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ehmile24 said:
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you applied for what kind of visa?.. does anyone here knows if manila office is processing visa? thanks!

TRV - Temporary Resident Visa.
Unfortunately, i don't know nothing about Manila office. But my friend from Toronto said that soon they will be work in a regular mode. In my experience they consider 1 application 2 days (Moscow office).
 
Torrero2525 said:
TRV - Temporary Resident Visa.
Unfortunately, i don't know nothing about Manila office. But my friend from Toronto said that soon they will be work in a regular mode. In my experience they consider 1 application 2 days (Moscow office).

thank you for your response, i'll just search for the latest news on PAFSO strike.. GOD Bless :)
 
24 July 2013 - Statement by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers: PAFSO Responds to Government's Conditional Acceptance of Arbitration

This morning, PAFSO sent a letter to the President of the Treasury Board. The correspondence addresses the conditions which the Government is seeking to attach to its acceptance of binding arbitration.

While we would have preferred to initiate the arbitration process without preconditions, PAFSO is committed to finding a reasonable and responsible way forward which will allow for a full and fair hearing of arguments from both sides – an objective we are sure the Government shares.

We await the Government's response. Until the conditions for arbitration are resolved, there will be no change in PAFSO’s job action measures.

PAFSO will update our members, the general public, and the media once we have more information to share.

Source:
http://www.pafso.com/news_releases.php?newsID=158
 
PAFSO - APASE
7 hours ago
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers:
PAFSO Responds to Government's Rejection of Arbitration

[Ottawa – July 26, 2013] 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:

1. 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.

2. 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 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.
 
Bad news for all of us as strike has just got worse.
Striking foreign service officers are withdrawing all services at Canada's 15 biggest visa processing centres abroad starting Monday, following a failed attempt to go to arbitration to settle the bitter contract dispute with the government.

The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, the union representing the officers, said Friday that Treasury Board President Tony Clement had rejected its offer of binding arbitration because the union wouldn't accept the conditions Clement attached to the offer.

The union began staging rotating job actions in the spring at different embassies and visa processing centres at different times, which has slowed down work abroad but not completely stopped it. Now the union is stepping up its pressure on the government.

"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," PAFSO said in a statement.

The centres are:

Abu Dhabi.
Ankara.
Beijing.
Cairo.
Delhi/Chandigarh.
Hong Kong.
London.
Manila.
Mexico City.
Moscow.
Paris.
Riyadh.
Sao Paulo.
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," the union said.

The tourism sectors and education institutions and organizations have been vocal with their concerns about the foreign service strike because of its impact already on the processing of visas. PAFSO encouraged them and others Friday to urge the government to "bargain freely and flexibly."

After the last round of negotiation broke down with no resolution and weeks went by with no talks scheduled, the union proposed to the government that they go to binding arbitration. The government then responded that it would agree, only if the union accepted certain conditions. It wanted the conditions kept confidential.

But in its statement Friday PAFSO shared some of the conditions and said two of them 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."

Union accepted some conditions
The government wanted to exclude any mention of other bureaucrats who perform similar work, according to the union, "which has been at the heart of our position since day one."

"Equal pay for equal work," has been the union's slogan throughout the strike and it's the main sticking point in the dispute.

Ending their work action during the arbitration process was another condition the government wanted to impose and is one the union accepted. It also accepted two other conditions, but without accepting all six, the government said no to arbitration.

The union is accusing Clement of "cherry-picking criteria" that would have favoured the government's position and of "negotiating in bad faith."

Clement rejects those accusations. In his own statement released Friday he said the government has put a fair contract offer on the table and it's "disappointed that PAFSO was so quick to reject our willingness to enter into a binding arbitration process that the union itself requested."

He said the Canadian public is concerned about PAFSO's willingness to disrupt international business and tourism during the busy summer season.

"However, we want to reassure Canadians and our international friends that, despite PAFSO's actions, Canada remains open for business, and that we continue to welcome visitors and international students to experience Canada," Clement said.

On Twitter Clement said he couldn't comment on future options but that new Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander "will be able to deal with the resources needed."
 
Join us on Facebook (people affected by the strike):

http://www.facebook.com/groups/553137958077581
 
This is devastating news!!!! :( :( :(

Striking diplomats vow major visa shutdown
Foreign service officers will launch walkout Monday at 15 centres as arbitration bid fails
By Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News Posted: Jul 26, 2013 5:26 PM ET Last Updated: Jul 27, 2013 2:54 PM ET

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/07/26/pol-foreign-service-workers-arbitration.html
 
I have a bad feeling about this strike that it is going to take a few more months till they stop putting everybody through this pain.
I hope not :-\ >:(
 
PAFSO is acting like a child who ate all his cookies in an hour and want more of them but he will not get because his papa (TBS) ran out of budget
 
Update as of a few hours ago..."Visa offices remain open".... :D

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/07/29/pol-foreign-service-strike.html
 
mmm, maybe, maybe not...one can only hope... ;)

FYI, I just received a reply today to a request I made to the Paris office...so someone is there, lol, but perhaps for small matters... ???
 
PAFSO members will picket outside PMO's office (Langevin Block) tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m
 
terki said:
YES - only for essential services and clerical
Not all visa officers are union members, the non-union members are still working, and I think they are the ones deserve the raise , not the union people
 
itsmyid said:
Not all visa officers are union members, the non-union members are still working, and I think they are the ones deserve the raise , not the union people

Yes they deserves raise and they are real PROFESSIONALS, and I will rename so called PAFSO as VUPAFSO that is VERY UN - PROFESSIONAL - AFSO

In Some ways they are equal to hijackers who are restricting people to meet their family and loved ones.