Dear members,
I will keep this message brief. Our 60th AGM is taking place this coming Monday, October 20 at 1600, Ottawa time. It has been the principal focus of the office for the past several weeks. I want to thank all those of you who have already let us know they were planning to join. If you haven’t yet, there’s still time. Just email us at agm-aga@pafso-apase.com and you will be sent the meeting link, as well as links to all the relevant documents. Let me get into a bit more detail.
The 2025 Annual General Meeting, October 20, 1600, Ottawa Time
PAFSO’s 60th AGM will be held this Monday, October 20 at 1600. The meeting will take place virtually, via Microsoft Teams. The AGM is the perfect opportunity to get more involved in your association, and the virtual platform is the best way to ensure that everyone – including colleagues outside the National Capital Region – has a chance to do so.
You will get to learn more about how PAFSO functions, what we have achieved over the course of the past year, and what our plans are for the year to come, and beyond. Not only will you have the chance to hear from me, your President, as well as the chairs of our various committees, but for most of you, this will be your first chance to meet our new Executive Director, Dan Whalen.
In preparation for Monday’s meeting, we have made available the annual reports from many of our committees, our audited financial statements, as well as our budget for next year. You can access all of this here on our website.
Another important discussion at Monday’s meeting will be how to take on the many issues currently facing the Foreign Service, particularly in the lead up to next year’s negotiations. This past Tuesday, I hosted a Virtual Breakfast where we covered many of these issues, from the Comprehensive Expenditure review to possible Work Force Adjustments at the various departments, and other threats to our profession. For those who were unable to attend, we have made a recording of that session available here on our YouTube channel.
We will also be sharing some of the initial findings from our Collective Bargaining Questionnaire that just closed yesterday. I am pleased to say that over 500 of you took the time to weigh in and share with us your priorities and principal concerns for our upcoming negotiations. I feel that with that much input from you – our members – the negotiating team will be in a very strong position as they prepare for next year’s bargaining.
As you can see, this is shaping up to be a very important AGM. So, if you can, I encourage you to attend. Again, the meeting will take place this coming Monday, at 1600, Ottawa time. Please send an email to agm-aga@pafso-apase.com and we will forward you the meeting link and the link to the relevant documents. Registration will remain open until half an hour before the meeting, at 3:30 PM on Monday.
The 2025 Randy Orr Memorial Award
As has been the tradition over the last several years, the winner of the fourth annual Randy Orr Memorial Award for volunteer service to the FS community will be announced at the end of our AGM. Once the meeting wraps up, we will take a short break and regroup at around 1745 for an informal ceremony. So, if you can, please plan to stay with us for a bit longer to hear about the inspiring work of our community members. If this year’s ceremony is anything like previous years, it should be quite moving.
That’s all I have for you this week. I hope to see many of you at Monday’s meeting. My next message to you will be the first Friday of next month: 7 November.
As always, should you have any concerns at work, do not hesitate to reach out to us. That’s what we’re here for. Are you having issues with your pay? Do you feel harassed or discriminated against? Do you have a grievance or a staffing complaint? Or do you just want some clarifications on our collective agreement or the FSDs? Whatever the case, PAFSO is here for you. Just send us an email with your name, department and a detailed description of your concerns. You can click here to learn more about all the member services PAFSO has to offer. For anything and everything else, please send us an email at info@pafso.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.
All the best,
Pam Isfeld
President