29/07/2013
VISA OFFICERS STRIKE
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.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/07/26/pol-foreign-service-workers-arbitration.html
Striking foreign service officers are withdrawing all services at Canada's 15 biggest visa centres around the world starting Monday, following a failed attempt to go to arbitration to settle the bitter contract dispute.