PAFSO Visa section will be completely shutdown effective Monday 29 July

[Dan_from_Surrey]

Another question:
Does anyone know that if by "shutting down" overseas offices, the officers will be getting on planes and flying back to Canada to wait this thing out or will they still be picketing outside their respected embassies? I've worked under a union before but we never had to strike so I'm new to this type of thing. If they all went home, it would be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the next 3-4 months I would think. ???

Hay gongdi, I would imagine that everyone will stay close to there posts, you should be seeing everyone wearing the "On Strike" placards, most unions only pay out strike pay to members who are actively participating, and if something should happen to break the deadlock, then those people need to be able to return to work, the next day (in most cases).

Even though they are on strike they do have a commitment to be at work, job action aside.

I feel your pain as well, my wife and I are just closing in on having her passport tied up at the Manila embassy for two months now. Medical getting ready to expire etc. I am sure this will add some time to the back end of the process for all of us, to some degree or another.

Outside pressure, on both sides of the dispute, is about the only thing that is really going to help move things along at all.

 

[scos]

I find it interesting that most people seem to be going after the union in this and are giving the government a free pass. This is pretty short sighted. Forcing the union back to work may get visas flowing again but the staff doing the job will not be very happy.

So why do we want happy staff? Think of how you are in your job when you are happy. You probably take more care to do better quality work. You probably deal with your customers/clients/coworkers better. You probably are more productive. And people happy in their jobs will often go above and beyond what their job calls for (like staying a little late to get something finished, assisting a customer even though they are not required to do so, or handling an issue that technically is not their responsibility).

Unhappy staff will just "do the job". This means following the rules to the letter. They will do no more than they have to. As a result they will take longer to get things done and customer service will suffer. Yet they are doing the job according to the job description so they can't be faulted. But you may find yourself being redirected to a switchboard instead of being routed directly to who you need to talk to. A simple e-mail may not be enough anymore to resolve an issue they will ask for things in writing. And just look in these forums at how many times people are asked to send in information that was supposed to be included with the original application but wasn't. You can expect more of these applications to be simply returned like the rules say.

Attitude in the workplace is very important. I have worked at a few places with terrible morale problems and even though everyone may be working like crazy nothing ever seems to get done or get done well. This doesn't mean the union should get everything they want. It does mean you want to bargain in good faith and after a deal is reached you want them to feel they were treated fairly. This way they will be ok with the result and not bitter or resentful.

And a final note: long before the job action the government policies were slowing processing anyway. So why again are they given a free pass and do you really think processing times will radically improve if you help them crush the union?

 

[Dan_from_Surrey]

I agree with you scos, a majority of the sentiment here seems to have the anti union slant to it, credit to the Conservatives and Co. And their propaganda machines.

Myself I am a "union person", and I am stuck in the same boat as everyone else, but I will wait it out. I was no fan of the conservatives before this, and I will be less of a fan afterwards. But at my core, I will take the extra wait time and hope the brothers and sisters from Pasfo get a fair deal. And I will remember this among other things come election time in 2015.

 

[scos]

I agree with you scos, a majority of the sentiment here seems to have the anti union slant to it, credit to the Conservatives and Co. And their propaganda machines.

Myself I am a "union person", and I am stuck in the same boat as everyone else, but I will wait it out. I was no fan of the conservatives before this, and I will be less of a fan afterwards. But at my core, I will take the extra wait time and hope the brothers and sisters from Pasfo get a fair deal. And I will remember this among other things come election time in 2015.

I've never been in a union. But I recognize the improvements they have made to working conditions over the decades for everyone. People don't realize that many of the things they take for granted in the labour law today were originally fought for and won by unions. Generally, as long as their demands are reasonable, I support them. There are few unions that I think have gotten too powerful for their own good. I won't name names but usually if a union starts trying to impact government policy over non-union issues, then in my opinion it needs to be reined-in.

That being said I don't see PAFSO as one of those "unreasonable" unions. Their demands seem fair, and they have conceded items that I feel they should never have had in the first place (and the fact they conceded them shows further "reasonable-ness" on their part). And I was reading that this is their first strike in 45 years so you can hardly call them militant!

Given all of this, and the modest demands they have, I think it is the government who is being really unreasonable.

 

[orly]

There are still people working in the offices involved I'd imagine.

Know of people getting decision made today (in London) despite it apparently being the first day of a strike.

There will be local staff or non-union members still working through cases.

 

[JimE2013]

I find it interesting that most people seem to be going after the union in this and are giving the government a free pass. This is pretty short sighted. Forcing the union back to work may get visas flowing again but the staff doing the job will not be very happy.

Tough. None of the people who are affected by this are very happy, either.

 

[oh101]

If Harper Government don't want to deal with union they should open some temporary processing centre in Canada and then forward those cases to process in Canada.

I don't have much time to have a look on what the union really want
But doing something like this is not really good

I don't know who should get blame.

Harper try to break the union or union ask way to much??

 

[gongdi]

I only wish there was a clear bulletin on exactly how much our cases are being effected their strike. Nobody seems to know if the striking workers are the ones who have authority to grant visas or if those workers still reporting can do this, only at a slower rate. Whener I call my local office, no ones answers and there isn't even a detailed message explaining the hold up. I have no idea whether the office is completely desolate or there are a few workers left hammering away. The "strike alert" offers no solid information regarding this.

As for right and wrong: The principles behind the decision to go on strike and the government's reasons for letting this drag on for so long are of no concern to me, I only feel it is rude and not very Canadian to keep us all in the dark. The future of our families have been brushed aside. It really shows how much both sides care about us.