And you wonder why.....

[Obvious Li]

"aboriginal spirit friends."



The Educational and Library Science group of the public servant union did not offer an explanation or definition of "aboriginal spirit friend," but wants the term added to the list of family members workers can take days off to mourn.



Gilles Benoit of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, said he's never heard the term before.



A PSAC spokesman attempted to define "aboriginal spirit friend," saying "it refers to the loss of a spiritual leader in the community, such as an elder. We have negotiated bereavement leave in other agreements for such losses."



The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) said the term appears to be a creation of PSAC — perhaps a reference to spirit guides that are "commonly considered to be religious spirits or ghosts and can take human or animal form."



The taxpayer watchdog group is stunned by the demand.



"They want 10 days off with pay if an imaginary friend dies," CTF national director Greg Thomas said in a statement. "These people might as well be working at imaginary jobs."



The Treasury Board — the government department that negotiates with the union — didn't say whether it was aware of the definition of "aboriginal spirit friends," but affirmed its commitment to negotiating "in good faith" with the unions.



Earlier Thursday, PSAC criticized a government proposal to reduce the number of sick days for federal service workers.



"If implemented, workers will be forced to choose between going to work sick or losing pay for basic necessities," according to a PSAC press release.



A spokesman for Treasury Board president Tony Clement said the government's focus was "creating a short-term disability plan that would help public servants get healthy and back to work."



PSAC also wants an extra week of paid holiday every year for employees, and demand taxpayers contribute one cent for every hour worked by unionized federal workers to a "social justice fund" controlled by the union.



[size=150]"Counting weekends, vacations, statutory holidays, sick days, family days and personal days, federal employees can already get between 150 and 165 days off every year with full pay," Thomas said.

Poll[/size]

[Chickenfeets]

There's religious accommodation, and then there's religious exaggeration.



For this kind of thing, I'd be willing to send Ottawa a "spirit cheque" as an income tax payment.

[Anonymous]

There's religious accommodation, and then there's religious exaggeration.



For this kind of thing, I'd be willing to send Ottawa a "spirit cheque" as an income tax payment.

Hello Chickenfeets, as a Christan, the idea of a day off to worship the dead is shocking.

 

[Wulf]

If they want the day off, it should be granted without pay or as a scheduled vaction day. This is bullshit.

[Anonymous]

I should tell my employer I need paid time off to speak to some fucking ghosts.

[Anonymous]

"aboriginal spirit friends."



The Educational and Library Science group of the public servant union did not offer an explanation or definition of "aboriginal spirit friend," but wants the term added to the list of family members workers can take days off to mourn.



Gilles Benoit of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, said he's never heard the term before.



A PSAC spokesman attempted to define "aboriginal spirit friend," saying "it refers to the loss of a spiritual leader in the community, such as an elder. We have negotiated bereavement leave in other agreements for such losses."



The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) said the term appears to be a creation of PSAC — perhaps a reference to spirit guides that are "commonly considered to be religious spirits or ghosts and can take human or animal form."



The taxpayer watchdog group is stunned by the demand.



"They want 10 days off with pay if an imaginary friend dies," CTF national director Greg Thomas said in a statement. "These people might as well be working at imaginary jobs."



The Treasury Board — the government department that negotiates with the union — didn't say whether it was aware of the definition of "aboriginal spirit friends," but affirmed its commitment to negotiating "in good faith" with the unions.



Earlier Thursday, PSAC criticized a government proposal to reduce the number of sick days for federal service workers.



"If implemented, workers will be forced to choose between going to work sick or losing pay for basic necessities," according to a PSAC press release.



A spokesman for Treasury Board president Tony Clement said the government's focus was "creating a short-term disability plan that would help public servants get healthy and back to work."



PSAC also wants an extra week of paid holiday every year for employees, and demand taxpayers contribute one cent for every hour worked by unionized federal workers to a "social justice fund" controlled by the union.



[size=150]"Counting weekends, vacations, statutory holidays, sick days, family days and personal days, federal employees can already get between 150 and 165 days off every year with full pay," Thomas said.

