Don't give them any bad ideas.

If they do, report it, mail tampering is a federal offense.

I don't think many people here have an issue with the actual boots-on-the-ground employees that happen to be members of union. My local CP branch is just horrible but my previous branch was good. I've never been treated badly on a flight. A lot of the 50 somethings I know work in para-public jobs and I generally appreciate nurses. I do feel however, that if left to free market forces these jobs would probably be compensated a bit less. There is simply more offer than demand on these jobs and unions are keeping the compensation levels artificially high.

I think most of the ire against unionised jobs come from the difficulty of firing a less desirable employee. Having been on both sides of the table, I've seen stuff coming back that really shouldn't. It always involved problematic employees. Back when I was working security, there were at any given time I had probably 40 or 50 out of 6000 employees on full pay, even if they weren't working, simply because no one wanted of them and since they only pissed off the clients enough to bar them but not lodge a formal complaint, we had nothing to terminate them. That meant we had something around two whole frickin' million dollars of payroll returning sweet fuck all, and of course we passed that right on to the customer. Yes, I see why it's bad to be at the constant risk of getting fired on a whim, but unions often block legitimate terminations just because they had to.

Anyway, the fact that the employees at CP currently make comparatively better money and benefits for a comparable job in the private sector. This does not help the image the public so often has of unionised employees crying for more with their stomach full. I'm not saying a lot of CP employees don't work very hard for their pay checks, only that they would be lower private sector. Not even that they should be lower, the private sector might be behind for some reason.

All this with the whole rolling strike business. Nothing good happens when an essential service goes out. When the nurses here in Quebec started to hold back on services in the 90s, the government did the only thing they could, hold up public opinion and smack the fuck down the union. 20 years later the compensation levels and work load are catching up to near-sane levels. When the armed bank transport guards tried to strike not too long ago, the essential services card was played again and they sacked the whole lot of them, hired anyone with a class 3 license and now most trucks are operated by two guards instead of three. The hell was the CP union thinking, that the federal government was going to just lay down before their hissy fit?

Nope, they all got to watch the slander like media campaign against CUPW unfold from home. This is the exact example of a union taking a stupid stance on a relatively trivial issue (pension security and retirement parameters are way more important to deal with with the impending baby-boomer mass retiring), just because some idealist in a union general meeting decided to decry some perceived injustice.

A two-tiered compensation plan was a fair proposition, current employees are entitled to what was agreed on when they got on board, but to remain competitive some rationalisations must be made. Because the real reason the public opinion will always be against union demands for government entities, if more money is spent and it incurs a loss, we all have to pay for it.

But I'm still open to the opinion of the union.

My only concern with this whole debate is that people think it's a public issue. By public issue, I mean a tax paying issue. Canada Post operates at a profit, so it should really just be a fight between the corporation itself and the union.

I guess the real question is what would one denote as an "essential service?" Nothing is an essential service is given enough time, yet Air Canada, Canada Post, Toronto Transit Commission are all legislated back to work immediately because people were upset... Yet when the Toronto Parks and Recreation department went on strike, and our city was covered in garbage for over a month, which could have potentially devastating effects on the tourism industry, they just sat back and did nothing while the city got covered in stank. Like really, we can all live without the mail for awhile, especially if those who are in need of the mail (social assistance cheques and the like are still being delivered) are being looked after, let the two groups sit down and slug it out.

I just don't know why people are so quick to jump at getting their Home Depot Flyers. There's nothing good on sale right now guys, trust me.

Well the cp strike has costed me personnaly over 300$ and over 4000$ to our compagnie. Who is going to refund us? The cp manadgement, the union, the goverment? Of course it's going to be my fucking pocket that takes the hit.....

This isn't about people getting flyers, it's about businesses losing money due to not being able to ship items out, people waiting for out-of-country mail, people like a friend of mine that can't get their driver's licence because it can't be mailed, people waiting for paycheques, bills, and other shit that can't be delivered without mail. I can understand being pissed about garbage piling up, but a shitty smell doesn't compare to businesses around the world that are losing revenue because a bunch of lazy twats want their 8 hours of $24/hr for working 3-4 hours, and want extra shit as well. Anywhere else in the world, you don't work, you don't get paid.

ah no no, free money is very popular in France, Greece, UK, Belgium,Spain, Portugal, Italy, even in the US.

I've never heard of that, but basically I meant that if a person half-asses a job and fucks off early, they wouldn't normally get paid for the full day and be guaranteed a job.

This.

My Security License Expired May 16... I still don't have it back.

I technically shouldn't even be looking for Security related positions right now, but there's not much else that I'm really qualified for seeing as how the past 6 years that's been my life, but I can't work until I get my License back, and I can't get my License back if the mail isn't being delivered.

This strike has effected peoples lives in a real and negative way.

And does Greece really have money to be just given away for free these days?

http://www.jeepaholics.com/support/f...wambulance.jpg

Everyone's got a sob story.. Oh shit wait? You don't have a sob story, you both have unionized jobs during a economic downturn where almost a million Canadians have lost their jobs and are unable to find gainful employment and are left without a stream of income for months at a time. Im fairly certain that a few of those almost a million Canadians worked hard to provide for their families too.

Woe is you.

Can't happen soon enough Fly! I heard the MPs were going to sit over the weekend to ensure this gets passed. Hopefully things get rolling early next week.

After trying to source alternate carriers, I have to admit I will be one happy dude when things get back to normal. This is costing me large.

Just thought I'd clear something up...

At least in the Ontario Government, if the Gov wants to fire you and they have cause, you will be losing your job. You can make it expensive for the Gov, and you can drag out settlement board grievances for a long time... but at the end of the day, you will lose your job.

Also, if you're fired because of something of extremely dubious moral fibre, the Government WILL spend a lot of money on lawyers just to make sure you don't get a cent in settlement, on moral grounds alone.

I know a lot of you have a vision of the OPS like it was back in the mid-80's to early-90s stuck in your head and haven't updated in years... but I'll tell you it's not as hard to get fired from the Government as a lot of people seem to think.

Also, FYI, the OPS just canned 2,500 employees and they're canning another 2,500 in the next two or three years. So yea, job security isn't 100% anymore either. I'm also guessing they're the only employer in the province that can cut 5,000 jobs and have the public as a whole cheer about it.

Some of you really need to update your information.

I say 3-4 weeks of clearing out the backlog, clearing out the "Hey we're open again" flood o' crap, dealing with normal items...before things get back to normal.

think Christmas time.

I say give the mail responsibility to the kid who delivers my newspaper... He seems to have no issues lugging around what looks like a 100lb stack of flyer laiden newspapers in his little wagon for virtually no pay!