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[alwaysfishn]

Thanks.  I work as an independent advisor (not an employee) under license, and I am required to follow a code of conduct established by that organization. It would be pretty irresponsible for any organization to not define a code of conduct for their employees.

[absolon]

it is actually right in the code of conduct for all federal service employees. if any person speaks out on behalf of the governement or its agencies in a public manner that employee can and will be disciplined. regardless of your personal views, even on your own time you have to bite your tongue.

There is a world of difference between  "The duty of loyalty includes the duty to refrain from public criticism of the Government of Canada when speaking as an employee of the agency"  and  "However, as employees of the public sector, our duty is to support the elected government"

[jacked55]

if you have ever worked for the public sector you would understand when i say, it doesnt matter to your managers. they will hang your my friend on whatever they can. the federal service is all about the micromanagement of its employees at the " lowest level possible"

[alwaysfishn]

There is a world of difference between  "The duty of loyalty includes the duty to refrain from public criticism of the Government of Canada when speaking as an employee of the agency"  and  "However, as employees of the public sector, our duty is to support the elected government"

That argument makes no sense at all??    The saying, "quit while you're ahead" probably applies here.

[absolon]

if you have ever worked for the public sector you would understand when i say, it doesnt matter to your managers. they will hang your *** on whatever they can. the federal service is all about the micromanagement of its employees at the " lowest level possible"

That might well be the case but demanding support for the elected government is a very different thing than demanding compliance with the code of conduct the employee agreed to.

[absolon]

That argument makes no sense at all??    The saying, "quit while you're ahead" probably applies here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUGBJA-eYEY

[Bassonator]

Well time for me to jump in here and say as a 23 year veteran of the public service never once have we been informed that we have to obey the government flavor du jour. They are not my boss, unfortunately AF its people like you that are my boss belive it or not, yes you Joe Taxpayer. Are we allowed to complain and make suggestions of course we are,  can you do that in the private sector with out getting reprimanded??...didnt think so. Thats why its seems a little strange to me as to what the Neo-Cons are doing.

[Novabonker]

Af do you ever consider MORAL duty to the taxpayers or are all federal workers bound by the "cone of silence"? How about OPEN DAMN GOVERNMENT with no secrets to sweep under the rug? Muzzling of fisheries scientists? I've long lost the ability to think that the government acts in the best interests of the public instead of their supporters and wingmen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcKHBgZ_QKU

[alwaysfishn]

If everyone agreed on exactly what "Moral duty" meant, then it would probably be a great thing to consider....  but that's unlikely to happen.

From a practical perspective, if organizations allowed their employees to voice their opinions against the organization, the chaos that would be created would result in the failure of the organization. Imagine what would happen to the stock market, if public company employees could "say whatever they wanted"? What if the government's finance department employees could "say whatever they wanted"? What if the defense department didn't "muzzle" their employees?

That's why all organizations create codes of conduct for their employees and enforce them.

[Novabonker]

Hence the expression - PUBLIC EMPLOYEES - They work for US AF. We pay the freight but we must be kept in the dark. Canada belongs to Canadians and so does the government. Would you tolerate employees keeping secrets or keeping you out of the loop?Do we have the right to curtail free speech? Why should we ?

[alwaysfishn]

They are called public employees because they are supported by tax payer dollars. It's not a definition of how they should conduct themselves with respect to the information they handle or their personal opinions.

I already gave some examples of what would happen if public employee took it upon themselves to discuss government policies and their opinions of those policies. It would be chaotic and the private sector would be effected negatively as a result.

[StillAqua]

Federal government employees (and their departments) are non-partisan, which is a cornerstone of the public service, so from that perspective, they don't "support" any elected parties. Sometimes that's even hard for some senior gov't bureaucrats to understand. Read this famous story about a scientist at GSC who objected to a memo to use a Harper election slogan in their correspondence http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Politics/20060919/geologist_reinstated_060919/.

That said, gov't employees cannot publically speak against policies of the elected government, nor for that matter, hinder their application in the government. Gov't employees are there to support implementation of the policies of the elected government; otherwise an elected government couldn't do anything. All they can do is leak info to the media and use their unions for media releases in the hopes of raising public concerns. I spent 15 years as a mid-level federal employee and it's the most frustrating job in the world when you can see the government making serious policy errors and there is nothing you can do about it.

[jacked55]

just take a look at our beautiful criminal justice program in Canada and you will see glowing examples of how poorly it is run.