AAFC cuts impact 1,000-plus staff, union says

 

The Agriculture Union which represents workers at the federal agriculture department said the government cuts will impact “roughly 1,043” people.

That’s far more than the department’s announcement that 650 will be cut.

The union also said it got no advance notice of the plans to close seven research facilities and no details about any of the layoffs.

It said the cuts are not fair because Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada already decreased its employee count by 14 per cent between 2012 and 2025 while the government’s total staffing increased by 30 per cent.

“Our union represents 2,500 employees at AAFC, all of whom are essential to the health and resilience of our agricultural sector,” the union said.

It said 494 of its members are affected by this round of cuts.

“Our AAFC members are the backbone of Canadian agriculture research. They assist farmers by mitigating the impacts of climate change and drought, performing groundbreaking research, and keeping our food production industries competitive on a global scale."

“These cuts will sabotage important gains we’ve made in agricultural research and set research on Canadian food products back by decades,” said Milton Dyck, national president of the Agriculture Union. 

“We have been warning the federal government for months about cutting an already-decimated department. There is simply no more room to cut,” he said.