Native Diplomats Picket in front of Canadian Embassy in D.C.

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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A group of respectable Canadian diplomats picketing outside Canada’s embassy in the U.S. received some mysterious stares on Friday from tourists and other passersby. An estimate of more than three dozen placard bearing well-suited Foreign Service workers marched in front of the famed Capitol Hill building in an “information picket” intended to draw attention towards the stalled negotiations between the federal government and the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.

The union has remained in a stage of legal strike since almost month or so, at the time when negotiations broke down with the Treasury Board. The workers claim that they are overly underpaid in comparison to almost all other public servants with similar qualifications and experience. The union enrolling an approximate number of 1,350 members has already been staging work-to-rule campaigns, which included having refused to work overtime or to respond to work-related emails after hours.

The union’s president, Tim Edwards, admitted that even though hitting the bricks might go against the discreet, generally well-behaved nature of diplomats, the picket was necessary to the required bring attention to the substantial wage difference that has been “festering” for years. Edwards mentioned that “we’re coming here simply because the U.S. is Canada’s most important trading partner and ally, this is our largest mission abroad, and this is one of our largest complements of foreign service officers abroad.” He added that “this was a logical place to raise the profile of our issues abroad, which is equal pay for equal work.”