[darkpuppet]

I think the union is being retarded... what they're asking for.

smaller class sizes = less student workload (even though TAs do most of the work)
Less class time per week = less workload

to heck with quality of learning, they just want to keep their 12% raise and do less work, and demand more from the schools to 'improve' the learning experience.

Last time I checked, learning in university was the same regardless if there were 6 people in class or 200+ people in class.

When you ask someone why they're striking they say, "because we want to negotiate".. and that they're striking, "because we've been talking all year".. yet they pick the most disruptive time of the year to do it.

And it's not the student's choice, it's the union choice. The people who are being affected the most are the people who are paying money to go to university.. ask any student.. they'd rather have double the class size and half the tuition rather than the opposite... so this strike is really purely about the union.

I've seen a safeways go out of business because the union voted 3 times with ample warning that the store would close if the employees wouldn't take a $1/hr paycut. Mind you, they were the highest paid grocery store employees in all of Canada, with stock boys starting at $14/hr.

I've seen Opseu strike for over a month to guarantee jobs.. and when I joined them the summer after as a coop, they laid off 300 employees and would eventually close the MTO office in Thunder Bay and move operations to Sudbury.

The cafeteria workers at my university who made crappier food than mcdonalds, but made 3 times my salary went on strike for a month, and when nobody missed them, brought in the mill unions.. and they brought their kids, physically assaulted cars and people crossing the pickets, and prevented me from making my phone interview with IBM.

And then you have the CAW.. striking for more money and more job security (in the past)... they weren't striking for the opportunity to make better cars.

And the TTC goes on strike for more money.. so now we pay higher fares and the government still has to bail them out.

North american unions are all about making money. People want money now, and that's about it. To heck with building viable businesses. I honestly don't see too many unionized companies that haven't been bailed out by the government, and that frustrates me. They want more money from a non-viable business. wonderful. I'm glad the taxpayers get to pay for it.

I can't deny that unions did a lot to improve the workplace in the past, but the truth is that like most organizations, unions are in it for the money, not the employee, and people who are not even associated with the unions are the ones paying for it.

This school strike is just stupid. The ones suffering the most are the students who have no part of the union. The student union should take legal action to sue the union and government.