City of Calgary announces 1,200 temporary layoffs

The City of Calgary has implemented mandatory facility closures, program suspensions and temporary layoffs as part of the organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many businesses and government bodies, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on City programs and services. As a result, many on-call, part-time and temporary employees no longer have work due to facility closures and program suspensions.

Yesterday, The City made the difficult decision to make temporary workforce adjustments by laying off approximately 1,200 valued employees in the Recreation and Calgary Neighbourhoods business units.

“Taking these steps allows impacted employees to apply for supports made available by the Government of Alberta and Government of Canada during this difficult time,” said City Manager David Duckworth. “This is not an action we wanted to take but one we needed to, as the effects of COVID-19 continue to have significant impacts on citizens, City services and our employees.”

Employees in these work areas include swim instructors, arena and athletic park staff, and aquatics and fitness staff. The City is working with impacted employees to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect while adhering to relevant collective agreements.

“I’d like to personally thank these employees for their dedicated service to Calgarians,” said Duckworth. “I look forward to the time when we are able to reopen our facilities and restore impacted services, so we can bring our valued employees back to work.”

The City of Calgary remains committed to providing the essential services citizens rely on every day as the organization continues responding to this unprecedented situation. The City will continue to evaluate and monitor service levels to ensure the right balance for citizens and employees moving forward.

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