Foreign Service - Strike?

[scos]

well there are always some risks when you implement a change and its a good thing to be risk averse to an extent and bad to be risk-phobic. If there is an incentive based system, SCOS you are right that cash incentives is not at all the right way to motivate someone to work, but as some of us may have read in famous Maslow's theory,the personal growth is the highest motivator, and it doesn't need to be implemented tomorrow, there should be research, process mapping, control points, audits QA, and pilots need to be complete first.

for example if you order a food in restaurant and it arrives after 30 mins, cold .. would you pay for that service or consider going back there again, No because its your money and you want to spend it where you can get best service and good food, then you will tip generously as well. so why cannot this government spend my tax dollars wisely where i can enjoy it as well.. is it too much to ask? why is it when we talk about putting some control points or performance checks for government employees, all of a sudden it wont work?

for Foreign service , i am sure there can be a way to introduce such steps where performance can be measured. like what we see in GCMS notes that some files dont get touched for more 5 months by assigned officers while some gets completed in 5 months. plus there can be a lot of other key control points where performance can be measured other than granting or rejecting visas or pay per process.

Nothing is impossible, i am an optimist and i think if one puts sincere efforts for anything, it can be achieved.

CanadianJeepGuy: i never mentioned that government is for profit organization, its about utilizing the tax money wisely.
what happened after the toronto garbage strike if you can recall, the govt privatized some areas to GFL, with performance based incentive and fines. saving millions of dollars. plus i can complain about bad behaviour or service now and it gets heard. there are other cities where the garbage collection is fully privatized saving millions of tax dollars every year which are being utilized in health care, reducing emerg times, get more doctors,development of roads etc.. everything is possible and there is always a way.. you just need to be open minded and positive to look for it

but instead of privatizing, implement the similar system in few pilot departments.


there is corruption in other countries at a grass root level because the govt employees dont even make 25% of what canadian employee make and in order to sustain the family, one takes bribes but it still cannot be justified. we come to conclusion very fast and be judgemental. there is a lot of corruption in canada as well but its not at grass root level so it doesnt impact us directly, the media is not strong/independent , so we dont really hear about it.

Yes, there are many, many ways the process can be improved, checkpoints added, and the whole process be made more transparent. But it won't happen for the simple fact that the government doesn't want to be transparent. If there were well documented procedures and full disclosure then you would know when they are messing around with things. For instance, there is the whole issue of quotas. I have read some people posting that there aren't any but if you look at CIC's planned immigration numbers for any year they plan the total number of new immigrants and have breakdowns by type. So if the number for spousal is say 60,000, what happens when you are in October and you have just approved number 60,000? You can't approve the next one so you either say that you don't believe it is a valid marriage (if the evidence can be construed as "dubious") or you delay till the next year. Maybe ask for more documentation. Maybe misplace some paperwork. Maybe send an email that never arrives. If you have a transparent system you can't do this. But the system as it is allows for it, and in fact seems designed for it. Of course they wouldn't wait till they run out of placements. This stuff is no doubt happening all the time to slow the rate of new immigrants to one that fits the quotas. Considering the current government is secretive to the point of paranoia it is even more likely the system is "working as intended".

And as for the garbage strike, having a single source contract to a private company doesn't give me any feeling of better service. Supposedly Hydro is now "private". Do you feel better served by them? I sure don't. And the private garbage companies will play nice until they take over all the garbage collection. Once the city has sold all the trucks, lots and other assets to the winning bidder and transferred or eliminated existing public workers things will change. We will have no recourse then. They can hike their prices, or reduce service (or both) and what can the city do? It can no longer collect the garbage itself so it is screwed. So supplementing a public system with private sources may help curtail costs in the short term but that is about it. Once they are in a better position to negotiate they will start to push for more profits. Any initial savings will vanish and prices will increase except instead of it going to labour (and eventually back into the economy via local businesses) it will end up in the owners pocket as corporate profits.

 

[CanadianJeepGuy]

well there are always some risks when you implement a change and its a good thing to be risk averse to an extent and bad to be risk-phobic. If there is an incentive based system, SCOS you are right that cash incentives is not at all the right way to motivate someone to work, but as some of us may have read in famous Maslow's theory,the personal growth is the highest motivator, and it doesn't need to be implemented tomorrow, there should be research, process mapping, control points, audits QA, and pilots need to be complete first.

