Labour Stopages

On the Horizon
June 22, 2009

I woke in a lousy mood! There was no rhyme or reason for this mood other than another sinus attack but really in comparison to most this appears to be a rather mild attack. An excellent time to get a rant on is when you aren't feeling 100%. So it didn't take a whole lot after turning to my favourite Toronto news station cp24 to really tick me off. First the Toronto city workers are on strike.

Well, all right maybe those jobs could go to some of the many in Ontario that really would like a job. Their union is not doing them any favours. Heck, Windsor garbage workers have been out on strike for 11 weeks now. The striking workers under CUPE receive weekly strike pay from CUPE National Strike Fund which amounts to a mere pittance to their normal pay, only a few dollars a week. I heard a figure of $25 per week but that hasn't been confirmed. At best it is no more than $100 per week. So in these hard economic times you tell me who can afford to have their pay cut to a few dollars a week? How long can striking employees last before food and utilities come onto the chopping block? How long can before house costs (rent, mortgage) can no longer be met. The sad reality is there are going to be employee casualties out of this strike. Sadder still is the ones affected by the strike that depend on daycare. Some of those folks are going to end up losing jobs simply because they cannot find immediate replacement for the daycare they had already arranged. I should point out that unlike the last city workers strike in Toronto the pope or queen or any other dignitaries are not scheduled to visit so the city is not under any pressure to agree to anything. In fact this time it looks like they might just wait things out. Just perfect! Just what Ontario needs is more people out of work!

Now if that isn't bad enough both Bombardier and the LCBO are threatening strikes. Bombardier actually settled with the CAW this afternoon. The LCBO is scheduled to walk out at 12:01 AM Wednesday morning. Here's the thing, Bombardier did a responsible thing settling the labour dispute to the benefit of all. The LCBO well, who really cares? I'll bet beer and wine sales will soar. Yes they want job security but trust me anyone being self-employed has never had job security and some days earning $10 an hour would be a huge blessing! So get over yourself already. Anyone wanting alcohol in Ontario will have either stocked up by now or will go outside of Ontario. Those near provincial or US borders will simply go across and get what they want.

An LCBO strike is virtually meaningless aside of the fact it is the first one in their history. It will hurt hotels and restaurants but you know the Ontario government aka Dalton McGuinty doesn't really care about small business in Ontario and that apathy is wearing off on other Ontarioians. LCBO workers will try to get their demands heard on deaf ears while the Ontario government loses $5 million dollars per day for each day of the strike and you know where they are going to come to make that up, don't you? As far as I'm concerned liquour sales in this province should have been privatized a long time ago. The government no longer has to be paternalistic. I think we can think for ourselves, thank-you very much. But what the province is really saying is drink up so we can fund our hospitals but don't drink and drive wink wink because we don't want too many people in our hospitals.

Today, I found cp24 news irritating because of the sensationalization and the irrational people dumping garbage wherever. I mean come one, seriously how much garbage can some one create in one day? And how much can garbage stink in one day? The media is feeding into the fear of the people and people are reacting. For shame! People in Toronto are flipping out because their garbage has not been collected for a day. Give it a rest! Honestly! We have garbage pick-up once a week and recycle pick-up every other week. It is not uncommon for us to put our garbage out once a month or once every 6 weeks and then it is one small bag. Why? We have learned how to reduce garbage and if anything the citizens of Toronto need to learn is to reduce their garbage. Simply tossing it out in a container does not take care of the problem! Those self-centred inconsiderate imbeciles who think they can just drop their garbage anywhere well deserve the fines given and I might add I think during the strike those illegally dumping should have fines doubles. I'd love to see environmentalists get involved in this strike. Reducing the garbage put out would solve a lot of problems including not having to have as many garbage collectors. That way the city could hire extra day care workers to keep those who really want a job working!

Garden Gnome
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