Ottawa Now - Public service unions call out working conditions of existing buildings as feds prepare to issue 4-day RTO mandates | Page 887 | Unpublished
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Publication Date: February 9, 2026 - 18:30

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Ottawa Now - Public service unions call out working conditions of existing buildings as feds prepare to issue 4-day RTO mandates

February 9, 2026

Public service unions are sounding the alarm bell over present-day conditions inside federal office buildings. This follows Friday’s directives from the feds, in which public service employees will soon be ordered back to their workspaces for 4 days a week. That agreement is slated to take effect July 6th. The unions argue that workers shouldn’t be ordered back to their workspaces if there isn’t enough workspace available. Health issues, such as pests and bed bugs, are other important and ‘horrendous’ concerns they have raised in the past. And as we are hearing from other unions, they are tossing similar red flags. Vivian Funk, a full-time public servant herself, is the Vice-President of Health and Safety with the Association of Justice Counsel. That union represents over 3,500 members of Canada’s federal legal team. She joins Kristy Cameron on today’s Ottawa Now.



Unpublished Newswire

 
OTTAWA — The federal justice department has widened its use of heat and motion sensors installed under staff’s desks, raising further concerns from staff and a union that they could eventually be used to monitor office attendance even if their employer swears it won’t. In a memo to impacted staff, Justice Canada officials said it was launching a new phase of a controversial project started in 2023 to gather data about office space utilization using heat and motion sensors. The devices are installed under employees’ desks as well as in common workspaces. According to the memo, the...
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