All cushy Federal government employment is shrinking across the board. We no longer have the tax base to support the monster that the Fed has become. The side benefit to all of this doom and gloom is that many of these people who are being let go will receive severance packages and have opportunities to transition or consult as private contractors to the government. Science is still required and can not be ignored. The Fed is making swooping changes to all aspects of government, and yes the changes will effect numerous people. Gone are the days of cushy careers with long term payouts for retirement. It is a fact of life, and we no longer have a strong tax base to support most of what this monster has become.
People need to value change, they need to look beyond what they think they know, and look for a way to succeed in the future. The Fed is top heavy, we all can agree on that. We have all bantered for change over the years, now that it is happening, we all seem to be crying foul. I know that things look really bad, and they are especially with these pipelines being rammed through, but cutting sections of DFO up is more to do with budgets than it does in suppressing science.
Cushy? What is “cushy” are the gold plated pensions and severance packages that MPs receive. For every $1 an MP puts into their pension plan, the Canadian taxpayer puts in about $23. It is the MPs that are robbing the Canadian taxpayer blind – not the front line biologist or technician. The front line biologist or technician is not buying $16 orange juice. Instead, they have a myriad of federal accountability legislation which holds them fully accountable while those above them back east can do basically whatever they want. While it is true that Federal government employees have a good pension plan this particular plan is very likely to change with a very different arrangement in the near future. It should be noted that Federal employees do contribute to their pension plan – significantly more than MPs do. This contribution by employees will likely be even more in the very near future. People that say that Federal government employees receive this “gold plated” pension are full of crap (I repeat..full of crap). Front line employees are erroneously getting lumped in with people like Bev Oda who is a total embarrassment to mankind. The pension plan that many Federal employees receive is not going to make them rich all on its own. Retirement is only as good as how you plan for it.
Secondly, there is nothing cushy about the wages. Field biologists and technicians (yes, even technicians are affected) are not making $100,000 a year. Department biologists and technicians pay taxes (municipal, provincial and federal) like you do, they have mortgages like you do, they likely have children like you do, they drive an automobile like you do and they buy food like you do. We are not talking about white collar workers here. Many are hunters and anglers just like the people on this board. Many of these biologists have Science degrees which they devoted quite a large part of their lives to attain. There are those that are still paying off their student loans. Many of them have attained a large amount of practical experience to do the job they do. More importantly, they love the work they do.
The department has been continuously cut to the point where front line biologists and technicians are continuously challenged to keep delivering on their mandate. It is not just people that are affected - it is the resources that are also impacted. However, the workload (i.e. referrals) is always increasing. For instance, if you look at the increase in development on the larger lakes in the BC Interior you will quickly notice that Habitat Biologists and Technicians have quite a bit on their plate. Your versions of “side benefits” are not as juicy as they look if you look into how administration works in the department especially contracting. It also comes as little consolation when these cuts impact the whole family unit – not just the employee. Whether you are in the private or public sector we cannot forget to put a human face to these changes. It is a very stressful time for these employees because this change will likely impact not only what they will do for employment, but where they live (selling and buying), their spouse’s work situation, where they raise their children, where their children go to school and their particular financial situation. For instance, moving from one place to another can have major impacts to a family budget. Many have likely have deep roots in the communities they live in so it is not just a simple move. Many will potentially have to compete with fellow colleagues for the limited positions left. What kind of situation do you think that will create? It is not, “Oh they will just find a job contracting to the government” and everything is fine. That is an extremely simplistic view of a potentially complicated situation that a family of an affected employee can face. We need to think of these impacts at the “family” level because what impacts the employee will impact the family. Think if you were in that situation how you would feel. I do concede that affected employees will likely be treated much better than some private sector employees in terms of finding other employment within the Federal Public Service, transitioning out of the Public Service or training opportunities. Nevertheless, it is still a stressful time when you lose your position. I am sure there are members that can appreciate what these families are going through.
To expect the same level of service to keep up with an increasing and diverse workload will be a very, very tall order. I can understand people wanting change with what the department does but in this case people should be very careful about what they wish for……because they just might get it and it might come back to bite them in the butt. For every action there is an opposite reaction and it may or may not align with the aspirations of many environmentalists, stakeholders and the general public.
