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January 26, 2009

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Strike that

Is it just me? Or are the days of strikes and labour actions long gone?

strike up the band

Oh sure, during the days of work houses and Oliver Twist and all that awful life-endangering sweatshop stuff from the Industrial Revolution, it made sense for a labour movement to emerge, to fight for basic rights of people working for The Man™. In fact, the labour movement has been a good thing over the years, giving The Man™ rules that he has to abide by, workplace standards and Human Resources checks and balances. Rah rah for the labour movement, I say!

And for the most part, the laws are in place and generally, everyone working today has a better time of it at his or her daily 9 to 5...or the midnight shift or weekends or whatever. Special compensations are legally in place for special circumstances. Rah rah the labour movement.

But I am having a hard time with two current labour actions: the OC Transpo drivers and workers strike in Ottawa, and the teaching assistants and contract faculty strike at York University. You have got to be kidding me! Holding students' educations hostage for job security...JOB SECURITY??! Have you read the papers lately? There IS no job security (unless you're a Senator of course.)

And those striking bus drivers...wah wah wah, they want to have the right to make their own timetable...You have got to be kidding me!

I know, it goes deeper than that, but I've lived in Ottawa and spent hours waiting for buses at the best of times. It's a bad system to begin with, yet students and workers rely on it...and some students have had to quit school for a semester, people have had to quit jobs...it just doesn't work for me.

And then there's the damn NDP in Ontario not supporting the back to work legislation up at York university. Get your heads out of the 1900s and help the people who will be leaders and brain trusts of future generations...the students.

I'm sorry, I know I'm not making all the arguments, but this just steams me. I've been in workplaces with unions, and workplaces without. I believe I did better when I was without. I recognize it was decades of good labour and union pushes to make our workplace a better place. So again, I'm sorry, and send me nasty emails if you feel so obliged, but these kind of strikes in this kind of economic environment just makes my blood boil.

Ahem.

Thanks and good luck.

Please don't sue me.

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