Poll[/size]

This another example of how the perks of our federal civil servants alienates the people they serve.

[RW]

I'm not defending this, but did you guys read what they ACTUALLY want time off for with spirit days rather than just the opinion of someone else?



It's a request for time off when an ELDER in their community dies.  Not some imaginary friend.

[Anonymous]

I'm not defending this, but did you guys read what they ACTUALLY want time off for with spirit days rather than just the opinion of someone else?



It's a request for time off when an ELDER in their community dies.  Not some imaginary friend.

Like a chief or mayor? Ten days off with pay and I'm fucking paying for it?? Get fucking bent!!:lol:    

[Obvious Li]

I'm not defending this, but did you guys read what they ACTUALLY want time off for with spirit days rather than just the opinion of someone else?



It's a request for time off when an ELDER in their community dies.  Not some imaginary friend.

Like a chief or mayor? Ten days off with pay and I'm fucking paying for it?? Get fucking bent!!:lol:    

no princess...there are actual certifiable loons that exist among us....only a few but they are easy to spot.......

[Anonymous]

I'm not defending this, but did you guys read what they ACTUALLY want time off for with spirit days rather than just the opinion of someone else?



It's a request for time off when an ELDER in their community dies.  Not some imaginary friend.

Like a chief or mayor? Ten days off with pay and I'm fucking paying for it?? Get fucking bent!!:lol:    

no princess...there are actual certifiable loons that exist among us....only a few but they are easy to spot.......

Why do we the taxpayers put up with BS like this? I can't believe anyone would dare suggest we pay for something so idiotic. Pisses me off. :x  :x  :x

[Anonymous]

The demands of federal snivel serpents is just fucking galling.

Federal government workers want time off to grieve when an imaginary friend dies.



No, really.



The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is currently in negotiations with the federal government for several new contracts. Among its demands is for an expansion of the definition of "family" to include "aboriginal spirit friends."



Not even First Nations' groups have any idea what that term means. It is not in common usage among aboriginal Canadians.



The Canadian Taxpayers Federation accused PSAC of having made up the term. And, the taxpayer watchdog speculates, it means "spirit guides," a ghost or religious spirit that appears to aboriginal people in dreams and visions and help guides them into adulthood and through rough periods in their lives.



Spirit guides may take on human or animal form. The wolf and eagle are common spirit shapes.



So PSAC seems not to be asking simply for 10 days paid grieving leave for its members' imaginary friends, but for their imaginary pets, too.



The union strikes back by insisting the term means "a spiritual leader in the community, such as an elder." Again, no one in First Nations organizations has heard the term defined in this manner.



Moreover, while PSAC insists it has "negotiated bereavement leave in other agreements for such losses," there are no leaves for the deaths of priests, rabbis, ministers or imams who would be the nearest spiritual equivalents in other cultures of what PSAC wants for its First Nations members.



Taxpayers Federation national director Greg Thomas suspects that PSAC has been embarrassed to be caught negotiating grief leave for imaginary friends and animals, so it is now "backtracking" by insisting it really meant community elders. But as Thomas correctly points out, "If they were talking about an aboriginal elder, they could have easily said so."



But let's give PSAC the benefit of the doubt. It is still outrageous to insist on 10 days paid leave to grieve the death of a respected elder – plus three paid travel days to reach the funeral!



On top of that, PSAC wants their members to get 10 days off with pay on the death of step-brothers and step-sisters, plus brothers- and sisters-in-law. (They already get 10 days for fathers- and mothers-in-law.)



PSAC wants two working weeks off for the deaths of sons- and daughters-in-law, "grandparents of a spouse," any "relative permanently residing in the employee's household" and "any person over whom the employee holds power of attorney."



Public-sector workers already have higher pay, greater job security, more vacations, more sick days, better pensions, more benefits and fewer working hours than their private-sector counterparts. Now PSAC wants them to have a 35-hour work week without a reduction in pay, plus four weeks of vacation from the day they are hired and three new statutory holidays per year – January 2, February 16 and May 1 (which is international union solidarity day).



