Back in the 18th century trade unions made sense.  They fought for safe working conditions and important things that Governments didn’t take care of.  Since then, the world and the workplace have evolved, but unions haven’t.  Once leading-edge guardians of the safe workplace, unions today struggle to remain relevant. So they spend their time convincing members that they are hard done by, and then fighting to fix it.  They behave like spoiled children, always wanting more pay for less work.

Take for example, the rhetorick from CUPE Local 79 who ‘represents’ about 24,000 Toronto child care, garbage & recycling, and other workers. On their web site, they write, “We do not want to be on strike, but our employer – the City of Toronto – gave us no choice.” Of course they had a choice. They chose to strike. I expect next week they’ll write that, “it’s for the children” — always a tip off that bull excrement is in the mix.

Next they whine about sick days. Apparently being paid more than non-unionized employees — in other words more than the work is worth — isn’t enough. This whole concept of accumulating “sick time” is a crock. Employees should consider themselves fortunate to be paid if they’re sick. They clearly don’t understand the difference between sick time and vacation. Or perhaps, on second thought, maybe there isn’t any difference to CUPE.

On the topic of vacation, is it just a coincidence that CUPE Local 79 decided to strike just as summer begins? Any chance that influenced their decision? I guess if you’re going to take time off the weather might as well be nice. Meanwhile, as they strike, garbage piles up in Toronto. Perhaps it’s time to put out the trash.