Comments on: Gimme (a reason for) Sympathy

By: Brent

Brent — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:59:23 +0000

Thanks Janine.
I sometimes hear people say what Derjis is saying, about unions being outdated. Without unions, we’d still be working 14 hrs a day seven days a week for a minimal wage. And worker safety wouldn’t even be thought about.
Unions lobby all levels of government on behalf of ALL workers. I’m not saying all unions always do the right thing, but ultimately we’re better off with them then we are without them.
Personally, to this day I won’t buy a Molson product, because of the way Molson-Coors handled things in Edmonton. Coors is known for using strong-arm tactics, and for getting their way no matter what. Molson-Coors was looking for a way to close Edmonton’s plant, without taking any of the blame.
On the other hand, I do believe businesses have their rights too. They can set policies and procedures, and set prices, etc, but it all has to be done while respecting their employees.
Okay, I’ll jump off the soapbox now, thanks for letting me have my say.

By: Derjis

Derjis — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:59:58 +0000

I realize that this opinion isn’t exactly going to make me the most popular guy on this comment page, but speaking as someone who’s been in a couple of different unions and who was out on strike for 6 months, I think unions are just as outdated and archaic as the current labour laws are… I’ll spare you my big union rant.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no hardline supporter of Big Business; I really feel for the Safeway staff. They’ve found themselves in a pretty difficult situation, one that I don’t think will be very easily resolved. I really hope, for their sakes, that this gets resolved quickly.

By: Janine

Janine — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:38:28 +0000

See? Brent gets it. Remember those Casino workers at West Edmonton Mall? Did that strike ever end? I’m not sure, because we all stopped caring.

Thanks for getting Metric stuck in my heads guys.

By: Christopher Spencer

Christopher Spencer — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:37:24 +0000

Even if the workers, from a moral perspective, are absolutely in the right, it is hard to invest energy in a cause where winning seems essentially impossible.

The province’s labour laws are unbalanced in favour of big business. The recession is providing a willing pool of replacement workers.

At some point, if the best thing is not attainable, perhaps it is logical to focus efforts on the second best thing. The leadership of the union tried to do that when it cut a deal. There was wisdom in that pragmatic approach, even though the contract certainly was imperfect. Now, I think this ends the same way as the Calgary Herald strike, or the disaster at the old Molson’s plant.

I don’t know how principled losing serves the labour movement.

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:22:47 +0000

I agree with people not caring unless they’re reminded. Out of 350 members who are on strike, I think 3 or 4 groups of 10 each should be sent out to various Safeway stores each day. Also, there should be different time frames for their appearances at the stores. For example, group A at Westmount Safeway from 10 am to 1 pm, group B at Manning Safeway from 3 pm to 6 pm, group C at Bonnie Doon Safeway from 8 am to 11 am, etc. They should be handing out information to the public, and encourage people to shop elsewhere for the duration of the action.