McGuinty's chickens coming home to roost?
Unions to McGuinty: "It's time to pay the piper"
The various unions that delivered Queen's Park to the Liberals in the last two elections (in part via some ethically questionable arms-length third party attack ads) have delivered an ultimatum to the McGuinty Liberals... they're cashing in their chips for their upcoming contract negotiations, and making it clear to him that if he doesn't pay up, the Liberals might not be able to count on union support come the 2011 elections.
The unions are demanding, can you believe it, WAGE INCREASES during these tough economic times. And while tens of thousands of people are losing their jobs, they're also demanding that none of their public sector members face job losses. For example, the first set of major negotiations between Ontario's colleges and OPSEU... WHERE THE UNION REJECTED A 5.9% WAGE INCREASE!!! At a time when folks in the private sector are taking WAGE CUTS to keep their jobs, the union is still demanding wage increases? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? And this is just the beginning... there are a number of major negotiations to take place this year.
Well this oughta be fun to watch. My guess? Mr. McGuinty will fold like a cheap suit, and give the unions pretty much everything they ask for... after making a "show" of standing up to them, of course. They'll let one or two of the unions strike for a few weeks, and then make a big show of reaching a deal... a deal which will spend a whole lot more money than we have, and keep us in deficit for years to come.
I mean, just look at the recent Samsung deal... at least the media has clued in, and things are starting to get ugly for the McGuinty Liberals on that front, with even his own caucus starting to revolt. I'm guessing some of them are starting to fear losing their seats come next year.
With these upcoming union negotiations, they should be worried... if they cave and give in to the unions, and run up the deficit like there's no tomorrow, there's going to be a whole lot of angry people in this province.
The various unions that delivered Queen's Park to the Liberals in the last two elections (in part via some ethically questionable arms-length third party attack ads) have delivered an ultimatum to the McGuinty Liberals... they're cashing in their chips for their upcoming contract negotiations, and making it clear to him that if he doesn't pay up, the Liberals might not be able to count on union support come the 2011 elections.
The unions are demanding, can you believe it, WAGE INCREASES during these tough economic times. And while tens of thousands of people are losing their jobs, they're also demanding that none of their public sector members face job losses. For example, the first set of major negotiations between Ontario's colleges and OPSEU... WHERE THE UNION REJECTED A 5.9% WAGE INCREASE!!! At a time when folks in the private sector are taking WAGE CUTS to keep their jobs, the union is still demanding wage increases? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? And this is just the beginning... there are a number of major negotiations to take place this year.
Well this oughta be fun to watch. My guess? Mr. McGuinty will fold like a cheap suit, and give the unions pretty much everything they ask for... after making a "show" of standing up to them, of course. They'll let one or two of the unions strike for a few weeks, and then make a big show of reaching a deal... a deal which will spend a whole lot more money than we have, and keep us in deficit for years to come.
I mean, just look at the recent Samsung deal... at least the media has clued in, and things are starting to get ugly for the McGuinty Liberals on that front, with even his own caucus starting to revolt. I'm guessing some of them are starting to fear losing their seats come next year.
With these upcoming union negotiations, they should be worried... if they cave and give in to the unions, and run up the deficit like there's no tomorrow, there's going to be a whole lot of angry people in this province.
Labels: election, Queen's Park, socialism
posted by Christian Conservative @ 2:35 p.m.
7 Comments:
At Mon Feb 01, 03:48:00 p.m. EST,
The_Iceman said…
The problem for Dalton is that the public sector unions are the only constituency he has left to support him.
At Mon Feb 01, 04:38:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I'm making book on how long it will take McNutty to cave in. I'm giving 2 to 1 odds that he will fold his tent within thirty days of any union going on strike.
At Mon Feb 01, 04:41:00 p.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
30 days? I think that's generous... I'll give them 20 days, TOPS.
At Mon Feb 01, 10:02:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Lots of misinformation here about the impending college strike, where to begin:
1. The wage increase is over three years, so it doesn't amount to much, particularly when you compare it to high school teachers who received 12% wage increases over their 3 year contract.
2. The issue is not about wages, but work load and academic freedom. The union essentially rejected the offer because it did nothing to improve these areas. The media is only reporting the wage increases, which is nothing more than a smokescreen.
I'm not for a strike myself, but for improvements in workload, academic freedom, and collegiality -- these have nothing to do with wages.
At Mon Feb 01, 11:19:00 p.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
Thanks for sharing Teach.
My issues... I find it OFFENSIVE that unions are still demanding wage increases at a time like this, when there are tens of thousands of folks who'd LOVE to take their jobs WITH A WAGE CUT. As for the high school teachers... no way should they have gotten more than 6%, which would be 2% a year. In this climate, that'd have been MORE than generous.
If it's about academic freedom, then let's make a deal... you drop the wage increase, and I think more freedom would be workable.
At Mon Feb 01, 11:41:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
If it's about academic freedom, then let's make a deal... you drop the wage increase, and I think more freedom would be workable.
Deal. Again, my concern, and most of my colleagues would agree, we want workload issues resolved; wages are just not the problem, never were. The Workload Task Force recommended 7 distnct policy proposals that would improve workload, the colleges rejected all but one. Trust me, if they simply agreed to 2 or 3 of these, there would be no impending strike.
Richard R
At Mon Feb 01, 11:58:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
there are tens of thousands of folks who'd LOVE to take their jobs WITH A WAGE CUT.
One final thought here -- I spent 10 years in university earning three degrees to teach my discipline to my students. If these "tens of thousands" want to sacrifice as I did, then they can "take my job," as it were.
There is a strange misconception out there that a professor's life is easy -- it's not; there are innumerable demands on our time and skill, and it's not something you can easily quantify either.
RR
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