Consider the time and money required to research and implement these specific to each embassy. I doubt you will find much cost savings there.

for example if you order a food in restaurant and it arrives after 30 mins, cold .. would you pay for that service or consider going back there again, No because its your money and you want to spend it where you can get best service and good food, then you will tip generously as well. so why cannot this government spend my tax dollars wisely where i can enjoy it as well.. is it too much to ask? why is it when we talk about putting some control points or performance checks for government employees, all of a sudden it wont work?

You may be penalizing the wrong person for the cold food. What if the mistake was made by the kitchen staff? Or the manager? The server did their part by serving you the food but you would rather deny them their "tip" for something that is the responsibility of management.

CanadianJeepGuy: i never mentioned that government is for profit organization, its about utilizing the tax money wisely.
what happened after the toronto garbage strike if you can recall, the govt privatized some areas to GFL, with performance based incentive and fines. saving millions of dollars. plus i can complain about bad behaviour or service now and it gets heard. there are other cities where the garbage collection is fully privatized saving millions of tax dollars every year which are being utilized in health care, reducing emerg times, get more doctors,development of roads etc.. everything is possible and there is always a way.. you just need to be open minded and positive to look for it

but instead of privatizing, implement the similar system in few pilot departments.

Its about what resources are available in order to implement changes to policy. Government departments work on fixed budgets and may have no other avenue to get surplus cash to allow for a performance based incentive.

A monetary based performance system requires a surplus of cash to accommodate it. You would have to add an unknown number to the budget to allow for the variation in performance targets achieved. Its a carrot on a stick and it can always be moved further from your reach. Target numbers can be fudged so really in the end it looks good on paper but there is no guarantee to the worker that they will ever be compensated for their work. Canada Post added this to the Collective Agreement in 2005 in lieu of a real pay raise. A performance based bonus. We all got it twice and no one has seen one since. Management still get theirs though. Its based on cost savings to the area they manage. So they deny as many overtime claims as they think they can get away with.

there is corruption in other countries at a grass root level because the govt employees dont even make 25% of what canadian employee make and in order to sustain the family, one takes bribes but it still cannot be justified. we come to conclusion very fast and be judgemental. there is a lot of corruption in canada as well but its not at grass root level so it doesnt impact us directly, the media is not strong/independent , so we dont really hear about it.

There is corruption at all levels of government in foreign third world countries. The closer to the top you get the worse it gets. Government employees there skim what they can but the real corruption is done by those in charge. You are right about corruption here. Just look at Montreal and the corruption there. Look at Stephen Harper. For the average government worker here we earn a decent living wage so it there is no risk/reward for trying to skim anything illegally.

As for the privatization of the garbage and recycling...it was done here in Winnipeg last year. Your garbage may not get picked dup for days or it may get picked up at 9 or 10 O'clock at night. I still pay the same amount of municipal taxes...in fact they went up $400 from last year. Turtle Island (the private waste company contracted for the city) will have to make a profit every year so the city will have to renegotiate that contract to include a profit for them. Instead of an annual increase of 1.2% for the city workers to pick up the garbage regularly on time you now have to pay more for less service. Privatization makes as much sense as Reaganomics.

 

[Dan_from_Surrey]

One thing Sidhu pointed out ( hope I am quoting this correctly, forums are a bit screwy on my phone) "most tax payers and not unionized", but.. (And there is always a but) all unionized people are tax payers. That aside, I will reply more in depth, when I get back in front of my computer.

I actually agree, to agree with some of the earlier comments. More to come.

 

[anisha patel]

hey guys , any clue how much time do they need for background , security n criminal checks?

 

[zardoz]

hey guys , any clue how much time do they need for background , security n criminal checks?

It all depends on who you are, where you are living and what you have done.
Some people have very simple history or already have government security clearance and these can be very quick.
Others are from troubled parts of the world or have extensively travelled. These can take MUCH longer.

