Almost Canadian

Are you seriously arguing that all of the immigrant ex-pats on BE that work for the government got their positions through contacts?

scrubbedexpat091

Nope, but its well known its very hard to get any interview with any government agency without knowing someone on the inside.

Positions that hire larger numbers like customs or police easier but then the average person can't do that kind of job so there are less qualified persons to choose from.

Try for an admin job without knowing someone on the inside, totally different story, or a cashier job at the government liquor store.

I've been trying for a decade, but don't know anyone in government, but those who do seem to have no issue getting in.

Former Lancastrian

I didn't know anybody on the inside when I got my job and I secured a Federal Govt job within 2 years of landing. Perhaps they were impressed by my O level results or the fact that I had almost 12 years experience in law enforcement.
Yes to some it is hard getting either a Provincial or Federal public service job but the jobs are out there.
I have no idea why the Calgary Police or indeed the RCMP or Armed Forces need to advertise as they have no direct competition in the private sector and the same can be said for my job.
Until oil prices tanked look at some of the wages being paid to private sector workers in Fort Mac. Some truck drivers earning more than 100 grand a year and thats not a slight to any truck drivers.
Who determines what a worker is worth? The industry or what people are willing to pay. Wayne Rooney at $350,00 A WEEK or a surgeon less than $350,000 a YEAR.
How about the outgoing Target CEOs package compared to the 17,600 Canadian workers who have just lost their job?
Oh let me run as a Federal MP and after 6 yes SIX years I get a pension but in my job mmm how about 30 years for 60% or 35 years for 70% and a new hire has now to wait until they are 65 until they get a pension.
At the end you will never get the sides to agree as they are totally different sectors. Private sector companies are supposed to make a profit whereas Govt employees work in Govt departments that don't make a profit.

scrubbedexpat091

Private sector will just become more annoyed as their pay and benefits decrease and government employees increase.

At the end of the day government cannot afford the wages and benefits, unions have a fit if they attempt to reduce them to bring them in line with a more realistic range.

Some government departments are profit generating, they own liquor stores in some provinces for example, and I'd consider those employees government employees and their pay for working in a retail store is a good chunk higher then someone doing the same job in the private sector retail store.

Things may have been different back 30 something years ago, but today in the experience of the last 17 years in the work force, private sector jobs have gotten worse and worse pay wise, and its impossible to get considered for a government job without a reference who can get your name in front of someone.

When you have entire families working for the same government entity, pretty clear not knowing someone hurts your chances big time to even being considered.

Getting any pension is good enough in my view 50% is better then 0% which is what more and more private sector folks will get. I get nothing for retirement for an example, so the tax payers can take care of me, the private sector doesn't wan't to pay well enough or offer any retirement, and because the pay is too low, doesn't permit someone from saving for retirement.

At the end of the day it's the private sector that generates the tax revenue and wealth, the less private sector earns, the less the government gets.

Flossie and Jim

I got my first Canadian municipal government job (town planning) on the back of a phone interview from the UK, and I definitely had no contacts at the time (I also had two other offers at the same time). That didn't pan out too great though and I quit and temped for a while. I got into another municipal government job - this time admin - through temping initially. I managed to get in the in-house temp agency for the municipality and did back to back assignments (some of them were pretty shitty, plus no benefits) for a couple of years, before I finally managed to get a 'proper' job. It was only a temporary job though, and I've been in various temporary contract positions since. Two people in our department got laid off last week without any notice whatsoever due to budget constraints - you aren't always protected now - its not like the good old days when jobs were for life, but you do get the opportunity to move around once you are 'in'.

We don't all get nine weeks vacation (most of us get statutory minimums), we don't all get pensions (only if you are lucky enough to have a 'permanent' position, not a contract one like the majority of people in my department). When I first got a govt job in the UK it was because I wanted to make a difference, not because I wanted to earn shed loads of money - nowadays I'm not quite sure why I still go for government jobs - I thinks its just what I know and am comfortable with. I also like the fact that its a pretty large organization and there is scope to move around internally into different careers. I personally am very conscious that it is taxpayers money that pays my wages and hate it when I see money wasted on stupid trophy projects and ego building.

