Cuts Have Consequences

*This article appears in the current issue of the Union Stand

It has been almost eight weeks since Premier Houston’s disastrous Spring legislative session finally came to a close. That sitting was supposed to be an in-and-out, no-muss-no-fuss passage of his government’s most recent budget ended up being a messy 46-day affair that managed to anger an impressive cross-section of the population in Nova Scotia.

The budget contained substantial cuts to the public sector: an estimated 443 FTE from the civil service alone, as well as $130 million in cuts to grants-based programs, which many of our members help deliver in the community-based sector. But months later, the impact of these cuts is just beginning to trickle out.
First, we found out about the cuts to the museums and tourism information centres: a total of 40 NSGEU members lost their jobs in those areas. Government also eliminated seven Enumerator positions, six Inspectors, three Environmental Planner, 11 members who worked in the agricultural lab in Truro, and two members from the Department of Finance and Treasury. More job losses have followed at the Nova Scotia Communities Colleges and Cape Breton University: 17 and 3, respectively.

Outside of the direct impact on our members, we’re starting to see how the three per cent cuts will impact things that we hold near and dear within our communities, like arts organizations and our public libraries.

One thing is clear: these cuts have consequences, and they will keep coming. It’s just unclear where government will set their sights next.
Navigating the unknown

When asked for details in mid-May about how many layoffs or vacancy cancellations have taken place to date as part of government’s fiscal sustainability plan and how close, in each case, the current numbers get them to the five per cent target within the Civil Service, the response received was: “We report annually on total [full-time equivalent] reductions and will provide an update at budget 27-28.”

Government added that reductions would be done through attrition “wherever possible,” and that some smaller departments are exempt from the reductions, although the full list of exemptions was still being confirmed as of mid-May.

“Our goal is to protect the important frontline services that Nova Scotians rely on,” the statement said.

But we know that frontline services are clearly impacted by these cuts. In fact, entire facilities have been closed as a result. And these are just the cuts for this year: the capital plan introduced by Houston’s government in February included a five per cent reduction in the Civil Service each year, for four years. By year two, attrition will be essentially non-existent.

At the same time, the NSGEU has learned that Public Service Commission has plans to recruit a new five-person team “dedicated to incorporating artificial intelligence into provincial government operations.” The funding for this team will come from the province’s $4.4-million investment for this fiscal year to “establish artificial intelligence capabilities.”

The union has reached out to the employer on multiple occasions for further details on this new team and finally received a response in early June. Given the broad nature of what appears to be the mandate for these positions, the union must want to see if AI technology is implemented as a result of their work, and if it affects employment. At that time, it would be the requirement of the employer to bring this issue forward through the Employment Stability process.

The union response

It’s important to note that the Civil Service Master Agreement has strong job protection language it accepted as part of a past contract — in lieu of higher wage increases — and that language has been preserved in subsequent contracts (despite the employer’s best efforts to remove it during the most recent round of bargaining).

The union’s job protection provisions state that when someone’s position becomes redundant, is relocated or would otherwise be the subject of a layoff notice, they cannot be laid off. Instead, a worker could exercise bumping rights, accept a voluntary layoff but be entitled to recall, or voluntarily resign with severance.
That job security language has very effectively prevented past governments from cutting the Civil Service. On September 23, 2014, the Chronicle Herald published an article headlined “’Zero mechanism’ for public service layoffs,” quoting then-PSC Minister Labi Kousoulis saying his government would target the memorandum of agreement, as “the policy has a more negative impact on the province’s finances than any wage increase in recent memory … ‘As it stands now, there is zero mechanism to have any layoffs.’”

Now, Premier Houston’s government is taking issue with that same language, arguing that despite the clear job protection language that only allows layoffs to occur in very defined circumstances where an employee refuses a reasonable offer of alternate employment, they can effectively lay off an employee at the end of their notification period.

The union and employer are scheduled to go before an arbitrator in November to have the issue heard.

The push-back

In the meantime, the union has mounted a public awareness campaign. Leading up to and during the legislative session, we ran radio advertisements, talking about the importance of supporting our public services, and what is at risk due to budget cuts: https://nsgeu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/nsgeu_hccss_r30e_full-mix.mp3

Then, in May, we launched a series of online ads targeting each of the areas that have been hardest hit by layoffs, so far: Cape Breton, Yarmouth, Shelburne, and Guysborough, as well as a province-wide campaign, and one for NSCC. Each of these tailored ad sets drives people to an e-action they can complete to send a message to the Local MLA, Premier, and Opposition leaders to let them know how they feel about the impact these cuts will have on their community. If you haven’t yet had a chance to send a message, you can do so by visiting

Many other stakeholders are standing up to push back against these regressive cuts, as well. The collective rage seems to be having an impact: according to an Angus Reid poll from April, just 26 per cent of Nova Scotians say the province is on the right track, which represents a steep decline from just a year ago when 53 per cent had the same view. And Houston’s personal popularity dipped by 16 points to 34 per cent: the lowest it’s been since he took office.

In the fall, the NSGEU plans to continue to keep the pressure on our elected officials with a continuation of our public facing campaign in other new spaces. Please keep an eye out for these ads and share them with your friends and family to help us keep the pressure on our elected officials to protect our public services!