School Strike

[thomastronics]

My first day back to the University of Windsor and they just had a strike vote that was positive for 90%

I don't get how I can pay $3000 a semester to be taught and the teachers strike and I don't get a refund even though I will miss months of schooling.

Personally I don't think that it's ethical to charge students, go on stroke and not refund them for the time that will be missed due to management and union negotiation problems. We should be refunded an amount of money that is equivalent to the amount of weeks we will be missing. They should not be able to strike when peoples careers and funds are at stake because this will put me back another year if I can't complete the courses that I paid for and I don't have the money to pay for more schooling. So my life is put back and I some how have to find the funds to pay for school again. Is this fair?

The reason they went on strike is because the teachers that will be retiring in the next 5 years will get the pension that was laid out for them and all the teachers that will retire after them will have a 3% decrease in their pension. Which makes sense since the economy is not the best right now and that their pension funds are poorly managed.

Just wondering what you all think about this? an example would be the service provider for Darkly promises us 6 months of service, we pay them and then they strike and shut down the service without giving us a refund.

Plain and simple, those bastards.

Thought comments?!

 

[Narf!]

Yeah, it's pretty shitty like that. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with shit like that. For me though, I remember there was a ~2 week period after class starts that you can drop your course and get a 100% refund (only 60% from 2weeks+ to mid-term, 30% after mid-term, etc.). Is that a feasible option for you?

 

[mandy]

greedy people gonna greed.

im sick of the college support strike. i leave earlier and earlier every day for class and im still late and theyre just greedy fucks, too. they try to make it look like theyre fighting for us, but all they want is more money. and its funny because they keep saying "your education will not be affected" yet here i am, at least 30 mins late to class having to catch up and not to mention how i didnt have a timetable for the first 2 days.

this whole system is fucking retarded and its a joke.

 

[thomastronics]

I could withdraw and get a full refund, good idea.
Hopefully mediation will stop this shit before it gets out of hand.

I don't understand why they would strike here in windsor when we have the second highest unempolyment at around 9.4%.

I was thinking of going to the windsor star news paper and cbc to bring the media into the picture and show how it's affecting the lives of the students. Media will make the teachers look like assholes and nobody wants to look like an asshole by the media. So maybe it force some changes?

 

[Brades]

Unions need to die. Vote Conservative.

 

[Brades]

If you don't vote Conservative it means that you support lazy people and pakis.

 

[Narf!]

...lazy people and pakis.

Did I miss the memo? Is today "Redundant Day"?

 

[Cock]

Thomas I fully agree the school is fucking you over, if they're having a labor dispute they should be compensating you.

Unions need to die. Vote Conservative.

How about we get rid of the minum wage while we are at it?
Then lets Fuck the mid/low class by making our prisoners do all the low-level-job people barely make a living at now (yes this is Hudaks plan).

Without unions you get no pention, no benefits, jobs will go to the cheapest willing worker. I hope you enjoy working until you are dead.

 

[iCe]

Brades = awesome
Unions are liberals that think there is always money to spend... o i want 100K a year lets strike... Unions are ruining US... (bunch of pakis)




On another note it sucks man but 3K is nothing I lost a whole semester cause the school screwed up on my classes try 12K a semester...

College is more corrupt than wall street and politicans

 

[Cock]

Brades = awesome
Unions are liberals that think there is always money to spend... o i want 100K a year lets strike... Unions are ruining US... (bunch of pakis)

see Brades? Someone who believes in the Tea Party just agreed with you. Think about that for a second.....

Unions protect the workers. When the cost of livings goes up and *Surprise* the works are going to want more money. Go figure.... The fact is that 97 out of 100 collective agreements are negotiated by unions without a strike. But strikes are controversial and controversy makes the news. This, no doubt, is why many people think strikes are the rule rather than the exception.

On another note it sucks man but 3K is nothing I lost a whole semester cause the school screwed up on my classes try 12K a semester...
College is more corrupt than wall street and politicans

US College =\= Canadian College

 

[iCe]

Fur... I am not a believer in the Tea Party, but I am a realist... If theres no money to give you cannot ask for more. Most people are lucky to have a job in todays economy. Im sure the school can find better suitted teachers than the ones striking. Performance should depend on your pay not something "pre-set b/c you are protected by a union.