 

[sidhu1982]

Consider the time and money required to research and implement these specific to each embassy. I doubt you will find much cost savings there.

well if stupid Harper can return 1 of the pandas which essentially serves no purpose there is a direct saving of $1Million per year and since they are on loan from china we can return them.. there is already too much made in china here in canada ???
this saving can help a research and development group to complete the research easily in a year. quality may have its cost but it will benefit generations to come.

You may be penalizing the wrong person for the cold food. What if the mistake was made by the kitchen staff? Or the manager? The server did their part by serving you the food but you would rather deny them their "tip" for something that is the responsibility of management.

well this proves that there is something broken in their process and i would rather not pay for the meal, complain, leave and never look back. from this they can learn its broken and fix it, its upto them to find the issue and resource to fix the problem. if they dont then they will continue to suffer losses due to lack in service and delivery and eventually go bankrupt. unfortunately thats how system works.

A monetary based performance system requires a surplus of cash to accommodate it. You would have to add an unknown number to the budget to allow for the variation in performance targets achieved. Its a carrot on a stick and it can always be moved further from your reach. Target numbers can be fudged so really in the end it looks good on paper but there is no guarantee to the worker that they will ever be compensated for their work. Canada Post added this to the Collective Agreement in 2005 in lieu of a real pay raise. A performance based bonus. We all got it twice and no one has seen one since. Management still get theirs though. Its based on cost savings to the area they manage. So they deny as many overtime claims as they think they can get away with.

thats why a monetary base system doesnt work as i stated in my post earlier. if people can fudge numbers then the system is not perfect. if its logged in computer with date and time stamped, it cannot be fudged unless you are administrator of such system.. for example tracking system for parcels, when it scans through a checkpoint, it gets recorded and available online instantly.. dont tell me that can be fudged lol... i rely on that a lot

There is corruption at all levels of government in foreign third world countries. The closer to the top you get the worse it gets. Government employees there skim what they can but the real corruption is done by those in charge. You are right about corruption here. Just look at Montreal and the corruption there. Look at Stephen Harper. For the average government worker here we earn a decent living wage so it there is no risk/reward for trying to skim anything illegally.

Agree 100% .. the top you go the higher it gets.. and its really opposite in canada .. there is zero grass root level corruption but huge corruption on high level.

As for the privatization of the garbage and recycling...it was done here in Winnipeg last year. Your garbage may not get picked dup for days or it may get picked up at 9 or 10 O'clock at night. I still pay the same amount of municipal taxes...in fact they went up $400 from last year. Turtle Island (the private waste company contracted for the city) will have to make a profit every year so the city will have to renegotiate that contract to include a profit for them. Instead of an annual increase of 1.2% for the city workers to pick up the garbage regularly on time you now have to pay more for less service. Privatization makes as much sense as Reaganomics.

jeez i heard that they are saving tons of money in winipeg/calgary and ottawa. there must be kickbacks to the vendor managers in winipeg or some sort of sick corruption when the contract was being awarded.. and if the government wants they can control very easily. there are a lot of hungry sharks in the markets who can replace the existing private company at a competitive price.
well one thing rob ford did right was to privatize a portion of city and not the entire city and in any provincial contract government (not sure about municipal) is mandated to have a minimum of 2 vendors and the contract gets awarded to both with percentage like 55% - 45 % or 40% each and 20% cherry to whomever perform better. this keeps it competitive and costs to stay minimum. Also its stupid to contract out all the work to a private company and if the department executives are smart they usually only contract out half of the total workload.
here in toronto.. they pickup garbage between set time in my area between 12-1 and that hasnt changed in since they started, their staff is courteous and polite .. 1000 times better than the city staff who used to pick up garbage last year, it was their rudeness and arrogance which costed them their jobs and i personally dont feel bad because now i dont have to pick up my bin from middle of the road and complain because they didnt pick my garbage because green bin was sitting close to the garbage bin[ this was actual excuse of the collector when i confronted him]

 

[sidhu1982]

One thing Sidhu pointed out ( hope I am quoting this correctly, forums are a bit screwy on my phone) "most tax payers and not unionized", but.. (And there is always a but) all unionized people are tax payers. That aside, I will reply more in depth, when I get back in front of my computer.

