PAFSO and Canada's striking diplomats.

Dear friends,

As some of you may know, the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO), of which my husband, along with more than a thousand Canadian Foreign Service Officers, is a member, has been without a work contract since July 1st, 2011. The negotiations which were to lead to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) broke down earlier this winter and, in March, PAFSO's membership gave a resounding mandate to their union for labor action to begin. Since April 2nd PAFSO has been in a legal position to strike and has judiciously used this job action mandate to demonstrate the importance of a quality Foreign Service for Canada, its economy and prosperity, and its foreign policy and immigration objectives to the Employer and to Canadians.

The one outstanding issue has to do with pay comparability between the Foreign Service (FS) group and other Public Service professional groups such as Commerce Officers (CO), Economists (EC) and Lawyers (LA). Over the last several years, due to various reorganizations and restructurings within the Departments where FS are employed, numerous positions have been either reclassified as being open to FSs, COs, ESs and / or LAs, created outright as being available to members of those various employment groups, or just more or less randomly staffed with employees of any and all of these groups. It is important to note that job classification is an administrative process based on rigid civil service rules – these equivalencies were not pulled out of a hat. They do, however, provide much-desired (from management's standpoint) flexibility for staffing. Employees of these other groups benefit from this unstated equivalence when they are assigned to postings outside of Canada, in positions that are classified FS.

To PAFSO, these equivalencies mean that FSs, COs, ECs and LAs are, well, equivalent. Therefore we seek to have our pay scales adjusted to reflect that fact – as employees of the latter three groups receive higher salaries, at levels deemed equivalent by the Employer, than FS employees. Said adjustment has been estimated to cost $4.2M over the course of the duration of the CBA currently under negotiation, or about 1.5% of the total pay envelope for the FS group. In the meantime the economic impact of PAFSO's job action has already been estimated by the industry to have reached $280M *in the tourism sector alone* for *this summer*. Already some Canadian universities have to scramble to readjust their orientation weeks as their international students will more than likely not receive that student authorizations and (if required) visas in time to arrive for the beginning of the school year.

Last week PAFSO offered to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) to go into binding arbitration to finally put an end to this dispute. TBS's president, Minister Tony Clement, replied that the TBS would accept arbitration provided PAFSO agreed to various conditions. It turns out that one of the conditions to which the TBS wanted PAFSO to agree was for the arbitration board to be instructed to *not* take into account the salary scales of the CO, EC and LA groups (basically to disregard key provisions of the Public Service Labor Relations Act). All the while the Employer maintains that it is negotiating "in good faith" and that is has tabled a "fair and just offer". You will understand that PAFSO refused this condition. Hence, there will be no arbitration board and the labor conflict continues.

If you have made it this far, thank you. If you are Canadian, please write to Tony Clement at tony.clement@tbs-sct.gc.ca or tweet him at @TonyclementCPC as well as your MP. Let Minister Clement and your MP know that you want the Government to treat its Foreign Service fairly and equitably. Let him know what you think of wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to save $4.2M. Let him know that unfairness, pettiness and arbitrariness are not Canadian values.

Thank you.

What is going on in Russia? It's rolling backwards, that's what.

As many know, there have been major setbacks in Russia in regards to GLBTQ rights. It is dangerous to go there, and even more dangerous to be in that minority living there. More needs to be said and done about this. It is not acceptable by any means. To all those in Russia, be careful. The world is noticing, but not fast enough dammit.

Please read this OpEd piece from this past Sunday by Harvey Fierstein regarding Russia's crackdown on GLBTQ rights and the upcoming Olympic Games. ‪#‎BoycottSochi2014‬

As Mr. Fierstein writes; "In 1936 the world attended the Olympics in Germany. Few participants said a word about Hitler’s campaign against the Jews. Supporters of that decision point proudly to the triumph of Jesse Owens, while I point with dread to the Holocaust and world war. There is a price for tolerating intolerance."

Weekend in Skåne

Weekend in Skåne, a set on Flickr.

This past weekend we took a road trip to Southern Sweden, the Skåne area. Here are some photos from that trip!

And they'll know we are Christian by our love.....my ass.

