The federal government is considering capping retirement income for public service employees at 70 per cent of pre-retirement salary as part of budget measures aimed at achieving savings, according to the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
The proposal comes alongside cuts of up to 15 per cent to Correctional Service Canada’s operating budget over three years, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, the union said following last week’s federal budget release by the Carney government.
Union calls move bad faith
The pension restructuring would affect federal employees who recently completed contract negotiations, said Frédérick Lebeau, national president of UCCO-SACC–CSN.
“We just finished a round of negotiations, and now our counterparts are trying to push through a disguised pay cut for our retirees,” Lebeau said. “This is an act of bad faith that will not stand. We have an agreement with the government, and we expect it to be respected.”
Budget priorities questioned
François Enault, first vice-president of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, criticized the budget’s allocation of resources toward defence and border security while proposing cuts to correctional services.
“He’s prepared to spend massive sums on weapons and border security, while asking correctional officers to bear cuts in order to fund his diplomacy with Trump,” Enault said. “Our members work hard and are an essential part of Canada’s justice system. They deserve good pensions, not to become collateral damage of federal politics.”
The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers represents more than 7,500 members working in federal institutions across Canada. The Confédération des syndicats nationaux represents nearly 330,000 workers across Quebec through over 1,600 unions.
