The federal government is shutting the doors to all of its 317 Service Canada Centres – where people can apply in person for employment insurance, Old Age Security, pension benefits and passports – on Friday after employees en masse refused to work.
The government bent to pressure Thursday evening from the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union, which represents 17,000 Service Canada employees, including 3,360 who staff the centres.
Many had called in sick or refused to work because they didn’t feel safe during the coronavirus pandemic, despite safe distancing measures put in place that kept the centres open, said Crystal Warner, executive vice-president with the union.
Must be nice to dictate like that. Of course sniveling serpents have nothing to worry about job wise when the unemployment rate is about to sky rocket.
Btw trudeaubux is being administered out of cra and you have to reapply every two weeks.
I’m not sure they were doing much work anyway. It’s seems impossible to get anyone on the phone at any of these centres. And, in person, I’ve found many of them less than helpful. I had one encounter with a really obnoxious employee (a supervisor, unfortunately) at a “service” centre in a city in Ontario that shall remain nameless. I think her problem was that I’m an American (who lived and worked in Canada for a number of years), and she simply didn’t want to help me, so she blew me off in a very nasty manner.
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Selfies are easy… math is hard…
“By last week, influenza had claimed 23,000 lives in the United States,
and yet no politicians or journalists were getting up on soap boxes
to declaim the horror of stores remaining open while Americans are
dying in hospitals, at home or on the streets as a result of flu.”
So… less than 2 percent of the total killed by plain old annual flu.
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Sounds about right. Just so you don’t feel all sniveling servants are the same, we are currently gathering all ppe from all fed labs in Saskatoon, inventorying, and making available to local health. We are also making teams available who have experience in hazardous environments (waste dumps through chem labs) for deployment where required. This while we are officially closed and without building access. Unfortunately due to recent travel (in Canada for the most part) we have a lot of primary and secondary contacts that are self isolating. I’m still getting a paycheck, I work for the people of Canada who pay my salary. It’s a new situation, some just aren’t up to it. It would be a positive thing from all this if we were to decide what is essential, as opposed to useless. I can dream… stay healthy
My parents stopped being teachers, in large part, because of the groupthink of their co-workers. There is definitely a type in every jobplace I’ve worked. The vibe I’ve picked up at the front-line deal-with-the-public civil servant is not one of servitude, it’s one of disdain.
Conrats on staying (mostly) sane in those surroundings. I don’t know if I could manage that.
Before folks get sarcastic, just think of what front line workers are facing. These people are NoT Justin and his gang of swine, they are basic paid front line peeps and I don’t blame them for what they are doing. Half the blame could be placed on irate people storming the centres, but I also don’t blame them for freaking out and not having, for example, access to the closed library’s computer to apply for help etc.
It is a tough situation, and I can understand the difficulty between the front line needs and the citizen needs. Civility is elusive in this situation. And civil servants should not in all cases be conflated with the political leaders….to wit….the gay pirate and his ship of fools. Peace
I have no sympathy. Those people are paid very well. If they are unwilling to work,I am sure many others would be willing to take their place. Fire them. People not showing up for work are let good
Same thoughts here.
They should look to health professionals for inspiration, those people will be dealing with people who HAVE the virus, day after day. The CUPE-ids are protected by social distancing at least from people who may have the virus, but likely do not. Shameless.
“These people are NoT Justin and his gang of swine,….”
No, they’re just the regular overpaid, arrogant, low IQ, moving like sloths at the best of times, unaccountable, arrogant swine like those that I need to see when I want to renew my driver’s licence or a health card and the only reason I need to renew those, is because swine need to stay employed.
That’d be sgi and provincial health… agreed tho
True, but the kind of bureaucrat is the same. At every window you get either a morbidly obese white woman in a flowery gown who moves with a speed of a snail and grace of a beached whale or an affirmative action hire, bitchy, first generation immigrant with nails in all colors of the rainbow who barely speaks English and is much more interested in keeping those nails immaculate than in serving you. If you luck out you get a black male, I always try to get one of them, for whatever reason these guys are super helpful and quick.
Gorgons.
So if they don’t work are they still getting paid like fucking teachers?
It is a rhetorical question, right? Of course they get paid, they vote Librano.