I was born and raised Catholic. Irish Catholic to be more accurate. I went through 8 years of Catholic elementary school and then never really looked back. In the years after I pretty much avoided the church as the message sent by them and received by me is "we don't want you, you are damaged." Little did I know that in many, many cities all over the world, priests were molesting children. Repeatedly. Fortunately I was not one of them but I know a few who were. The ensuing cover up has been sad and uncomfortable to watch and learn about as more details come to light through lawsuits. Just the other day it was discovered that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, currently the Archbishop of New York and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops seems to have hidden funds during his tenure as Archbishop of Milwaukee, to the tune of about $57 million dollars to protect the funds from victims of clergy sexual abuse who demanded compensation, and the Vatican approved it. Here is the link to the story.

Dolan is also a vociferous opponent to marriage equality, using his pulpit to promote his views and make suggestions to his flock on how to act politically. This is from a group that enjoys tax breaks due to religion.

In another new article today, it was stated that in the Dominican Repbulic, the Catholic Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez referred to James “Wally” Brewster as a “maricón”. Brewster is the Nominee for US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from the US. Once again, religion goes where it wants to. Once again here is the link.

I know people, gay people, who are still active in the Catholic church, and I want to know how? Why? The Catholic Church does not practice what they preach. How can anyone stand by and support or find comfort in a group that (a) doesn't want them and (b) thinks they are damaged and (c) damaged many individuals and covered it up? I stepped away from it a long time ago, and religion in general. It offers me no comfort at all.

Marriages resume in California!

I woke up this morning to find that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted the stay, and marriages are currently happening in California. Both sets of Plaintiffs that were part of the Prop8 SCOTUS ruling are now married. It makes me cry, because I know how long many have waited for this and struggled to make it happen. Especially when many of us thought that Prop8 would fail in the first place.
San Francisco, you have NO idea how much I miss you right now. I remember when I was working at 1455 Market Street in 2004 when then Mayor Newsom allowed marriages to take place. From my office I overlooked City Hall and I could see couples lining up every day waiting to see if it would happen to them, random strangers bringing people flowers for their ceremonies and the feeling of excitement and love that was there, and then all that happened afterward that led to the events this week. I can only imagine what that vibe is right now in the city I miss so much. Enjoy it my friends, you are part of history.

Wow, what an incredible day that was, now cue the American Taliban

Yesterday we saw some pretty big rulings from the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. In addition the Court ruled that the Proponents of Prop 8 did not have legal standing to defend the law, once the State of California declined to do so, therefore the original ruling by a lower court that Prop 8 was discriminatory.

These rulings have brought about huge changes for many friends of mine, as well as for Carl and I. Many of my friends in California are once again married, and more can do so shortly. In addition all of us who are married are now recognized as such by the Federal Government. This allows us a myriad of things that so many people who are married take for granted. A few of these are;

• Sponsorship for Immigration;
• Joint Income Tax filing;
• Next of kin status for medical emergencies;
• Family visitation rights for hospitals;
• Spousal bereavement and funeral leave;

and many more that are sure to be realized as we discover what this means. Most importantly for me is that next time when we go to the US, Carl and I will be able to go through Passport Control as a family. It is these little things that make all the difference in the world to us. 

There are many who have decried yesterdays ruling as a sin. That "jesus is weeping" and a myriad of other bullshit quotes that are out there in the media, Twitter and and the interwebs. Tony Perkins of the oddly named Family Research Council wrote in an email (begging for money) "By a single vote, five unelected justices determined that they know better than God and struck at the heart of marriage in America." To you Mr. Perkins I say that your god did not write the Constitution of the United States of America. Nor did your god create marriage and define the term, nor does your bible dictate what can or can't be done in the United States of America. You sir, and all those like you; Michele Bachmann, and any other leader who puts god before country are the American Taliban. Leave your religion off of my rights. If any of my friends or family feel this way, you are small-minded and no longer part of my world. Good riddance to you. 

There is a long road ahead for our fight. Section 2 of DOMA must fall, and we need to fight legal battles in every state where equal marriage does not exist or worse is enshrined in the State Constitution as illegal. We will not rest until that is done. No one will. 

Yup, it's been quiet on this here thing.

Sorry, I guess I have just not felt that anything going on has warranted posting. A lot has been going on with family, and stuff but just nothing I felt I had to share, or really wanted to.

Everything is still status quo, still no job, trying to fill my days and getting frustrated with it apparently. We are down to our last year here in Sweden, and though there are a lot of things and people I will miss, I think it is time to move on. If not back to Canada, then hopefully somewhere where English is the operating language as to increase my chances of getting a job. In the meantime I will just keep baking when I can, and try not to snap so much at Carl.