All of wall street doesnt make bank, but the ones that dont and are working for 20+years arent protected by unions, they are there cause they work hard and "enjoy" what they do. If unions werent around it would go by how good of a worker you are. And im sorry but the teachers are the worst union of all, half of them are illiterate and can't teach anyway or are too old and should retire but they dont b/c they are protected by union. Which also stops new teachers from coming in that can do a better job but can't because theres no money.


You want low college tuition but more pay for teacher .... something doesnt add up? wheres the money come from the gov't? <-laf

 

[Brades]

Unions were needed... back in 1920. Sorry but there is no way someone cleaning a toilet bowl or collecting garbage with a grade 10 education should be making 30/hr with full benefits and a pension.

Bus drivers and toll collectors making 100k per year ontop of pension and benefits? Get real... it's getting out of hand.

ice=awesome

 

[Brades]

I've worked in union jobs and they are full of lazy workers that know they can get away with being totally useless since their union will protect them. It really is frustrating listening to union ppl bitch about their job when they have no idea how good they have it.

 

[Brades]

Without unions you get no pention, no benefits, jobs will go to the cheapest willing worker. I hope you enjoy working until you are dead.

No pension or benefits if you are not in a union? Where did you come up with this? lol

You have a picture of jack layton as your avatar. That says enough ;p

 

[thomastronics]

I have to agree that unions are an outdated concept. And I say that about some unions not all of them.
But I have to agree why shoudl someone that has a grade 10 education make competitive wages with a post secondary education graduate.
It should be based on work ethic and todays culture is based more on deserving ideas. That people think that they deserve all these benefits and wage increase because they work. I think its based on how hard you work and that those perks come with your work ethic and dedication to a company. Not because you got hired and pay your 5$ per pay cheque.

This is just my opinion and those that support unions and are part of one all the power to you but I don't see them having the same effect they did 50 years ago. And you'll see lot more strikes because they demand unrealistic changes in a changing economy. Maybe 60 years ago a 3% wage increase over 5 years was reasonable because the company was making money but when a company can't make ends meet and they put a freeze on wages to hopefully make it over the hump and the employees strike to force the employer to make those changes? I wonder why certain industries struggle so much?

This is all in my opinion and i'm not here to offend anybody just an open debate.

Schools are corrupt though. Put your 10 years in and you have a pension, 75K a year with increases every 5 years and you cannot get fired. We are all in the wrong industry.

 

[cattra]

Ok I can see this is turning into a shitfest but here we go!

Shit sucks that you lost your money, I felt bad today when I lost 6k (5k to UNB, 1k to textbooks) but man losing money for something you can't even get is pretty rough. See if you can withdraw from your courses for a refund and work during the first term and see if shit gets settled for the second then sign up again, that way you miss out of only 2 - 3 months (which if you take summer classes will get you back on track hopefully.) It sucks that you will miss out though.

As for this union debate; Unions paved the way to what is now standard rights and standard law in Canada back in the late 1800's and early 1900's but now there is only slight need for them. I can see the need for Unions in jobs such as metal working, forestry and other jobs which are deemed dangerous, but, I have some good union stories for you.

1. My mother is a nurse in New Brunswick, she is part of the nurses union, in the hospital there is also a janitorial union. She can actually LOSE HER JOB by picking up trash off the ground of the hospital even if it can cause an accident because the Janitorial union argued that "by removing garbage and trash from the floor or other area's, you are limiting and possibly eliminating the job of the custodians." I wish I was joking about this but I'm not.

2. My Uncle has been part of the Automotive Union for years and he hates it but if you do not join he says you are more or less on the chopping block to them, they try to get you fired. He says they are the most corrupt union he knows, the senior members run everything, who gets promoted, who gets the most pay and hours over others, he also says that they refuse to fire friends even if they do dick all and have a good reason to be fired yet members who were there for 10 years get the chopping block because SOMEONE needs to be fired so they can get their pay from 25$/hour to 27$/hour.

