About 100 P.E.I. public service workers took to the streets on their lunch hour Thursday in Charlottetown, Summerside and Montague to protest looming federal budget cuts.

All federal departments have been asked to find savings of between five and 10 per cent of their budgets to cut $4 billion in spending annually.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada fears as many as 100,000 federal public service jobs could be lost across the country.

Jody LaPierre, president of the Union of Veterans Affairs Employees and PSAC provincial director, was at the Charlottetown protest.

Jody LaPierre, who represents 850 Veterans Affairs employees, says uncertainty is making people nervous.

"The department cannot take any more cuts and still be able to deliver quality services to their veterans," he said, adding that the uncertainty is making employees very nervous.

"Right now, when there is no news, there's rumours starting and it's building up and people really don't know what to be ready for when the budget comes down and that's not fair," said LaPierre.

"People need to prepare. They have families at home and they need to know what's going on. Keep them in the loop," he said.

But a spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney said veterans' current benefits will be spared the axe in the coming federal budget. Instead, Jean-Christophe de le Rue told CBC News that cuts at the department would be achieved through attrition, as employees retire over the next five years.

Flaherty tried to quell fears surrounding the budget, which will be tabled on March 29, saying cuts won't be as bad as the austerity budgets.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will table the federal budget on March 29.

The finance minister said the document won't contain all the details of the government's spending cuts.

"The key is this: we have a $265-billion budget. We're talking about relatively small spending reductions, certainly nothing more than moderate spending reductions in a budget of that size," said Flaherty.

Federal workers from P.E.I. said that cuts may save Ottawa money, but may mean reduced services for Islanders and fewer jobs.

Workers declined interview requests made by CBC News, fearing possible repercussions from their employer.