On December 17th, USJE Regional Vice-President (RVP) Valda Behrens was joined by President Neufeld and RVP Jeff Sandelli for an engagement with members at Public Prosecutions Services of Canada (PPSC) in Calgary.
These members belong to USJE Local 30160, which encompasses members from both PPSC and the department of Justice in the province of Alberta. The Calgary PPSC office has 29 USJE members (of the 341 PPSC members across the country), many of whom occupy the positions of Legal Assistant and Administrative Clerk.
This visit provided an opportunity to meet with several PPSC members and to provide them with national updates on USJE’s activities in 2025. This included a discussion about the government’s Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER), the anticipated budget cuts across federal governmental departments (including PPSC) and USJE’s response to the budget cuts.
It is well understood that each department is being told to reduce its operational budgets (by up to 15%) over the next 3 years and that these cuts will have a significant impact on our members and the work they do to help keep Canadians safe. The impact of these cuts are more likely to be immediately experienced in a smaller department like PPSC.
President Neufeld shared details regarding USJE’s Budget Cuts Campaign and how USJE members can help support the campaign in the months and years ahead. This includes the mobilization of USJE members, political action and a dedicated website to call out detrimental cuts to public safety.
The members were encouraged to stay up to date with USJE information through the newsletter and social media and further to take opportunities to engage and participate.
Evident from the discussion was the amount of pressure that USJE members are already facing around workload and how positions are reportedly being left vacant even before the Comprehensive Expenditure Review decisions are shared with the union or the department’s employees.
The USJE representatives emphasized the importance of following their respective Collective Agreement and encouraged members to work within their established work descriptions. The reality is that USJE members should not be expected to “do more with less” and that any restructuring within the department should be fully communicated with the union during this financial exercise.
This meeting also provided an opportunity for the members to learn about the importance of having a strong local and how they can get involved with their union.
President Neufeld, along with RVP Behrens and RVP Sandelli want to thank the PPSC members for taking the time to meet with them and to the Calgary office for providing an insightful site tour.