Putting the public service in Service Canada

A quality public service begins with quality jobs

The government says the goal of Service Canada is to provide better, one-stop service to more Canadians in more communities, delivered with the right service attitude.

The PSAC is concerned about how this new initiative will affect the quality of service to the public and to our members who provide those services.

The government is making claims about how good this service will be for Canadians but PSAC members aren’t convinced.The employer insists that Service Canada will improve front-line service to the public. But…

• many members are telling us that their managers have instructed them to direct more citizens to computers and that the quality of person-to-person service is being undermined;
• managers have told some of our members that jobs in the new agency will be generic and demand less specialized knowledge, raising concerns that de-skilled front-line jobs may be reduced to that of a “Wal-Mart greeter”;
• unrealistic time limits are placed on workers who serve clients, mostly at callcentres, affecting our members’ workload and the depth and quality of service to the public.

The employer claims that most job losses will be fair and mostly through attrition. But…

• term workers are already being terminated, and casual workers are being hired to do their work.

The employer claims that front-line jobs at Service Canada will be interesting and rewarding. But…

• we’ve heard workers are being asked to serve the public supported only with onepage reference sheets provided by departments and agencies;
• we’ve heard reports that in some cases as little as two hours of training is being provided.

The employer has said that they will not privatize. But…

• members are concerned about privatization and that more of their work will be transferred to private sector employers like Quantum, a private company that currently operates 1-800-O-Canada.
• the employer has said that many points of service will be operated by third party service providers who won’t have the same level of accountability to the public as federal public service providers. This is privatization.

Members of Parliament are eager to have Service Canada locations in their ridings. If they think they will be able to refer all the enquiries they receive from their constituents to Service Canada, they’d better think again.

Ask the candidates

Will your party commit to ensuring that federal public services provided at Service Canada locations are deliverered by federal public sector workers?

Download this issue sheet as a below.

servicecanada-e.pdf