In Alberta, teachers are still working producing lesson plans and communicating said plans via email and other means to students. Obviously, there are some subjects where this isn’t possible, but even then the teachers are doing what they can.
In the years since my father died, I’ve had to deal with civil servants at all 3 levels while I’ve been working on settling his estate. Some of them were good at their jobs and were very helpful, particularly since I’m doing that work all by myself.
However, I’ve had to deal with my share of mindless automatons who not only seemed bored but also annoyed that I should even ask for, let alone expect, their assistance.
Similarly, many years ago, I was a contractor at a certain government facility. I noticed the same thing there as well.
To quote Harry Truman, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Or, as a former supervisor of mine once said, that’s why they get paid the big bucks.
Sorry, no sympathy from me.
Parasites, all of them. No sympathy here either. Tough luck – they had chosen that line of work willfully. They get obscene pay, benefits, vacations, and opportunity to call in sick. We in for-profit business do not get paid if we do not work.
Funny that.
Snivel Servants in my experience have been Arrogant and condescending to a FAULT and mor often than not, displaced Quebecers…which explains the former.
Strange that Grocery stores and other outlets are able to continue serving the public installing plastic Shields, and instituting social distancing measures but this PHUQUING UNIONIZED Collective pile of Shit can’t.? And will likely be paid full salaries till they slime their way back.??
UNIFOR in action. And people look at me like I’m nuts for suggesting these Communist MoFo’s be DE-Certified.
Justins Canada.
Meow! Management cats too scared to work too?
Shame, shame! How much do we pay them?
Anyone over 60 stay home.
Anyone under, you have no danger. Anymore than regular flu
The people are going to work. They will deal with customers online.
They probably don”t want to be like the liquor stores.
My jaw dropped when Toronto’s public health hack was asked why in the name of everything good and decent was the LCBO allowed to stay open when nobody at all considers alcoholic beverages “essential.”
It was to stop incurable alcoholics, she said, from DTing and dying. That was literally her answer.
The first thing I would have done is closed and boarded up every LCBO outlet in Ontario. We need hand sanitizer for hospitals, not Bright’s Sherry for the street corner bum. If he DT’s and dies, nothing of value will be lost, except to the do-gooders who make a good living off pretending to help him—another pack of “non-essentials” about as useful as tits on a bull even in normal times.
This is Brave New World. You don’t want to see what happens when people don’t get their soma.
Steve E, I applaud that observation.
I consider LCBO essential. If they had competition they could close, since they successfully lobbied so hard to stay a monopoly because they are so supper duper essential they get to stay open.
Wow. Very happy that you are not in charge of anything, Reminder.
Perhaps, you do not enjoy the finer things in life, and want to impose your nanny ideas on others. The health board knows that already over-controlled Ontarians would throw a hissy fit if cut off from booze. I would. I like a nice chilled glass of wine before and with dinner, so take your ideas to a very dark place.
Thankfully, I am chilling out in the USA, where you can buy wine at the grocery store or a pharmacy. Most civilized.
Egoism of one in the times of trouble has a chance to destroy everyone. Think for a change, and then think again.
L, we came back to Canada early from Florida and we are literally prisoners in our apartment. Leave for any reason and you are subject to arrest and fines. Not quite sure what sanitary place they would place us in but at least we would not worry about how we are going to get food. Can’t do laundry, can’t take out the garbage. Things are going to get real bad real soon and not just for us.
A couple of our neighbours are in that boat, recently returned from Palm Springs.
All of the local grocery pick-up or delivery services are maxed out, with long waiting lines for new orders (kinda like Canadian health care most of the time). We’re on good terms with them, so we get extra and drop it off in their garage (minimum spacing being honoured). This is not a good time for city dwellers who’ve never seen the point of getting to know their neighbours (with the quiet support system that that can become).
Sorry my friend…but in times like this, WINE is Essential…LMAO.
Comon lets get real here. You wanna start a revolution or revolt.??, go ahead, close em up and see what happens.
But then again…we’re talking about Collectivist Ontario aren’t we. The IMBECILES Who voted in McGuilty and that ignorant twat, Whine…for how many years.????
