Labour disputes between boards of education/government and teachers unions have been an unpleasant fact of life in Ontario for the better part of a decade.
'Work to rule' is part of the vocabulary of the average kindergartener. Strikes, threats of strikes, walk-outs by school support staff, elimination of extra-curricular activities, cancellation of field trips and special events -- those are the fond memories of public school that my children will carry with them.
And now we have a government swiftly moving to bring this same sort of disruptive pattern to a daycare near you.
Quebec's unionized day-care workers voted overwhelmingly yesterday for a general strike that could close 380 day-care centres before the end of the month.
Call it 'universal chaos' or holding parents 'universally hostage' -- call it whatever you like -- but what it is, is wrong.
Kids thrive on routine. Periodic changes and interruptions are part of life, but the threat of a teachers' strike or a daycare worker strike has the double complication of being disruptive to the children, while at the same time, putting undue stress on working parents who have to scramble to make alternate arrangements for their children.
Don't get me wrong here -- I think for the jobs they do, and for the responsibility they have -- daycare workers are undervalued, and underpaid. I doubt even a union is going to change that, but unfortuately, giving them a public paycheque might prove to draw those who are more interested in a government paycheque, job security and benefits than they are in children -- much the way the teachers' unions have done of late. Let's hope what is happening is Quebec is a one-off -- an abberation that won't be repeated province after province.
Our government's push for a universal, government administered daycare programme is a recipe for labour unrest, compounding costs and bureaucratic incompetence-- all at the expense of our children.
canadianna
9 comments:
It's sad how parents and students are just so powerless when this crap happens, before the teachers held students hostage, Mike Harris comes in wanting to get tough with teachers and the teachers go ballistic, and now it's back to the same old what teachers want, teachers get routine with McPromisebreaker.
I was amazed when I had my daughter at the UBC (yes, that would be the U of BC, land of unions) and there was a potential strike. The daycare workers assured us that they were all voting against "work to rule" and would, at least, be able to give us X-days notice (I think it was a week) and had negotiated that with the union. Mindboggling. Those workers gave a damn and recognized what a disaster a strike would be to the "non-union" parents (i.e. about 75% of us that latched onto an excellent program). That daycare won awards in BC and I believe Canada for it's level of care, and if it's the standard the Libs are reaching for, I must say I'm hard pressed to argue the point (ok ok except for the stay-at-homes, those that can't fork out $600 plus a month etc etc).
But picture the disaster across Canada if we had "universal" daycare provided by a "universal" union. Are they going to be considered "essential workers" like the RCMP? Cuz if not, we are all well and truly screwed.
Thank God I can work from home and don't need it anymore (she says, touching as much wood as she can find in reaching distance).
As sorry as I am for Quebec children and parents, this could not have come at a better time. I hope Canadians are paying attention.
I honestly think that the Libs are trying to create another institution like medi-care; another dependency for the public. Programs like this increase the sense among people that they owe government everything, and programs like this can be used in the future to cement public support; not to mention the incredible bureaucy that will grow up around it. Liberal-Socialists need us dependant, that's how they win. Ten years from now, when the program is out of control they'll be saying in an election... "We will not let the CPC ruin childcare... we have the best program in the world... we will not allow two tier childcare, not on our watch!" And, the idiots who vote lib will swallow it whole.
Public sector unions are the plague of the welfare state and the greatest burden the Taxpayer must shoulder.
In the case of Ontario; public sector unions now surplant independent democratic government....no government can survive if the public sector unions in Ontario do not wish it. This is the ultimate fate of single source state vended services and parasitic/predatory unionism.
The greatest case for privatized services I've ever seen.
as WLM points out, there are some very strange things going on union-wise in Ontario from an outide perspective.
WHY is there not more public uproar over BUZZ being at the table (via speakerphone) with Jacko and PMPM? WFT? Who is running this country?
And 3 weeks later, GM wants a massive layoff. But we should have to the autoworkers union...why?
wtf? I'm going to bed, can't handle it anymore.
That's right Candace -- why isn't the media all over Hargrove having anything to do with a federal budget. He's not a registered lobbiest, he's not a paid advisor, he's never been elected to government --- he's just the head of a union.
In Saskatchewan, the government tried to bring in legislation that would've eliminated advancment in work based on merrit, and only seniority could be considered; and it ended up that the Public Sector Union boss did all the talking and PR, as if he was the one in charge. The media never once questioned this bizarre situation, where the union became the spokesman for the government.
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