7/27/2019 A Letter to My MP Re JPSU
1/1
From: Barry Westholm 15/11/2012
To: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
I'm presently on the road throughout the Region meeting with
enlisted members with the
added intent of (hopefully) providing a conduit for their
concerns. My Officer Commanding(OC) was abruptly re-assigned after
falling into disafavour and this has caused a shockwave
across the Region, if not the Unit itself. He has been replaced
with the former OC who is
currently wrapping up the re-asssignment of another OC out in
B.C. In my 30 + years of
service,I have never seen anything quite like it. This action
has instilled a type of fear in the
ranks which, to me, is unprecedented - it is a fear of doing the
right thing. I am trying to
rebuild their confidence in the CF by encourging them to use the
systems and policies
available to them to address their concerns, and in some cases I
have engaged those
systems first to show they can do so without fear of reprisal.
As mentioned in my
preceeding email,my efforts so far have not had much impact, and
I am exploring other less
palatable options. To-date, this has been limited to my engaging
the CF Ombudsman (last
week), which I believe encouraged a few others to do the sThe
numbers of our posted-in ill and injured (and supported families)
continue to grow,
while our staff remains frozen or is in decline. We are also
aware of a five-year incubation
period for PTSD related cases that is coming our way, but cannot
prepare for them - it is
strictly a reactionary footing that we must maintain, primarily
driven from the lack of a
planned capacity for staff growth. The posted-in strength in our
Region (Eastern Ontario) is
now that of what the entire JPSU (all of Canada) was two years
ago. Our staff is struggling
and so far kept any tragedies from happening, but it is
impossible to track all of your people
and provide the required one-one-one time when you have 45 to 70
ill/injured people
(each) to support. In a perfect world they say an effective
ratio is around 1:9 (leader to
subordinates) for very efficient control, say 1:15 is doable,
but 1:45 is just crisis
management and in some cases our ratio is 1:70. These are not
just people either, many
have injuries that require
-
The unknown annuitant policy is a driving force in this and
no-les than three Section
Commander candidates withdrew there applications because of it.
Over and above this two
experienced Section Commanders put in their resignations and are
gone - the uncertaintly
of the upcoming policy change is the motivation - nobody knows
whats going to happen and
are (rightfully) being pro-active in finding secure employment
elsewhere. It is not that
annuitants are "bailing" but the uncertainty of not knowing any
details of any potential
annuitant pol
Cheryl, this is more of a venting email than anything and -
