Canads Cut VA Jobs

It looks like things are getting worse for civil servants in Canada, and this time the job cuts are going to impact more than just the workers. This time it will have an impact on their veterans. A statement was released by the Canadian Veterans Affairs department warning of about 800 layoffs to come down the pike. The layoffs, which will take place over the next three years, are part of a fairly sweeping effort by the government to cut back on jobs in order to save money.

To be frank the Veterans Affairs office is actually in one of the better positions when it comes to the mandated job cuts. They will be able to cut a significant number of workers through attrition or redeployment strategies. This will reduce the number of workers who are in need of a job that are back out looking for work. The agency is in a unique position because almost 30 percent of their workers are nearing the age of retirement by 2016, which means that a fair number of the cuts to jobs can simply be made by not filling positions when they are left open by departing workers.

They also have another natural advantage, that because the number of Canada’s veterans are dwindling so the department will not have to service as many people with their reduced staff. In addition the company will be looking into ways to use technology to create a more efficient system for Canada’s veterans. The union for the workers has expressed some loss of service concerns, but only time will tell.

These cuts, which are part of  a larger set of layoffs, but that does not mean that every department is getting off as easily as the Veterans Affairs department. For those of you who missed out on some of our earlier coverage of job cuts to Canadian civil servants here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed in no time at all:

“t looks like more job losses are coming to the civil servants of Canada and things are getting grim in the job cuts sector. In what is a second swing at job cuts the nation has sent layoff notices to about 5,500 workers, according to information released by The Public Service Alliance of Canada.  The cuts will impact many areas of the government, as most departments have been asked to make serious staffing cuts by the top-level officials.

These cuts are slated to save the Canadian government about $5.2 billion over the next three years, but in order to do that the job cuts will have to be drastic. Some of the cuts that are coming for the current wave include 1,137 workers for the Canadian Border Services Agency, 689 at Agriculture Canada and  2,224  workers for the city of Ottawa

Of course some agencies are being hit harder then others. For those of you who missed out on our look at job cuts at  here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed on how these cuts are going to impact government operations:

“It looks like things are getting even worse in Canada as the calls to tighten their belts and keep a reign on government spending have led to more job cuts. This time it is the federal food safety inspectors division that will be losing workers. About 100 inspectors from the federal food safety inspectors are going to be cut out over the next three years as part of a budget slashing measure.”