bout de papier, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1997) — Winter 1997 // Hiver 1997, p. 4
Editor’s Note: With the permission of Elizabeth Gammell, bout reproduces below her letter dated November 27, 1997 addressed to Sylvia Cesaratto, Assignment Officer; Commercial Trade/Policy Personnel Division (SPF) DFAIT.
Dear Sylvia:
I have competed for and been offered employment within this Department to do exactly what I have been doing in my FS-1 assignment, but as an IS-5, with the transferable seniority and salary that go with that. I can’t afford not to accept this offer, so today I formally give notice that I am leaving the Foreign Service, effective retroactively to October 27, 1997.
I joined as an ES because I thought I could contribute my personal abilities and professional experience, and because I felt the work could be interesting and worthwhile. It often has been — otherwise, I wouldn’t have stayed as long as I have at my salary and seniority level. I have given dedicated capable service, worked myself sick, borrowed from my family while on posting to make ends make, and been more than good value for the money.
As a junior FS, I am upset to learn that my senior management apparently signed on to the idea that I and my dispirited, shrinking public service colleagues need “transforming” in order to become professional, highly-skilled and non-partisan. As a junior FS, I am upset to learn that my senior management apparently signed on to the conclusion that “pay is not the main problem, that it is workers who feel disillusioned, frustrated and undervalued” without seeming to make the connection between the two. I’m certainly not hearing any differently from our senior management.
As a junior FS, I am upset to know that my counterparts at OGDs (forget the private sector) are being valued so much more highly than junior FSs. As a junior FS, I am upset when those hired by competition within my own Department for work identical to that of a junior FS (e.g. communications strategist, various desk officer positions) are being valued more highly than junior FSs. As a junior FS, I am upset when I see lateral entries come in at a higher salary and, sometimes, higher seniority. I’m certainly not seeing any changes.
Money may not be my only concern or the only way to be valued in my professional life, but I start to ask myself whether we junior ESs are chumps to have come in through the proper channels and to continue to deliver the same or higher level of performance at such a lower valuation. If I get paid like a chump, maybe that makes me a chump. I don’t like to start thinking of myself as a chump and so I know that it’s time for me to make a change.
Yes, the work can be interesting and worthwhile, but not enough to balance the personal demands made, plus the lack of advancement, plus the uncertainty over the terms of postings, plus the erosion to my self-esteem at being so undervalued, plus the risk to my future economic security by remaining at the junior FS salary. I am ready to live with some of these conditions and will continue to do so as a dedicated IS employee of the Department, but not as a junior FS. It’s just not worth it anymore.
Thanks for all your help,
Elizabeth Gammell
FS Salary Bands (as of Dec. 97) Average FS Salary
FS1 $32,945 – $46,617 $38,894
FS2 $44,350 – $65,225 $60,681
IS5 Salary Band PM5 Salary Band
$56,243 – $63,193 $50,388 – $56,821
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1997) — Winter 1997 // Hiver 1997, p. 4. Read the rest of this issue →
