Tentative OC Strike Date. Dec. 10.

[ollie]

Ollie, call me maudlin and make fun all you want, that's cool. Slightly over the top I'd also agree but yeah, I feel bad for others, not just me sometimes.

Fair enough. Now can you please answer these questions:

Then why haven't they applied for a job with OC Transpo? Why don't you apply to become a bus driver if they have it so good?

Dinghy, in case it wasn't clear in my response to Gateaux, my janitor comment was a joke (in poor taste). I support you guys 100% and it drives me nuts that I'm listening to the radio and people still think wages is the main sticking point.

[Booche]

Holyfuck am I ever pissed off this morning.

[ollie]

Call in sick.

[meggo]

while we are all bitching...

OC transpo is on strike, and it is too dangerous for the yellow school buses to run so they're cancelled. however it is, apparently, perfectly safe for all of the staff to try and get there.

not to mention, i will have hardly any of my students in class.

i hate the ottawa school board sometimes.

[let the teacher-bashing ensue! ]

[rubberdinghy]

Here we go.

[meggo]

so do you have to picket?

[Freak By Night]

Dinghy, I saw your union leader on the news last night.

You'd think your union would have chosen someone a little more articulate to represent them. This guy's a moron.

It's going to be a long strike.

[Booche]

Call in sick.

I should have called in "fuckoff".

so do you have to picket?

I am assuming if he wants his strike pay, which will be a very small cheque, he will have to.

[Schwa.]

This whole thing has had me singing one of my favourite bluegrass songs all week!

Union Maid

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid

Of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.

She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,

And when the Legion boys come 'round

She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

This union maid was wise to the tricks of company spies,

She couldn't be fooled by a company stool, she'd always organize the guys.

She always got her way when she struck for better pay.

She'd show her card to the National Guard

And this is what she'd say

You gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me;

Get you a man who's a union man and join the ladies' auxiliary.

Married life ain't hard when you got a union card,

A union man has a happy life when he's got a union wife.

~Woody Guthrie

[Velvet]

I found this line from cbc.ca quite funny:

"We apologize, but during the current transit strike, bus and O-Train service is not operating," said a statement on OC Transpo's website. "The City of Ottawa is doing all we can to reach a fair settlement," the statement added.

The way it's worded implies that the city is working hard to reach a deal, but the union isn't.

Gotta say Ollie, you're "if they got it so good be a bus driver" argument is such a stupid stance it surprises me coming from someone as intelligent as yourself. So is it only bus drivers that can bitch about bus drivers? Only cops can bitch about cops? Only teachers can bitch about teachers? Next time you complain about the blues fest we'll just suggest you start your own. Got a problem with the Sens? Get your own team!

As my daddy taught me a long time ago, unions are a good idea gone bad. If OC Transpo workers made $18 an hour and had three sick days a year there would be no shortage of people applying for the job. It's frustrating for people with enormous student loans finding themselves unable to get to their $15 jobs because people making $25 with no student loan are demanding more. Right or wrong, good luck explaining the situation to people in that situation and getting sympathy.

I had to train over ten years to be qualified for my job, a job that comes with 0 sick days, 0 overtime, 0 pension, 0 benefits, 0 job security, 0 bonuses, but y'know what, I love my job and don't take the bus, so what do I care? The only effect this strike will have on my life is when my students won't be able to get to their lessons. I get to sit there and practice while their parents still have to pay for the missed lessons. I suppose I'll lose a little income because a few students will likely cancel their lessons until the strike is over.

One thing I am confident about - our lame-ass mayor who gets paid remarkably well will sit back and do a whole lot of nothing to end the strike.

I know Ollie, if the mayor has it so good I should run for mayor, but I won't.

[ollie]

Gotta say Ollie, you're "if they got it so good be a bus driver" argument is such a stupid stance it surprises me coming from someone as intelligent as yourself. So is it only bus drivers that can bitch about bus drivers? Only cops can bitch about cops? Only teachers can bitch about teachers? Next time you complain about the blues fest we'll just suggest you start your own. Got a problem with the Sens? Get your own team!

I didn't mean to imply that one had to be a bus driver to complain about being a bus driver. I don't think I said that at all. My question was pointed towards people who think bus drivers have it so good in comparison to their own job situation. All I'm suggesting in that case is that there's nothing to stop the person from applying to be a bus driver.

Now if being a bus driver *was* an exclusive club that wasn't open to the public then I would give that argument more weight.

You're right about one thing though.

[Schwa.]

You're right about one thing though.

Yup, Booche is an angry, angry fella.

[Booche]

Schwa has it so good I am going to become him.

[ollie]

Schwa has it so good I am going to become him.

I helped create another new Skank meme. Awesome.

[Velvet]

I didn't mean to imply that one had to be a bus driver to complain about being a bus driver. I don't think I said that at all. My question was pointed towards people who think bus drivers have it so good in comparison to their own job situation. All I'm suggesting in that case is that there's nothing to stop the person from applying to be a bus driver.

You're implication was clear. If someone has spent several years training to be what they want to do for a living, and they find that someone with significantly less training makes more money than them and then goes on strike for more thus bringing strategic inconvenience to the public, that person should hold in their bitching and apply for the job their bitching about.

If waste removal personnel decide to strike, and we find out that they are striking because they want $35 an hour and six weeks vacation intead of $28 and hour and five weeks vacation, then as the garbage piles up we should all hold our tongues and noses and if we feel like bitching we should just apply to be waste removal personnel. Is that about right?

If a burglar breaks into my house and slips on my newly waxed floor and sues me for $1,000,000, well, I should just become a burglar then?

