National Public Service Week (PSW) kicked off yesterday under the theme Celebrating our Commitment.
Since 1993, public servants from all three levels of government in this province have come together every year to share their achievements and celebrate the services they deliver to Manitobans.
For provincial public servants, the week-long celebrations culminate in the Manitoba Service Excellence Awards, hosted this year on Friday, June 15 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.
But in 2012, the celebrations have also been dampened by cuts to more than 19,000 federal government positions across the country. More than 1,600 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members on the prairies have received affected or surplus letters and the Harper government has been clear that more is yet to come.
For this reason, PSAC has asked their members not to support PSW this year by boycotting all celebrations. In a letter to all PSAC members, National President Robyn Benson said “It's time to show our employer that there is no celebration without the services and the people who provide them.”
The MGEU is not asking its members to boycott this year’s PSW celebrations, but is encouraging them to support federal public servants by sending a message to the government, reminding them that public services should be celebrated, not weakened by cuts.