Penashue meeting yields 'absolutely' no details on cuts

The head of Newfoundland and Labrador's Federation of Labour said a brief meeting with federal cabinet representative Peter Penashue revealed little about forthcoming job cuts.

"He had absolutely no details whatsoever," federation president Lana Payne told CBC News after Wednesday's 15-minute meeting.

Payne said Penashue had details on some things, such as reductions at outreach offices with Service Canada.

"He knew that those were going to be impacted, but we'd already been hearing about this in prior weeks," said Payne.

"It really felt like we were getting nowhere with him and his staff. Basically, these decisions are made, and let the chips fall where they may."

Thousands of public servants across Canada began receiving redundancy notices on Wednesday.

Penashue said it is too early to know exact details about the impact of budget cuts in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"This is going to unroll in the next couple of weeks and each department will be announcing their intentions as to where those savings will be realized," he said.

He said the government and unions have agreed to follow a certain process for the layoffs.

"I'm not going to be making announcements outside of that process," he said.