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ST. JOHN’S CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas says he is deeply disturbed about the Davis Government’s latest plan to cut jobs through attrition over the next five years.

Says Lucas, “Attrition is a fancy word for layoffs.  This is actually a workforce reduction plan which means it’s a service reduction plan.

“I am particularly concerned when I hear the finance minister say that if not enough employees retire then the government will have to proceed with direct layoffs. This basically puts pressure on senior employees with great skill sets and invaluable experience to retire on time or junior workers will lose their jobs. 

“The minister has also said they want to ‘readjust the way they provide services’.  Is this a reference to the recent privatization remarks made by the premier and his desire to explore P3’s, so-called public private partnerships,” asks Lucas.

The provincial government says its five-year attrition plan will see a total of 1,420 positions removed from the public service by 2019-20.