There are some people who work really hard for their money and put in a lot of extra time for no extra pay (which in some sectors is nowhere near private sector pay wise) and then I also see a lot of slackers who do the minimum needed to get by and get away with it. There is a lot of wastage and bureaucracy and a lot of 'its the way we have always done it' but there are some good eggs trying to break through this mentality.

The big problem when they post jobs is because its unionized, they have to consider all the internal union employees first for any position, even if they want to advertise to external applicants. Sometimes, you have to take a union employee who has been laid off in their department whether you like it or not. So, a lot of jobs get advertised, when in reality they are going to be filled by internal people, which just wastes everyone's time all round! I must admit I do find all this union stuff a bit old fashioned and stifling and very inflexible.

I just get a bit annoyed when people tar all public sector workers with the same brush and think we are all mega salaried, ten week vacationed, pensioned up to the hilt slackers!

dishwashing

A new hire just got 9 weeks annual leave as well as a good salary.

Flossie and Jim

That's an exception rather than the rule I would think - maybe they are either not unionized or management exempt?

scrubbedexpat091

I will say muni jobs are certainly not as well compensated as provincial and federal jobs tend to be, obviously some city's pay better then others.

I keep an eye out on my municipal website, but for the most part everything they ever have is skilled jobs or management type stuff. They don't tend to have a ton of entry level stuff, occasional on call admin clerks, however I notice these get cancelled and closed a lot.

We are a small muni so they obviously don't need a ton of employees, and people tend to never leave unless forced out if not in management role since the jobs with muni are some of the best jobs you can get in this town.

Not many private sector jobs that pay decently, all of the large private sector employers are in retail Wal-Mart is the biggest with 200, then Home Depot, the grocery stores and so on.

Muni, prov, fed, and health authority are the best jobs to have in this town if you can snag one, you won't ever earn much over 15/hr in the private sector unless you are a manager of one of the box stores.

If anyone is interested they are currently hiring for:

Director of Development Services

Instructor Guard 1 - Casual/on-call

Water Conservation Educator - Casual/on call

dishwashing

Senior roles I guess

dishwashing

Thanks for your perspective FL, there are good eggs everywhere but generalizations come from a majority. I guess it depends on the job role as well.

BristolUK

Not my experience. All of the "back to work" legislation in recent years would suggest the opposite to be the case.

In 2012 the bus drivers here were negotiating for a pay rise. There had been a vote where over 90% had voted in favour of striking but they didn't strike. They carried on negotiating. They had also been working without a contract for two years. That seems to be common practice in Canada, no contract.

Instead, the city - the mayor, really - locked them out. We had no bus service for five months. A lock-out.

In the end they went back to work well short of what they originally wanted and a bit less than was offered prior to the lock out.

That thread on the BC Teachers dispute. I don't remember...did the government do what the teachers wanted?

You know it's really disappointing when someone who suffers more than most from right wing, survival of the fittest, unenlightened practices, says something that is music to right wing ears.

Shard

How about some UK council leaders who manage to "persuade" their equally hungry collaborators that they should be paid £200K+ p.a. ?

Almost Canadian

As employees; good luck to them. I have never, and don't imagine I ever will, suffered from income jealousy.

As politicians; they will have to face the electorate and face the music when they do. Of course, the electorate will likely have forgotten about that at that time and deserve all they get

I don't pay taxes in the UK anymore and so don't care about what happens in jurisdictions in which I do not vote.

JonboyE

No new contract. When they fail to agree a new contract the existing contract just rolls forward.

Shard

It's more a case of institutional corruption. Borderline acceptable in the private sector, but not in the public sector IMO. The problem is with a complacent and/or stupid the electorate, but that doesn't make fleecing the public right.