I actually agree, to agree with some of the earlier comments. More to come.

hahaha agree to agree .. keep them coming my friend.. good stuff

 

[CanadianJeepGuy]

thats why a monetary base system doesnt work as i stated in my post earlier. if people can fudge numbers then the system is not perfect. if its logged in computer with date and time stamped, it cannot be fudged unless you are administrator of such system.. for example tracking system for parcels, when it scans through a checkpoint, it gets recorded and available online instantly.. dont tell me that can be fudged lol... i rely on that a lot

They sure can be fudged and get fudged daily. I scan all my parcels and packets first thing in the morning as delivered so I have 1 less thing to try to juggle on route. So when you track it it will say successfully delivered at 8:15 though I may not actually get to the address until the afternoon. Parcels and packets that get inducted to the wrong route will be put on hold and redirected so they do not register as a failed delivery if they are time sensitive. The customer may receive the item a day or two after its intentional delivery time but the sender has no recourse to recover the money they spent to have it delivered within a certain timeframe.

jeez i heard that they are saving tons of money in winipeg/calgary and ottawa. there must be kickbacks to the vendor managers in winipeg or some sort of sick corruption when the contract was being awarded.. and if the government wants they can control very easily. there are a lot of hungry sharks in the markets who can replace the existing private company at a competitive price.
well one thing rob ford did right was to privatize a portion of city and not the entire city and in any provincial contract government (not sure about municipal) is mandated to have a minimum of 2 vendors and the contract gets awarded to both with percentage like 55% - 45 % or 40% each and 20% cherry to whomever perform better. this keeps it competitive and costs to stay minimum. Also its stupid to contract out all the work to a private company and if the department executives are smart they usually only contract out half of the total workload.
here in toronto.. they pickup garbage between set time in my area between 12-1 and that hasnt changed in since they started, their staff is courteous and polite .. 1000 times better than the city staff who used to pick up garbage last year, it was their rudeness and arrogance which costed them their jobs and i personally dont feel bad because now i dont have to pick up my bin from middle of the road and complain because they didnt pick my garbage because green bin was sitting close to the garbage bin[ this was actual excuse of the collector when i confronted him]

There are lots of fooked up things happening here in Winnipeg. You will always find someone's relative being connected to a city contract somewhere. The bidding is rigged. its obvious and no one gives a fook. The current Mayor had placed his wife (now ex-wife) on the city payroll even though she wasn't even employed and this guy still gets fooking re-elected. If I had hair I would have pulled it out ages ago.

 

[Vats]

Keen to hear "Strike is ended"

 

[marcjd]

Keen to hear "Strike is ended"

lol source ??

 

[c_farah]

"Keen" means (s)he's eager to hear that, not that news has come out re: end of the strike.


That being said, I just want to confirm a couple of things.
a) the NYC office is part of the strike as well, correct?
b) The offices are still processing applications, just at a much slower pace, correct?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nell1236]

.... My wife came across a classified ad on a Chinese website seeking 'visa officers' for the Canadian embassy. This government's stinginess will even invite corruption if it helps to bust unions.

My husband at his first interview in the embassy in Mexico City (in 2010) said there was no one there even resembling a Canadian; they were all Mexicans, and none of them looked like professionals, just they type you'd see working in a market. In a conversation with the then Ambassador, I asked about that and was told that hiring people of the country was the norm, as they were the ones with the skills and knowledge to be able to determine who was lying or not. Right. But he forgot about national prejudices.

So it's a thing they do all the time, but in this case it appears they are trying to hire scabs, which is the typical sleaze we have come to expect from this particular government. I'm wondering just how many Pafso people there really are in the world for the government to be so stingy and unyielding since he didn't see one.

 

[CanadianJeepGuy]

"Keen" means (s)he's eager to hear that, not that news has come out re: end of the strike.


That being said, I just want to confirm a couple of things.
a) the NYC office is part of the strike as well, correct?
b) The offices are still processing applications, just at a much slower pace, correct?

Thanks in advance.

a) Yes
b) Yes

 

[ggss]

Is Sydney, Australia consulate also effected by strike ??

 

[GoonerClank]

According to PAFSO's Facebook page, the PSLRB hearing has been rescheduled for next Wed. August 21.