Spreading knowledge & understanding
Earlier today, in an attempt to do something instead of simply sitting on the sidelines, I contacted both the ATU Local 741 and the LTC with an idea:
Publish your offers on your websites. That way the public is informed, the media has access to it and the “other side” can’t distort your numbers because everyone can fact-check.
Unfortunately, ATU Local 741 President Pat Hunniford has already replied to my idea basically saying that it’s not going to happen. Here is the full text:
This post has been a long time coming. The current strike by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 741, which drive and operate the buses for the London Transit Commission (LTC) was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Lately it has been clear that the requirement and use of unions in the developed world is no longer necessary. Indeed, unions seem to be doing far more harm than good these days. First it was the catastrophic downfall of the North American auto manufacturers (not the only cause, but a big one no doubt). Three months ago, here in Ontario, the union representing driving examiners at the DriveTest centres, which are run by a private company called Serco (clearly outsourcing it was a big mistake) went on strike and there’s no end in sight to that one.
My esteemed readers,
I don’t know if you know this or not, based on reading past posts, but I quite enjoy my civil liberties. I like having a driver’s licence, I like being able to walk around town without constantly being watched (except for the areas of downtown London with surveillance cameras), I like that police need probable cause to pull me over or arrest me, etc.
I originally posted this at another blog platform I used to use. I’m re-posting it here because I’m really glad I wrote this a little over a year ago. Originally published April 21, 2007.
As I sat in my car earlier today listening to Placebo’s “Once More With Feeling,” I got to thinking about the differences between my parents’ generation, Generation X, and the ever originally named Generation Y, of which I am a part of.
As a 23 year old male living in southwestern Ontario, the child of migrant parents and whose grandparents barely speak any English, I don’t believe I’m in a terribly unique position in my life. Many of the members of my generation who also grew up in Strathroy have a very similar background, the only real differentiation that their parents might be from a different part of Portugal or that their parents are actually of Dutch descent.
I certainly enjoy keeping myself busy, and with things so slow at work I have picked up a few side projects. First of all my best friend Rick and I are working on CAR-MA. If you’ve ever seen Top Gear (the original from the UK), then you know exactly what we’re going for with CAR-MA; … Read more