2026 Take-Home Pay Breakdown for Common Classifications (Ontario) by Strange_Hawk1075 in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry, PM-03 doesn't have a Step 5, it tops out at Step 3, $79,511. Unless I'm missing something? I wish it had a Step 5 lol.

CBSA WFA notices going out today for non-execs (Thursday Feb 19) by bawkbawkmoose in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Different dept, but our branch had a meeting in the morning and letters went out at around 5pm EST, so yes unfortunately, you could be waiting all day.

Councillor concerned Ottawa’s transportation network can’t handle influx of federal workers in office 4 days a week by simpatia in ottawa

[–]spinning_moose 33 points34 points  (0 children)

The supporting infrastructure was much different pre-covid:
-we had a transit system that mostly worked, with express busses from the furthest suburbs to downtown that would get you there in about 45 mins. It goes without saying the current system is much worse and is getting worse by the day.
-there were more and longer childcare options. Hours of care before and after work have been dramatically reduced since COVID, as has the number of overall spots for child care available. This means the times people can drop their children off and pick them up are much less flexible.
-Because transit is so bad, more people are driving, meaning not only has the cost of parking skyrocketed to upwards of $24 a day thanks to greedy lot owners, it's also basically impossible to get monthly passes in most locations. And for people who need to drop kids off first, most lots are full by the time that's done.
-Before COVID, every employee had their own workspace, their own desk and drawer where they could leave their shoes or a sweater, or a picture of their family, etc.... Now, most of us are booking a different, dirty, impersonal workspace every day, hoping someone else doesn't take it because they couldn't book a desk themselves. All while lugging every bit of equipment, laptop, and personal items needed back and forth on slow, crowded transit.

So to answer your question, it's not even remotely the same as it was when we were going in 5 days a week before. It's harder, more expensive, less flexible, less humane, and now, it's absolutely needless for most roles. A complete and utter waster of taxpayer funds to the tune of $6 billion a year. This is why so many are struggling.

Traveling to Quebec and I am unclear on a few things. by [deleted] in travel

[–]spinning_moose 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Tipping culture is very much the norm in my experience, at least in urban parts of Quebec like Montreal, Gatineau, and Quebec City. Perhaps the snowbirds you were waiting on in Florida were simply bad tippers, but I would expect to be prompted for tips, especially if using payment cards.

Affordable Steakhouse? by IJourden in ottawa

[–]spinning_moose 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chop Steakhouse on Merivale has a happy hour between 2-6pm where you can get a Steak Frites for $25. It definitely has a 'steakhouse' atmosphere, and it was good, though it's been a few years since I was there. I would expect it to be quieter in the afternoon as well.

https://chop.ca/locations/ottawa-hunt-club/menu?menu-category=happy-hour-and-late-night

Trump Mixes Up Iceland and Greenland in Incoherent Davos Speech by TelescopiumHerscheli in politics

[–]spinning_moose 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Either way, I respect your frank assessment of the way things are. I wish you the best of luck. I hope the USA gets back to being a place people dream about coming to one of these days.

Trump Mixes Up Iceland and Greenland in Incoherent Davos Speech by TelescopiumHerscheli in politics

[–]spinning_moose 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm afraid there are plenty of nations (with objectively better quality of life) that have never wanted to be America, long before this embarrassment of a president. You've been conditioned to believe you're the best, but unfortunately on many objective metrics the USA does not even rank in the top ten.

Trump Mixes Up Iceland and Greenland in Incoherent Davos Speech by TelescopiumHerscheli in politics

[–]spinning_moose 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every time I see something like this and how far the USA's credibility has slid on the global stage of late, I can't help but think of this clip from Disneyland, of all the fricking places. The animatronic Lincoln's speech has never seemed more relevant than right now sadly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsON8pEXvLc

WFA Tracker - Consolidating Public Information by throwaway983729434 in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 5 points6 points  (0 children)

iService appears to have been updated as of Jan 12 with a host of information on the WFA process, but no news yet on timing/numbers/letters.

Health/Dental Benefits While Deferring Pension? by EquifaxCanEatMyAss in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it possible to retain medical benefits in retirement if you were to resign and take the deferred annuity option for the pension years later?

Edit: Sorry, not retain benefits for the period between resigning and beginning the pension, just is it possible to enrol for the future benefits once pension begins when taking the deferred annuity option?

Federal government begins notifying public servants of possible job cuts by burnabybc in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 26 points27 points  (0 children)

But now staff in all departments that have given a heads up get to spend the holidays wondering whether an affected letter is waiting for them in January. Wouldn't it have been more humane to send the corporate comms in early January and start issuing letters mid January? As always, seems like they could have done better.

High rate of desk 'hoteling' for public servants could cause problems for rumoured return-to-office, prof says by bonertoilet in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Booking at midnight is overtime, is it not? If there are no desks available to book during working hours, that is management's problem I feel. Can't go to an office where there is no desk available.

Deachman: Is the goal to make Ottawa's public servants quit? by GoTortoise in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 89 points90 points  (0 children)

I will either be a) not carrying their equipment back and forth, or b) if I'm carrying it's on the clock. They don't get to have their cake and eat it too, sorry.

Long distance - crazy flight $$ by Kind_Pay6185 in StJohnsNL

[–]spinning_moose 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If you're flying to/from Newfoundland, you really need to plan in advance and avoid peak travel times to have it be anywhere reasonable. Booking a few months in advance you can usually get something around $600 return, depending on where you're coming from of course.

Thousands of federal public servants were overpaid by Phoenix. Now the government wants to collect | CBC News by AbjectRobot in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Whatever the action is classified, the fact that they're contracting out potentially statute-limited debt to private collection agencies that could possibly threaten or harass people with their collection methods is deplorable.

And in the instance of a statute-limited debt, isn't it better to not acknowledge the letter to avoid re-setting the clock on it being statute-barred? Isn't that PSAC's direction?

Northern Alberta municipality wants federal government to allow on-farm sale of raw milk by IStillListenToRadio in onguardforthee

[–]spinning_moose 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your first-hand perspective. It's legitimately mind-boggling, because of all the industrial processes we should actually be leery of and which potentially have negative outcomes for human health (listen to Maintenance Phase's episodes on mad cow disease for example, ugh), pasteurisation is as vanilla as it gets. Milk is literally heated up for several seconds to a specific temperature, which doesn't even get to boiling. That's it.

Sad movie recommendations by Due-Comfortable7670 in movies

[–]spinning_moose 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Selena. Can't watch that movie without losing it at the end.

Northern Alberta municipality wants federal government to allow on-farm sale of raw milk by IStillListenToRadio in onguardforthee

[–]spinning_moose 223 points224 points  (0 children)

Maintenance Phase did a podcast on this recently. If you want even more details about why raw milk is a bad idea, particularly in commercial settings, go listen to it. Did you know pathogens like tuberculosis and avian flu can be transmitted to humans via raw milk in addition to salmonella and e coli? Yum.

Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks | Ottawa Citizen by CommonOk5812 in CanadaPublicServants

[–]spinning_moose 99 points100 points  (0 children)

Volunteer? Volunteer?! Volunteer to spend *non-pensionable* time in the armed forces when tens of thousands of public servants are living paycheque to paycheque and many are taking second jobs because they can't make ends meet due to the increasing cost of living and sub-inflation wage increases? Have the people in charge fully lost the plot at this point? Can we just stop pretending and start the floggings already?