+1(514) 937-9445 or Toll-free (Canada & US) +1 (888) 947-9445
GoonerClank said:
I have some rum at the ready Tagum.
I don't want any rum , I just want to hear those 2 happy ending words
 
Looks like all of January (in the spreadsheet) got their PPRs.
 
Tagum-N.B. said:
I don't want any rum , I just want to hear those 2 happy ending words

Those words will come.
 
GoonerClank said:
Looks like all of January (in the spreadsheet) got their PPRs.
ya so they can sit and wait 6-8 months and are not allowed to leave the country,,,,who really knows they are always changing their sequence of events,,,,,,just pity anyone with the first sign of a problem and their app will be thrown in the corner now for sure to be able to put out others b4 meds expire,,,,it will be a hot race for all to get visa b4 the med is expired now,,,,,,20 % will pay with a very extended timeline
 
Tagum-N.B. said:
I don't want any rum , I just want to hear those 2 happy ending words

$50 dolla?
 
Well, had a good run with the spreadsheet and people generally behaving themselves. But today it was locking up and I had to take it private. Turns out some idiot had added 3 columns and tried to hide them by making them very small. And in those columns he was inserting code to access a 3rd party website. For now the code was simply generating page hits by doing random searches (maybe he is related to that site, or he was simply testing against that site). This person has been working on this for a couple of days. Who knows what the final code was supposed to do?

So now the sheet will be locked and any updates will go through me. And when the time comes that I decide to move on, whoever wants to take it over can host it on their own account and I will remove it from mine.
 
As of Monday all services are suspended at all the major embassies.
 
scos said:
Well, had a good run with the spreadsheet and people generally behaving themselves. But today it was locking up and I had to take it private. Turns out some idiot had added 3 columns and tried to hide them by making them very small. And in those columns he was inserting code to access a 3rd party website. For now the code was simply generating page hits by doing random searches (maybe he is related to that site, or he was simply testing against that site). This person has been working on this for a couple of days. Who knows what the final code was supposed to do?

So now the sheet will be locked and any updates will go through me. And when the time comes that I decide to move on, whoever wants to take it over can host it on their own account and I will remove it from mine.

Will there be a 'view only' mode still?
 
DaveSav said:
Will there be a 'view only' mode still?

It's now back up as view only.
 
scos said:
It's now back up as view only.

Thanks and thanks for all your work on this. With the lack of e-cas updates it feels like the only lifeline to see what's actually going on.
 
DaveSav said:
Thanks and thanks for all your work on this. With the lack of e-cas updates it feels like the only lifeline to see what's actually going on.

Amen to that brother! And a huge thanks to scos for maintaining the beast!
 
CanadianJeepGuy said:
As of Monday all services are suspended at all the major embassies.

Not doubting you here, but has that been confirmed?

This will be the catalyst to "essential service" them now.
 
Dan_from_Surrey said:
Not doubting you here, but has that been confirmed?

This will be the catalyst to "essential service" them now.

http://www.pafso.com/news_releases.php?newsID=159

The pertinent part is...

Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.

We are at the mercy of the management being able to keep the system creaking along. While CJG was probably right about which apps would get processed with the slowdown, he is even more right now in that only apps that are already nearly complete will be dribbling out. Management probably doesn't have the skills to get into most of the major app processing that early apps would require so those apps will be really affected by this.
 
Despite all of the craziness, we got "In Process" today on eCas. It looks like the update was late, given that eCas says they started processing on July 18th.

Scos, hadn't PAFSO already withdrawn all services from Manila? Was that statement important because they are withdrawing from new embassies or because they were maintaining some level of service at those offices?
 
scos said:

Yes, just found that myself, thanks scos...

for those not wanting to go to the actual web site, PAFSO's new release read as such....

News
26 July 2013 - Statement by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers: PAFSO Responds to Government's Rejection of Arbitration

Shortly before noon today, PAFSO received a letter from the President of the Treasury Board in which he rejected our offer of binding arbitration. Minister Clement's decision was based on the grounds that PAFSO would not accept all six of the preconditions he wanted to impose on the arbitration process.

The Canadian public must understand two key facts:

Two of Treasury Board's preconditions were so paralyzing that their acceptance would have predetermined the outcome of arbitration in the Government's favour and negated the purpose and integrity of the process. Specifically, they wanted to exclude from consideration any mention of other professional groups in government who perform the same work as us – often in neighbouring offices – which has been at the heart of our position since day one.

PAFSO made a reasonable and responsible effort at finding common ground by accepting two of the six preconditions, and committing to a goodwill gesture – a suspension of service withdrawals while arbitration is ongoing – which would have satisfied a third.

Let us be clear: PAFSO has not rejected binding arbitration. We offered it in the first place. We agreed to pursue it even with three of Treasury Board's preconditions. This offer still stands.

If Minister Clement truly believes his offer is “fair and reasonable”, he would not have shied away from arbitration without preconditions. Rather, he would have welcomed the opportunity to submit his offer to independent scrutiny. Instead, he sought to stack the deck in his favour by cherry-picking criteria which would have favoured Treasury Board's position. He is trying to tilt the playing field to the Government's advantage, and is clearly uninterested in a fair contest.

The Government has reached tentative agreements in two other long-outstanding contract negotiations during the last month, and will return to the table on Monday to address a third. PAFSO is one of the smallest unions in the federal government. Equal pay for our members could be achieved for $4.2 million – 1.5% of the impact this strike is having on the tourism sector alone. PAFSO can only conclude that the Government is behaving prejudicially toward the Foreign Service and is therefore negotiating in bad faith. This should be of serious concern to all Canadians.

Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.

We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the Government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts. PAFSO has made every reasonable effort to resolve this situation; the Government has not. PAFSO encourages all individuals, businesses, and industry associations with a stake in the outcome of our dispute to intervene with the Government and urge them to bargain freely and flexibly with their own employees.

PAFSO's recent exchanges with Treasury Board are below for background.