I heard an ad on the radio.
"In Alberta, every senior gets 3.5 hours of critical care per day, it's the law. The Ontario government is holding meetings in four cities in the province to discuss this. We think it should be in all communities. Let's force the Ontario government to make it the law as well. Our Seniors deserve 3.5 hours of critical care per day"

Now, the ad in itself is not too bad, until the 'rub' comes. The commercial is paid for my CUPI, the union for public sector employees.
Hmm, makes you think that it's not the seniors they care about, but about creating more jobs for more hours, all getting union dues.

My issues with most big unions that cover a multitude of services is that it allows them more opportunity to affect the public with sympathy strikes.
If you aren't giving in to the demand of sanitation engineers, then we will have sympathy strikes for hospital workers, critical care providers.
There are some people that should not strike and job action or work to rule is just a fancy name for staying on the job, but really not contributing to anything.

Furthermore and I know I was get crap from my best friend who is SO PRO-UNION, it's incredible, but if you are in a union and you strike, I think the people affected by the strike should be able to sue.

I was lucky to never encounter a teacher's strike when I was in school and equally as lucky, Durham region teachers haven't gone on strike since I have had my daughter in the school system, but we were exposed to "Work to Rule".
They will grade tests and give marks, but no feedback, no teacher interviews. I am sure that the 40-60 teachers (at our school) and staff think that their issue is pretty important, but how do the 800+ students and the 1200 parents feel?.

Multiply those # by the people in Toronto and you may have 6000 people striking and complaining, but it will affect 150,000 others.

Those students affected in the York U strike a while back that lost (almost) a semester, may have had their tuition reimbursed, but so what.
For people that have pre-requisites, they may have lost a full year. But a full year of what, well of salary. And they didn't lose a full year of a crap salary, they effectively lost a full year of salary the year before they retire.
So, stay with me here. If I was to graduate in 2000, but a strike happened that delayed it to 2001. I lose salary x1 and in a year I gain x1, but lose x2, the following year I gain x2, but lose x3 and so on. So, when you add those up, what you end up with is the same total, less the final year of salary (assuming you retire at a constant age).

How much do you think a person, who has gained 36 years of experience is going to get in 2035, probably about $200,000. So, that's $200,000 a year (future dated mind you, probably 90k now) for what, eight to ten thousand students.
That's 720 - 900 million dollars to get what a $3 an hour raise? Teaching 12 hours a week is too much for you and hardly worth $85,000.
Talk to a public school teacher for a moment and see how they feel.

Concern like that is in the background, much like the people that continue in lanes that they know are ending just.. to.. squeeze.. those... extra......few..... metres.....out.......of........trafffffficccccc, phew.
Got ahead of one car, whew. I will now be at work 2/100ths of a second earlier.

When people don't look at the big picture, it's a knock on humanity.

I do sympathize with teachers, they are responsible for making our children's life and learning interesting and I don't want people that 'have to go into teaching' because they can't do anything else, I want teachers that are passionate about children, learning and development.

So, I say give them the money, along with nurses, police officers, fire fighters and let's save the money that we pay the superficial things, like car manufacturers.

It's hardly a surprise that GM can make 40 billion a year world wide, because car manufacturers have got people believing that you really need a new car every 3 or 4 years.

If you are not doing your job because you are dis-satisfied with your pay, do what I do, FIND A NEW JOB. If you think you can find a job for putting a screw on an truck that pays you $28 a hour, bonne chance.


Final word here, as seen on a T-Shirt of a very good friend. Her shirt reads "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance".

Such a powerful statement, I find my self constantly staring at it when she wears it. Although, in fairness, it may be for other reasons.