Yes, still on strike.
Jan. 11th, 2009 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charloweenNow that the government's gotten involved, it's anyone's guess when the strike will end. Rather than having negotiations that could see it end this week, the employer gets to force my union into a ratification vote. Union reps have said they want to see the vote happen this week, the University apparently wants this to happen around the 21st. It's not soon enough for whoever burned down the wind shelter/shack at my picket line. Which was a totally mature thing to do, by the way. Congratulations.
If the University hadn't broken off the talks, and a resolution was found, classes could potentially resume by the time the University wants to see the forced ratification vote go down. (The University has also reduced the amount of time between the end to the strike and the start of classes from 48 to 24 hours. FYI, undergrad f'listers.)
But the Toronto Star thinks it knows what the problem with York is: it's a "wild child of the Sixties" that "can't shake reputation for loud, lefty activism". Ah, good to know. It's the communists and hippies at fault. (I knew it!)
One of the more galling comments on the article (an article which also seems to blame diversity for the strike) is that nobody gets job security, raises or benefits anymore.
It's completely true; those things aren't by any means assured. By any employer.
What is also true is that unions can be the mechanism through which you can fight for those things.
Everyone would like job security, everyone would like to see their pay increase in line with inflation, everyone would like to have comprehensive health care. But don't try guilting me into backing down when I have the ability to achieve these things for myself.
Another misconception that seems prevalent is that half of the striking members are students themselves. Students whose classes are suspended and whose tuition is owing. Students who - in many cases - are in this for the long haul and who want to become professors themselves. Ourselves. It's not a case of getting a degree and joining the real world: this is my world. I'm in the real world, in a career training situation, and if my union can win good health care for me, then I'm going to support them.
I understand that this fight has a cost (and believe me, I'm feeling that cost) but if a university is in the business of teaching people, shouldn't they make some effort to show its teachers a little love? If they respected the work that 3903 members do, work that represents over half of the in-class hours, as well as editing journals and other tasks (I worked for York recruitment!), why does there have to be a fight at all? I think the feeling of a lot of 3903 members is that they'd like to be viewed as something more than cheap labour. I also don't think that that'll change after this strike, no matter how it ends. But at least we'll be cheap labour who'll have fought for better benefits.
If the University hadn't broken off the talks, and a resolution was found, classes could potentially resume by the time the University wants to see the forced ratification vote go down. (The University has also reduced the amount of time between the end to the strike and the start of classes from 48 to 24 hours. FYI, undergrad f'listers.)
But the Toronto Star thinks it knows what the problem with York is: it's a "wild child of the Sixties" that "can't shake reputation for loud, lefty activism". Ah, good to know. It's the communists and hippies at fault. (I knew it!)
One of the more galling comments on the article (an article which also seems to blame diversity for the strike) is that nobody gets job security, raises or benefits anymore.
It's completely true; those things aren't by any means assured. By any employer.
What is also true is that unions can be the mechanism through which you can fight for those things.
Everyone would like job security, everyone would like to see their pay increase in line with inflation, everyone would like to have comprehensive health care. But don't try guilting me into backing down when I have the ability to achieve these things for myself.
Another misconception that seems prevalent is that half of the striking members are students themselves. Students whose classes are suspended and whose tuition is owing. Students who - in many cases - are in this for the long haul and who want to become professors themselves. Ourselves. It's not a case of getting a degree and joining the real world: this is my world. I'm in the real world, in a career training situation, and if my union can win good health care for me, then I'm going to support them.
I understand that this fight has a cost (and believe me, I'm feeling that cost) but if a university is in the business of teaching people, shouldn't they make some effort to show its teachers a little love? If they respected the work that 3903 members do, work that represents over half of the in-class hours, as well as editing journals and other tasks (I worked for York recruitment!), why does there have to be a fight at all? I think the feeling of a lot of 3903 members is that they'd like to be viewed as something more than cheap labour. I also don't think that that'll change after this strike, no matter how it ends. But at least we'll be cheap labour who'll have fought for better benefits.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-11 10:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 05:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 01:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 05:37 am (UTC)Anguish of the undergrads, my ass.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 05:52 am (UTC)I'm kind of really glad Woody Guthrie isn't alive to see this.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 06:02 pm (UTC)Full marks for banjos.
Damn dirty pinko flowerchildren.
Date: 2009-01-12 03:30 pm (UTC)It's diversity and tolerance that causes these problems. Diversity and tolerance.
Date: 2009-01-12 06:01 pm (UTC)Back in my day, we kept our workers un-unionized, our wives quiet, and our fountains colour-coded.
Date: 2009-01-12 06:09 pm (UTC)I park my car in handicapped spaces while handicapped people make handicapped faces?
Date: 2009-01-12 07:11 pm (UTC)Fuck fun, I want respect and accountability.
A! S S! H O! L E! Everybody!
Date: 2009-01-12 07:16 pm (UTC)Are you trying to tell me accountability isn't fun? Now you're sabotaging Revenue Canada's new recruitment campaign.
I should figure out when exactly you're on the picket, so I can bring you a coffee. Or set you on fire, which seems a more popular trend.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 04:22 pm (UTC)O_O Burning the wind shelter? Being called "lefty activists" for not wanting to have to live in a box because you can't afford an apartment and tuition too? What do they think this is, America?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-12 05:57 pm (UTC)