As for your argument Cock about many things let me tell you this, I am a student worker, unorganized and work for "the worse company ever" claimed by many, I have worked there for 4 years of my life. I started at over minimum wage which at the time was 8$, I started at 9$, I now make 13.50$/hour as an Electronics Department assistant Manager with only a high school diploma and hard work, I also get over 30+ hours a week when I am not in school and due to me being in school work allows me to work around my school schedule. My Father, who has worked for the same company for 30+ years (since he was 17 and it was called Woolco) went from backroom to district manager, is un-unionized and makes 200k+ /year + bonus + health and dental. Just because there is no union does not mean its anarchy and chaos in the workplace with wires hanging everywhere and saw blades swinging from the ceiling. Canada also has a very strict work policy where if you fail to comply with codes your store can (and I have seen a Zellers have this happen to it) be shut down until either fixed or improvements have been made.

With that being said, I work my ass off at work, I do over what is required everyday, I make the sales and I do what im told to do without question. Call me shallow minded but every time I do this my name comes up tomention every 4 - 5 months for a wage increase for hard work while the people I work with are constantly lazy, refuse to do work because "its not my job" when politely asked to help someone carry something 5 fucking feet to the cash or build a display for their department, they then bitch about why they were looked over for a promotion, why they only scored a 3 / 5 on their yearly performance review only giving them a .40 cent raise instead of the fucking 100$ they apparently dieserve. Not to mention our manager station is beside the lunch room (not sure if on purpose but I think so) and all they do on break is talk shit about the managers and other employees while the managers are actually in the office trying to get the truck list printed and the hourly figure reports in on time.
I can go on but yeah, If these people get unionized and start demanding more and more money for less and less work, I think I might just have to give up on life.

Also; Minimum wage is not union run, its not even federal, its provincial, and yes corporations may hate it but its not union run.

As for prisoners doing manual labor; I say fucking all for it, its better then them sitting in a cell 23 hours a day getting full health, dental, food, shelter, therapy and treatments for free, I say let them fucking work something from smashing rocks to building houses.

As much as I liked Mr. Layton as a person, I could never stand behind the NDP as a socialist party after living in Nova Scotia.

- I apologize for the long winded rant and if I hurt anyone's feelings, and sorry cock for targeting you specifically but at the moment you are the only one whos posting about pro-union, if anyone else was then I would pick on them too just to be an asshole, also again this is my personal opinion.

 

[Brades]

Epic post by Cattra

My father is in management at Ontario Power Generation. One time he had my mother pick something up for a crew because it was on her way by the plant. A worker filed a grievance against him because he took work away from a union member. Such a joke and waste of money.

 

[Shotgun Jesus]

 

[Spinny]

My sister works for the Peel Board of Education... every month they get a newsletter and at the back there are all these cases againsts teachers, from hitting kids, to sexual assault, and the Peel Board cant even fire them because the Union is a PITA and will make it impossible... it's pretty much guaranteed that you can't get fired from the Peel Board... I agree that Unions server there place in some cases, but for the most part, unions are a piece of shit and they are not needed like they were back in the day....

And we wouldn't make shit money just because there are no Unions, there is a thing called competition and the companies that don't pay their employees fairly, will surely fail

 

[DrUgZ]

So what you all are saying is "Great, Unions got us shit like Pensions, Benefits, good wages, THE WEEKEND, vacation time, and all that good stuff, but now we dont need them anymore so fuck all the people who have paid into them for their whole lives."
I have worked union for the past 10 years and I will admit, there are people getting carried by the honest workers who don't deserve to be there, but they do pay their dues just as much as I do.
I am sorry to say that even in the non-union sector, if we did away with unions who offer the promise of greener pastures, the non-union contractors would probably take away a lot of the things that they have given up just to keep their employees because the employees will have nowhere else to go.

SPINNY! competition is what drives the workforce but competition means that companies bid lower and lower to get the jobs, where do you think that they will cut costs?
I have a few buddies that work non-union and the way they work in the building trades is they have 1-2 journeymen on a job, then a bunch of laborers off of the street making minimum wage.
they can do simple tasks, and do what they are told, but really have zero knowledge of why they are doing it. then after the job is finished, they are laid off. Very few non-union shops spend the money to sign up apprentices and have them trained properly. I know guys who have been in the trade for 25 years and haven't ever gone to tradeschool, but they can wire up a light and switch so that's good enough to make 15 bucks an hour with no benefits or pension.

Toronto I know is a different beast but in Industry, unions are definitely a necessity. how safe would you feel if Bruce Power or Pickering decided to build their next nuclear reactor non-union?