Pre-Strike Posting #7

No news is good news, at least in this case. The union, as I said, has a strike mandate, albeit not a very strong one. Supposedly they are back at the bargaining table with management to hammer out a better deal than what was offered and rejected last week. As long as they are negotiating and no one files a no board report, then everything is okay. However, as soon as a no board report is filed, the clock starts ticking . . . and 17 days later we can go on strike. This means that we can't go on strike any sooner than June 17th right now. Regardless of the union's protestations of management delaying the entire process, I suspect that the union negotiating team is aiming to impact the summer camping season, i.e. July 1st and on. It seems that, because, so many of the positions have been declared essential, we can have very little other impact on the public.

Messing with people's holidays is definitely going to move the profile of any strike up a notch or two. But it can very easily backfire - no one likes to have their holidays messed with. I cannot see a couple with a family heading off to Killbear expecting a pleasant camping experience to be supportive of the union when it turns out they have to wait 5 hours just to get in the park. It only highlights the problem with striking for this union. Going on strike impacts the government but it impacts the public even more and the public are the ones we need.

As well, how many OPSEU employees are going to volunteer to block campground entrances? Seeing that most are far away from the places we work, that might be tricky. I hope and pray that someone is thinking here.

Pre-Strike Posting #6

65% of the 66% of the members of union that voted, voted to reject the government's offer. Back the bargaining table . . . hopefully.

Thoughts on a trip to Ottawa, Part 2

Today we went to the Parliament Buildings, one of my favourite places in Ottawa. In spite of the jaded view many have of politicians I still find the building and the institution worthy of respect. I’ve had a tour of the place before but it’s been many years – 20? With my parents? No politicians were about, it being a Saturday at the end of a week when the House was not sitting. The tour guide was a friendly local Ottawa girl by the name of Mary France. I was hopeful the children would enjoy it and they did, more than they had expected. As with a tour of any historical sight, there were many stories to tell. I regret that the battery in my camera died before entering the buildings.

Thoughts on a trip to Ottawa, Part 1

I went to the Museum of Civilization on Friday. The name is a bit misleading – perhaps it should be Museum of Civilization in Canada. A museum is an odd sort of thing and this one is no exception. Essentially it is a collection of objects of significant historical or artistic merit put on display. The art museum/gallery I can understand and makes sense but the historical type of museum is different. In this case, there are historical objects mixed with reconstructed artefacts and settings, particularly with displays from less recent times.

Highlighting the oddness of it all are the tour groups, many with Asian members, who come through on a whirlwind visit, packing the Museum in an already packed schedule (it makes me think of an article Jan Wong from the Globe and Mail wrote after having joined up on one these tours). The tour guide, flag in hand, leads the group to a display area, talks a bit about it, and moves on. The digital cameras flash as the group wanders through a section that no one really stops to read or look at. One wonders: what is the point of the museum to them? Why even go on a tour? A collection of experiences? To say: I’ve been there, I’ve seen that? It makes me think of Umberto Eco’s collection of essays entitled “Travels in Hyperreality.”

I don’t mean to single out Asian tourists in particular because for me what is the point of any tourism? Why do I go on tourist adventures? Why am I here? Why do I go to museums? Is it to learn something? Perhaps. For entertainment? For the experience? More likely, at least in this case. History as entertainment – I think that could be said of the Museum of Civilization. They shouldn’t be faulted – it’s what people want.

The Museum of Civilization is laid out in a linear fashion – pre-contact, followed by European explorers and settlement and so on. There is a path to follow that doesn’t require backtracking and if you follow this path you’ll catch the history of Canada, uninterrupted. There is one exception – the First People’s Hall that branches off from the pre-contact civilization section. To resume the journey, you have to backtrack. This section seemed much less geared to entertainment and more to showing how people lived during that time. It was also quieter than the other sections of the museum.

