Striking foreign service officers are withdrawing all services at Canada's 15 biggest visa processing centres abroad starting Monday, following a failed attempt to go to arbitration to settle the bitter contract dispute with the government.

The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, the union representing the officers, said Friday that Treasury Board President Tony Clement had rejected its offer of binding arbitration because the union wouldn't accept the conditions Clement attached to the offer.

The union began staging rotating job actions in the spring at different embassies and visa processing centres at different times, which has slowed down work abroad but not completely stopped it. Now the union is stepping up its pressure on the government.

"Effective Monday, in order to persuade the government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad," PAFSO said in a statement.

The centres are:

Abu Dhabi.

Ankara.

Beijing.

Cairo.

Delhi/Chandigarh.

Hong Kong.

London.

Manila.

Mexico City.

Moscow.

Paris.

Riyadh.

Sao Paulo.

Shanghai.

"We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts," the union said.

good to know Nigeria is not among!
Read more at: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/striking-diplomats-vow-major-visa-shutdown-000632404.html

Bro, pls recheck again and confirm, the naija canadian embassy has also joined in the strike ooooo....