Sure they are and the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union is just going to stand by while their members’ job descriptions change completely and fail to match what’s in the CBA. A handful will go to work on-line. The rest will sit at home, receive full pay and benefits then return to their jobs as if nothing happened when it’s all over. During that time, the people who need the benefits to put food on the table will be ill served.
Meanwhile, our kids are working the check-outs and stocking the shelves at the grocery stores or dishing out food at the take-out windows for minimum wage. My sons (high school and university), who work grocery have been given a $2 per hour bump if they put in more than 20 hours per week and it doesn’t get them anywhere near what these people are paid let alone the benefits they receive. Oh, and their managers do their best to see they don’t get the 20 hours.
diz
The private liquor stores are operating in AB – no problem.
I’ve said this before. As an employee you have no right to withhold your services because there is a flu or cold going around.
Refusing to report to work on that basis is a fireable offense
Oh Yeah. liquor stores in Alberta are often quiet places.
Unless you happen to visit while it’s being robbed.
Diz = Do you ever leave home?
Not since the shortbuses were cancelled.
ab, unfortunately the government has this quarantine act that allows the removal of all freedoms from all Canadians. All freedoms, got that?
owg
I got it – right between the eyes. I’m very disturbed with the loss of freedom.
Public Servants!
I guess maybe they aren’t as essential as they claim to be at Unifor negotiations time.
“didn’t feel safe” — BS. Fire them! Or for sure don’t pay them. Will they be working from home? I doubt it.
No one should waste a moment’s sympathy for them. If I think of what a Eng. as a 2nd lang. clerk put me through in Kg after my husband died, I could begin to shake again. I didn’t feel safe and had never been treated so poorly in my life. Sure I should have refused to speak with her & the clerk sitting beside her and asked for the supervisor but when your husband has dropped dead of a massive stroke the last thing you’re doing is thinking clearly.
No sympathy for them….cowards who enjoy abusing their power when they’re in control.
After the crisis is over, give the clerks in the grocery stores the jobs at the Service Canada Centres
Perfect! Most of them are CR4s. They get 40k or more, apparently even if they do not show up. Justin happily announces a huge employment help package and his frontline staff will not come to work. Pathetic!
Oh, can anyone tell me what exactly the federal government does that we need?
Sent from my balcony in California with a glass of wine.
“Fire them all”… that’d be a really bad idea. You don’t need a lot of smarts to work for club fed (prime example speaking!), what you do need is a shit ton of experience dealing with the stupidity from above. Like Phoenix, ucs, add nauseum. The boots on the ground, especially those with 20 or 30 yrs experience, get shit done, and know how to game the system to accomplish shit. The “diversity and respectfulness directorate” with huge well paid diverse staff, have meetings and conferences, put out useless directives that nobody reads, that’s who should be looking in the mirror these days… but they won’t.
Not defending them, seems like a union bargaining chip. Timing is a little “off”, but never known a union to waste a good crisis…
“Up at the cottage”
I am shocked they lasted this long.
Fire them all, the world will be a better place.
Get rid of resident fishing and hunting licenses while we’re at it.
Shoot 1 out of 10.
That’s a bit excessive.
Announce plans to shoot maybe one in 50—which is already at least twice the mortality rate of COVID-19 for working-age Canadians. They’ll be back at work the next day.
(Well, a man can dream anyway!)
Just be sure not to hit the one that sends out your ui, cpp, oas, or whatever check!
One thing NEEDS to come out of this crisis:
NO MORE TAX DOLLARS SPENT EMPLOYING UNION LABOUR!
FFS There is no need for unions in the public sector! The government is not some 19th Century robber baron! In WHAT reality do these people need the protection of a union?!?
The government is far worse than a 19th century robber baron.
So our civil servants rarely serve and in a time of crisis uncivil. Surprised?
The everyday truckers, grocers, farmers, ranchers, bus drivers, gas station attendents, and all others who stand up and go to work at this time DO serve and must be treated with much civility.
We are going to add $100B to the debt, how do we pay the uncivil non-servants, and why would we continue to drive debt to pay them?
Next the cops and then the “healthcare” bureaucrats will do the same.