A Birthday Present

Next weekend we head out to Ottawa. Next weekend is alos my daughter's birthday. She will be turning 8. She'd be mortified to know that we haven't really gotten her presents together yet - she, like my mother, places great sotre on such events. We do have a couple of presents for her, but not a complete set and time is running out. So what are we going to do? Give her a shopping trip in Ottawa because one of the things she loves is to go shopping.

My daughter is a fine example of the success of retail therapy. She is one that just wants to buy things - nothing in particular. She just likes shopping. In contrast to her older brother who will save for months to get something. A remarkable difference, wholy attributable to their personalities. I don't think gender has anything to do with it. But it could.

She should have a good time next weekend.

Pre-Strike Posting #5

It all feels so inevitable.

There was a union information on Wednesday night. I didn't attend it partly because I had another commitment and partly because I expected it to be much the same as previous meetings: lots of discussion of the implications of a strike vote but no change in course. From talking with others who had attended my conclusion is thus: the government is offering a bad deal and the union is recommending that we reject it. As usual, everyone wants to reject it but no one wants to go on strike. So the question becomes: is it more worthwhile to accept a bad deal and keep working or risk a strike and hope that something better comes along?

I feel caught between the posturing of union and government negotiator. I would hope that some day soon the union will realize that the current mode of negotiating a contract, using the threat of a strike, does not work. What the union seems to forget at times such as these are the following points:

1. when we strike, we save the government money (always an important consideration when the government has a deficit)
2. we do not have public support or at least very little
3. time and money lost on the picket line is never recovered
4. at the end of a strike, the government can afford to present us with a better offer (but is it worth the cost?)

And, of course, they seem to forget about us on the picket line, essentially paying to go on strike. THAT doesn't make sense.

Pre-Strike Posting #4: Moving on to the Next Step

So the union has asked the employer to provide it's final offer for the members to vote on by the end of the month. The union claims the government keeps turning down their requests and that the deal they are offering is not worth signing. I'm neither a big union supporter nor anti-union. If anything, I'd be a little pro-union. But why is it that I don't even trust what my own union says? Others I work with feel the same way. Is the union leadership out of touch with its membership? Or is my office off on a world of its own? The vote on the contract comes at the end of May. I suppose we will find out then.

On the occasion of my son's 10th birthday

I remember the day. Well, it started out at night, about 3 PM. It had just rained a little, enough to make the streets wet. We drove quietly from our home in Aurora to Newmarket, along with my mother-in-law. Quiet. Until we got to the hospital. Someone else we shared the prenatal class with was there and was just having her baby. "It went quick," they said and so we thought it would go quickly for us too. But it didn't.

A morning of pushing didn't get us anywhere and by the afternoon the doctor suggested using the vacuum. And then he was born. Crying a bit but then he contented himself with sucking on his fist. I drove my mother-in-law home, changed and returned to find my wife, bewildered and shell-shocked and sharing a room with some very noisy neighbours. We moved her to another room. It was the most heroic thing I had done all day. What else could I do?

And now my son is 10. Still a kid but I see him changing, moving from little boy to pre-adolescent with a bit of an attitude - not too much of an attitude, but it's there. It's hard to describe the feelings I have. Sometimes I am so aware of my children growing up, growing older and it makes me feel that it is all so fleeting. We have them but for a little while. In another 10 years he could be out of the house. Ten years is not so long.

But it is good - being a father and seeing my children grow. A joy.

Increasing Revenue Streams in Colder than Average Temperatures

Okay, so a couple of new things. I've got ads on the site! Yes indeed! I'm making money even as I sleep! With a potential work stoppage coming along, I need to utilize all potential revenue streams. So click away! I'll be waitingfor my cheque to arrive in the mail. The interesting thing is - how will this effect my postings?

Okay - so I won't earn enough to keep me fiscally afloat by the May long weekend. But I'll keep you posted when my first cheque arrives.
As the chart shows, April was warmer than usual, then it was colder than usual. It would be unCanadian of me not to talk of the weather. So let me just go on record here that it's too cold and is not warming up fast enough.No more weather talk. That's it.