All those figures are made up.

This is about looking at a situation and seeing it as being unfair. One person works at what they consider a useful service and looks at someone else working at a useful service who strikes when they make double the money of the first guy. First guy is supposed to be placaded when second guy says, "Well, I guess you're a fucking idiot for not applying for my greedy-ass job"?

Unions are supposed to keep employees from being screwed over, but too often their job is to squeeze whatever is possible from the employer by striking at a time that will screw them over the most. Fairness does not play into it.

For me, becoming a bus driver would not solve anything, because I could not bring myself to vote to strike in this situation.

[rubberdinghy]

Yeah...Gotta do 3 4 hour shifts a week to qualify for my $150 a week strike pay.

All the city has to do is concede to the booking process and we'll be back to work I'm sure.

Sorry this is going to affect a bunch of you, I wish I could help you all out.

I'm also sorry you all think I make tooooo much money doing what I do. It really sucks being called a greedy bastard and a bunch of other names, and the fact that my job is always misrepresented in the media is horrible.

but whatever, I'm sure once we're back to work, I'll be threatened, and maybe even assaulted, because we've ruined so many peoples lives.

It's not like it hasn't happened before.

[bouche]

One of the things that the city suggested in their contingency plan for the bus strike was to "bike to work". Did anyone do that this morning?

[ollie]

My implication is that opportunity abounds. Way to extract a whole lot of bullshit out of that.

If you read the part I quoted from matt's post he claims that there are thousands of people in Ottawa who would work for OC Transpo for less than the current deal. If this is true then what stopped them/is stopping them from applying for a job there?

My only bad assumption in this was assuming that matt was one of the thousands and so I pointed my question at him.

[ollie]

All the city has to do is concede to the booking process and we'll be back to work I'm sure.

What is the city's motive for wanting to change the booking process? If this really is the sticking point why are they digging in their heels?

[Jakis]

My implication is that opportunity abounds. Way to extract a whole lot of bullshit out of that.

If you read the part I quoted from matt's post he claims that there are thousands of people in Ottawa who would work for OC Transpo for less than the current deal. If this is true then what stopped them/is stopping them from applying for a job there?

My only bad assumption in this was assuming that matt was one of the thousands and so I pointed my question at him.

Maybe they have and didn't get the job? Maybe they can't afford to take time of work for the interview if they aren't going to be guaranteed the job?

[Schwa.]

Schwa has it so good I am going to become him.

I am a Mechanical Engineering Technologist that sits on the interwebs and plays Scrabble all day cuz i have nothing to do (automotive supplier) Pay is decent. No Ollie, we're not hiring.

[Velvet]

For the record, I'd like you to know Mr. Dinghy that I direct none of my comments at you specifically. I think you're a great guy, and I suspect you are a heck of a bus driver, though I've never seen you do it!

My problem is an ongoing one with unions. Do I think you make too much money? Well, yeah, in a relative sense I do. But I think I make too much too, especially when I think about how hard I worked and how little I made whaen I worked at factories and moving furniture and stuff like that. Though I don't feel like I can support the OC Transpo en masse I will always support you, and I honestly hope that you get back to work as soon as possible with a deal you think is fair. On a personal level it's irrelevant to me if what you think is fair is incompatible with what I think is fair, because as I said before, the strike won't affect me much.

I suppose the only real effect this strike has on me is how it affects my friend, who is a bus driver. But as his views run counter to my overall view of unions, I'll say I'm glad I don't have any actual say in the situation!

My real beef in this thread is Ollie's assertion that I've attacked a couple of times, and one I suspect I'll have fun with in the future.

My bottom line is this:

I hope everything works out for you RubberDinghy as quickly and as benefitially as possible.

[ollie]

My real beef in this thread is Ollie's assertion that I've attacked a couple of times, and one I suspect I'll have fun with in the future.

You must have a taste for herring.

[rubberdinghy]

It will remove a great deal of overtime apparently.

For some strange reason they also think it will make the service more reliable by "interlining runs*" and reducing "recovery time**"

* interlining...instead of doing the same thing all day, like 8 hours on the 2, you'd do a 2 then a 4 then an 86 then back to the 2 then to a 96. It makes it harder to adjust service, and creates alot of deadheading (driving an out of service bus) time and distance.

** recovery time...The amount of time we get at the end of a run in case we are running late to catch up, usually 7-8 minutes between trips. This is the time we also use to have our lunch, smoke, or take a piss. We don't have scheduled lunches or breaks.

[rubberdinghy]

For the record, I'd like you to know Mr. Dinghy that I direct none of my comments at you specifically. I think you're a great guy, and I suspect you are a heck of a bus driver, though I've never seen you do it!

My problem is an ongoing one with unions. Do I think you make too much money? Well, yeah, in a relative sense I do. But I think I make too much too, especially when I think about how hard I worked and how little I made whaen I worked at factories and moving furniture and stuff like that. Though I don't feel like I can support the OC Transpo en masse I will always support you, and I honestly hope that you get back to work as soon as possible with a deal you think is fair. On a personal level it's irrelevant to me if what you think is fair is incompatible with what I think is fair, because as I said before, the strike won't affect me much.

I suppose the only real effect this strike has on me is how it affects my friend, who is a bus driver. But as his views run counter to my overall view of unions, I'll say I'm glad I don't have any actual say in the situation!

My real beef in this thread is Ollie's assertion that I've attacked a couple of times, and one I suspect I'll have fun with in the future.

My bottom line is this:

I hope everything works out for you RubberDinghy as quickly and as benefitially as possible.

Fair enough.