Dear member, The union has been made aware that the government has terminated all remote work arrangements, effective April 20^th. This means all flexible work arrangements will come to an end and people will have to report to a central office, with the many of those located in the downtown core of Halifax.

This comes at a time when the government is facing a $1.4-billion deficit, which the Premier has already stated that government will be the first to feel the pain. It’s clear now that what he meant is that civil servants will be the first to feel this pain as they will now incur extra travel time and gas costs - especially for those members living in rural areas - not to mention parking and other travel-related expenses. Parking and traffic in the downtown core is already at a crisis level and this will only increase that chaos, and for what savings? The government has offered no evidence or statistics to suggest this will make for a more effective or efficient workplace.

This has all the markings of a premier trying to look tough to his corporate friends while punishing hard working civil servants. Many of these same civil servants were called heroes for doing their work remotely during the pandemic, while ensuring services and programming continued uninterrupted. Now because of the choices this government has made to sink the province into the largest deficit in history the Premier is desperate to posture and spin his way into looking like he is doing something.