limbo and don’t know if it will be a few months or 18 months from now,” he said. “That kind of uncertainty is disturbing.”

The union is calling on the federal government to reassess and reverse the cuts, while also pushing for strict adherence to workforce adjustment provisions in collective agreements. These include retraining opportunities, job-search support and access to psychological services for affected workers.

“We’re going to try to ensure people get as much information as possible so they’re not left wondering about their future,” Dyck said.

The federal government has said it hopes to limit layoffs by boosting attrition through an early retirement program and reducing executive positions and spending on management and consulting services. However, union leaders have criticized a lack of transparency about which departments and services will ultimately be affected.

For workers at the Brandon Research and Development Centre, Dyck said the situation remains stressful and uncertain.

“It’s not just the members directly affected,” he said. “Their lives are being turned upside down, and that stress spreads throughout the entire workplace.”

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