If the federal government accepts all of these demands, federal workers would be working about 40% less than Canadians in private-sector jobs while earning 40% more.



Of course, most public-sector workers will still insist they are horrendously overworked and grossly underpaid.



And it's not just PSAC.



In the ongoing teachers' strike in B.C., one of the union's demands was $3,000 a year per employee for massages because teachers are under so much stress they need body rub therapy on average once a week during the school year.



Public-sector workers (or at least their union leaders) not only want benefits for imaginary friends, they now live in an imaginary world with no connection to the reality of the taxpayers paying their salaries.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/09/14/union-leaders-live-in-an-imaginary-world">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/09/14/u ... nary-world">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/09/14/union-leaders-live-in-an-imaginary-world

[Anonymous]

The demands of federal snivel serpents is just fucking galling.

Federal government workers want time off to grieve when an imaginary friend dies.



No, really.



The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is currently in negotiations with the federal government for several new contracts. Among its demands is for an expansion of the definition of "family" to include "aboriginal spirit friends."



Not even First Nations' groups have any idea what that term means. It is not in common usage among aboriginal Canadians.



The Canadian Taxpayers Federation accused PSAC of having made up the term. And, the taxpayer watchdog speculates, it means "spirit guides," a ghost or religious spirit that appears to aboriginal people in dreams and visions and help guides them into adulthood and through rough periods in their lives.



Spirit guides may take on human or animal form. The wolf and eagle are common spirit shapes.



So PSAC seems not to be asking simply for 10 days paid grieving leave for its members' imaginary friends, but for their imaginary pets, too.



The union strikes back by insisting the term means "a spiritual leader in the community, such as an elder." Again, no one in First Nations organizations has heard the term defined in this manner.



Moreover, while PSAC insists it has "negotiated bereavement leave in other agreements for such losses," there are no leaves for the deaths of priests, rabbis, ministers or imams who would be the nearest spiritual equivalents in other cultures of what PSAC wants for its First Nations members.



Taxpayers Federation national director Greg Thomas suspects that PSAC has been embarrassed to be caught negotiating grief leave for imaginary friends and animals, so it is now "backtracking" by insisting it really meant community elders. But as Thomas correctly points out, "If they were talking about an aboriginal elder, they could have easily said so."



But let's give PSAC the benefit of the doubt. It is still outrageous to insist on 10 days paid leave to grieve the death of a respected elder – plus three paid travel days to reach the funeral!



On top of that, PSAC wants their members to get 10 days off with pay on the death of step-brothers and step-sisters, plus brothers- and sisters-in-law. (They already get 10 days for fathers- and mothers-in-law.)



PSAC wants two working weeks off for the deaths of sons- and daughters-in-law, "grandparents of a spouse," any "relative permanently residing in the employee's household" and "any person over whom the employee holds power of attorney."



Public-sector workers already have higher pay, greater job security, more vacations, more sick days, better pensions, more benefits and fewer working hours than their private-sector counterparts. Now PSAC wants them to have a 35-hour work week without a reduction in pay, plus four weeks of vacation from the day they are hired and three new statutory holidays per year – January 2, February 16 and May 1 (which is international union solidarity day).



If the federal government accepts all of these demands, federal workers would be working about 40% less than Canadians in private-sector jobs while earning 40% more.



Of course, most public-sector workers will still insist they are horrendously overworked and grossly underpaid.



And it's not just PSAC.



In the ongoing teachers' strike in B.C., one of the union's demands was $3,000 a year per employee for massages because teachers are under so much stress they need body rub therapy on average once a week during the school year.



Public-sector workers (or at least their union leaders) not only want benefits for imaginary friends, they now live in an imaginary world with no connection to the reality of the taxpayers paying their salaries.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/09/14/union-leaders-live-in-an-imaginary-world">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/09/14/u ... nary-world">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/09/14/union-leaders-live-in-an-imaginary-world

If they get all the paid time off they want, they won't be at work that often.