worker bees can leave
even drones can fly away
the queen is their slave


--tyler durden

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UNIONS ARE SCUM


can you believe that the transit workers union has decided to support the teachers in their illegal strike and is now planning a walkout in support?


i've had quite enough of this crap! the transit workers union encompasses all employees of translink and is responsible for the skytrain, seabus, trolleybus and bus system of vancouver and the lower mainland. they went on strike in 2002, something i won't soon forget, and caused a standstill in the downtown core. people couldn't get to work, students couldn't get to school, elderly people couldn't leave their houses. it was chaos. fortunately, it was just weeks before the end of the school year. a friend drove me to my two remaining exams and i just dealt with not being able to get around for the rest of the time i was in the city, i left for a three month roadtrip across canada shortly after and so the strike didn't affect me too badly. it just pissed me off. for what? because the bus drivers, who already make about $24 and hour (for DRIVING A BUS AROUND requiring no higher level education whatsoever, not even a high school diploma), wanted more money...did they get it? i don't know, but i hope not!


years before, the ubc maintenance workers went on strike, and the transit workers refused to cross their picket lines. they had set up their picket line at the gates to ubc, a good 30 or 40 minute walk away from the university buildings. the buses dropped students off and we all had to make the trek in to go to class. that pissed me off too! and for what? they were most likely complaining that they weren't getting paid enough to clean up garbage around the campus and to cook food for students, again jobs that don't require much higher level education if any...i'm sure they already made more than enough money for what they were doing...


now, the teachers have gone on strike. they say they are protesting for smaller class sizes...etc, "It's for the students!" I call BULLSHIT! do you really think it's helping the thousands upon thousands of students to be out of class, wandering the streets, doing nothing?...a big class is better than no class at all, i say...and they do want more money, more money!!! this coming from a group of employees who get more paid holidays a year than anyone else...yep, you can count their vacation by the months and yet they still want more money!!! i'm gonna have a jammer!

i don't support what they're doing, especially the way they're going about it. the government has declared the strike ILLEGAL! the teacher's aren't getting strike pay and other unions aren't allowed to support them! good, great! but words don't seem to be making a difference because the teachers are still on strike!

here's what 'the province' said:

Teachers are defying a B.C. Supreme Court order that they return to work, and the union has subsequently had its strike fund frozen.


On another front yesterday, business leaders urged the unions to call off the protest and said the teachers must return to work.


"By engaging in this illegal protest, they are sanctioning an illegal strike that is undermining the rule of law by openly defying our province's highest legal authority, the B.C. Supreme Court," said John Winter, president of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce.

teachers, openly and brazenly breaking the law...yep, that's setting a good example for students. that if you huff and you puff and you pout, you'll get your way...noooo! don't follow the law, don't be part of a democracy, don't think of others....bring anarchy upon your city...all because YOU want more money...

yes, i know, this doesn't affect me much, but it does get my blood boiling...well it didn't really affect me much...not until...


the transit workers union decided to ILLEGALLY support the teachers ILLEGAL strike and walk-out as well...that means no transit, that means, i'll be walking the 45 minutes to work back and forth every day until all this blows over...and after spending $70 for a bus pass i've only used for 2 weeks i call BULLSHIT!


isn't this kind of stuff illegal! isn't that what i read, that the teachers strike is illegal? can't we put them in jail...can't we fine them, can't we do something, can't we do that with all the unions who are supporting them! this is getting out of hand!


i've never believed in unions! almost everyone i know who's my age and in a union, abuses it...they never worry about being fired, they never worry about making a good impression or doing their jobs correctly or efficiently, because the union will always protect them, and not to mention they are making about 4 times as much as they should be for what they're doing...


so i say, hire some SCABS, fire the teachers and rehire them, fire the bus drivers and rehire them, but whatever you do, get rid of the unions! they don't do anything good, for anybody except their own greedy members...


the world could be such a better, more efficient place, if people actually were paid their worth and unions were outlawed...and NO, i'm not a communist either, don't even get me started on how ridiculous of an idea that is...


my two cents...

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gray skies over vancouver, rain, getting colder every day, but there's nowhere else i'd rather be right now...


i'm living on the 7th floor on nelson and seymour, just a block down from the club area of granville street and robson, i have a view over the city, through the buildings and just a hint of the surrounding mountains.


work has been good to, i'm happy to be back in the hospitality industry...mixing up cocktails, pouring beer, talking to people. a lot of my old regular customers are still regulars and it's been good catching up. only a handful of the servers from two years ago are still around, but not a problem...i'm enjoying work and finally depositing money in my account instead of constantly withdrawing.




vancouver is such a great city. when it was sunny last week, matt, mike and i drove up to the capilano watershed and drank some ice cold kokanees in the park there...and the view of the city as i come across the granville street bridge home from work is amazing, something i really missed. i am working a lot and my photos and my stories and stuff and yes, it's a lot of work, so i'm keeping busy all the time, but that's what i like.



It's the beer, out here!

all my packages from travelling have arrived now and they're like treasure boxes for me now, filled with all the things i collected over the last two years of travelling: cool postcards, antique war medals, paintings, statues, trinkets, notes and brochures...

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