As we Canadians have surrendered our freedoms and responsibilities to the All Seeing Government,public expectations of what government bureaucracies can actually do have entered la la land .
The frontline minions are not paid all that well and are currently operating without a safety net.
Caught between a frightened and needy public and the upper management,who like politicians live to lie.
The Deputy Ministers are advising the Ministers,that all is well,we have everything under control,screening is being performed..Meanwhile the minions cannot get basic PPE,overtime is forbidden and no-one in management has told them what they are supposed to be doing..
In other words Government as usual.
Did anyone here expect anything different?
Not everyone has access to a computer and can do EI online. These offices provide essential services. Put good practices in place and observe them, there should be no problem. How in the world do some people survive flu season? The panic the media has whipped up has created this mass fear of dying to this, even if the numbers are showing otherwise. The vast majority of cases in Canada have been in long care homes or other elderly people. I mean, if you are over 65 and working for Service Canada then stay at home, the 20-50 somethings, get to god damn work and help the people who need help the most!
Service Canada offices in rural towns are a farce. They are managed by agents who drive out from the major centres such as Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw etc. Instead of getting up early and showing up at work on time, some of them leave at whatever time they would start work in their home city and arrive to work at say Assiniboia by 10:00 AM. You can’t phone and make an appointment because they have an unlisted number. They are supposed to be ”walk-in” service centres. In Assiniboia for example, SC utilizes the RM office. If the workers were afraid of the risks of a confined space, there are several larger halls available to process forms etc. Another BS Liberal screw up. Got my pension cheques today, I’m old school. Not a penny more than last month.
My daughter went into to work today as a NURSE.
Its not like the Canada Service folk are proximately in harms way; like most HOSPITAL STAFF who have to take it up a couple notches.
Ok, no courageous medals going out there…but I will credit the one Service Canada employee who called my wife (Registered Dental Hygienist deep sixed after the dental conference along with 15000 others) back after dropping the line so she could get her EI access code last week.
So are all these Service Canada folk set up with corporate VPNs so they can work remotely from home?
Fair question, cause in my industry that has been happening now for two weeks!
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht – Commander in Chief
Army Group “True North”
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
The computer systems likley won’t allow it, government IT is so restrictive, it does what the virus can’t do.
I’m a correctional officer where not only do we work with inmates that have all manner of infections under the sun, but often the desire to fling their various body fluids on you to induce an infection DELIBERATELY.
So no sympathy. Air-traffic Controller Ronnie their asses out of there.
Based on many comments here, I stand humbly corrected for my initial comment up above here. I like to think that a few of them are civil servants despite it all, but surely know that others are facing all this with a much braver face and without a net…..for example, the good folks dolling out food at a food bank….etc.
Hopefully, for their sake, when they head to the hospital for treatment, when some of them get Covid-19, the healthcare workers don’t pull the same stunt.
Not surprisingly I suppose, the owner of our local grocery store has done FAR more to protect his employees than the feds have done for theirs.
Management says: “We’re working from home – you’re not….so keep a safe distance and we’ll see you whenever.
They should not get free time off, but be required to use their sick days. They have many.
The Lieberals pushed this “you can’t be fired if you don’t feel safe” BS. Snivel servants spend more time taking advantage of working condition crap than they do providing labour to the tax payer.
Here in Ottawa, the moment the Federal Government announced that all non-essential workers were to stay home, the commute was bereft of traffic. Maybe all those non-essential workers should stay home and get an “essential” job.
Like a good dutiful citizen, I put out my cleaned and sorted recycling out for pickup. The truck did not show up. I drove to the dump the next day and it was closed because of CCP virus. I called the municipality and said they should have notified people. I was told that they had put that on their website. I guess recycling isn’t as essential for saving the environment as we have been told. I can’t see where the risk is to a worker who picks up a recycling bin with gloved hands. There a sure ickier things than virus in some bins.
I asked will they pick up garbage and was told for the time being but to check the website because things change every day. I pay a lot of municipal tax for services that I don’t need or want but I have to pay extra to stick a garbage tag which they may or may not pick up. I guess that is a sure sign of a chaotic system.
Of course they shut down offices.
Without any illegal traffic coming across Roxham Road there is no need to offer services face to face.