bout de papier, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2002) — Spring/Summer 2002 // Printemps/Été 2002, p. 3
s this issue of bout de papier goes to press, a tentative settlement has been reached in the labour dispute between the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers and Treasury Board. This follows a month of job action by PAFSO members. In the past, the idea of striking diplomats had generally been greeted with slightly perplexed disbelief — don’t you guys spend all of your time at cocktail parties? You guys don’t pay taxes or rent or anything, do you? Must be nice living in Geneva (or London or New York — fill in whatever envy-inspiring post comes to mind).
This is the first time that PAFSO members have actually voted in favour of job action, despite the fact that the deck seems to be stacked against us (our members stationed overseas, and a significant percentage of our headquarters-based members, are “designated” and therefore cannot strike). And yes, we pay taxes and rent, and no, it isn’t all — or even signficantly — cocktail parties, and many of us go our entire career without being posted in Geneva or London or New York. Turnout for job action (e.g. picket lines at DFAIT headquarters, at Citizenship and Immigration, and at Treasury Board; the uniform 7½ hour work day with an overtime ban) had been remarkably strong. We are not by nature a militant group, but there is an increasing consensus among PAFSO members that we had been pushed far enough.
Boiled down to its essence, PAFSO sought a salary for its members that puts it within commuting distance of the salaries been paid to other groups within the Canadian public service who perform work of similar responsibility and complexity. Independent reports confirm that Foreign Service Officers, relative to their experience and responsibilities, are the most poorly paid professionals in government service.
If Foreign Affairs was a conventional government department, this problem would be more manageable. But Foreign Affairs is not a conventional department — it expects its officers to uproot themselves and their families every few years, to go to places where health care, education, language, climate and professional opportunities for spouses (who are frequently the primary breadwinners in the household) can be problematic. To expect people to make a career of this on a poor salary is audacious, and the Department’s current staffing crisis and attrition problems are vivid illustration of the consequences.
Regardless of the advances made in this contract, much remains to be done to address the problems of career development and attrition in the foreign service. As one of my colleagues put it, “Why does Treasury Board view it as an appropriate use of taxpayer’s money to turn Foreign Affairs into the training department of Bombardier?” The proposed settlement appears to be a step in the right direction — a ratification vote will be held about the time this magazine is distributed. Let’s hope that it is, indeed, a step, and not a plateau.
Dans ce numéro de bout, des articles illustrent l’ingéniosité dont les agents du Ministère font preuve pour défendre les intérêts canadiens à l’étranger. Daryi Copeland fait un survol des efforts de la Direction de l’Asie-Pacifique pour équilibrer les responsabilités professionnelles et personnelles de son personnel grâce à son programme des Зe (« équilibre, efficacité, excellence »). Stephanie Power et Mylène Paradis parlent de quelqu’un qui peut, sans crainte de rougir, être qualifié de héros — le lieutenant-général Roméo Dallaire — et de ses activités pour attirer l’attention sur la nécessité de réintégrer efficacement dans la société les enfants victime de la guerre. Robert Burley donne une idée des défis personnels que sont appelés à relever les agents du service extérieur qu’on jette dans l’extrémité profonde de la piscine de la diplomatie libre-service — dans son cas, à Kaboul, en mars dernier. Dans la même veine, Carlos Ruano enquête sur les effets de la Loi des conséquences non intentionnelles sur ceux et celles d’entre nous qui, en mission, conduisent leurs automobiles construites selon les spécifications canadiennes.
We are particularly fortunate to have in this issue three historical pieces of note. Denise Jacques has done some fascinating research into the somewhat racy history of the Official Residence of the Canadian Ambassador in Havana. Roger Lucy’s historical cautionary tale deals with the importance of exit plans in military interventions — in this case, the Romans in Illyria. Hector Mackenzie’s trophy from the archives is an examination of the cold war balance of power, written in the context of one of our earlier foreign policy reviews.
This broad spectrum of articles illustrates the enthusiasm that those working in Canada’s foreign service have for their jobs, and gives an idea of the scope of their intellectual curiosity. Particularly rewarding is that these articles are the product of volunteers displaying the kind of personal initiative characteristic of our foreign service.
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Originally published in / Publié à l’origine dans bout de papier, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2002) — Spring/Summer 2002 // Printemps/Été 2002, p. 3. Read the rest of this issue / Lire le reste de ce numéro →
