I happen to be an OPSEU member, and I take great offense to the ignorant shits making uneducated comments. Do you really know how many jobs are affected by this strike, and how this directly affects the public.
Parole officers, probation officers are members of Opseu, which means that there are criminals that are not being monitored. This directly puts the public safety at risk.
Also, provincial meat inspectors, as well as produce inspectors are out on strike as well. Who's checking for toxic levels of pesticides in your food? Nobody!
Parks and wildlife officials are also out on strike. That means that there aren't anyone to enforce hunting regulations. Unchecked poaching damages natural wildlife populations and can have long term affects on the natural eco-system. (But what do you care, you live in the city)
These are only a small part of the responsibilities handled by OPSEU members. If you would like to educate your ass, go to
www.opseu.org to get the full story, and to see just what we are fighting for. We're not just fighting for money, and we're not all over paid and lazy like you would like to believe. We're fighting to keep our pensions, and not allow the Gov't to appropriate it for their own uses. We're also fighting for job security for contract employees who by the way do not get any benefits. So really, get your heads out of your asses and think before you make unfounded statements.
And another thing, you might not give a shit, and might not care that we're on strike. However there are those who care, namely the 45,000 OPSEU members who have been on strike for the last 7 weeks. Do you think its easy for us to not be making any money, and for this length of time? We have bills to pay, families to look after, etc. Can you honestly say you have no sympathy for the double income families out on the line??? If you can, then fuck you!
And to address the issue of not seeing anyone picketing and not hearing anything about the strike. Like someone already mentioned, there was a media blackout regarding the contract negotions between the province and opseu so nothing was supposed to be released to the public.
As for a lack of visible bodies, that is a major problem in the city but not in other places. The main problem with the city, is that there are offices spread out over a vast area, so the picketers are spread pretty thin. Another problem they are having in the city is that at most of the buildings, the local unions have been slapped with injunctions keeping them off the property. As well, many offices are accessable through underground tunnels which the injunctions state the picket lines can not be set up in. With nobody to deter them from going in to work, many people are using these tunnel entrances to cross the lines.
If you want to see a visible protest, you should venture out to my office building. We have a picket line of over 900 people.
