What are they asking for?

cougs78 what they ask for is none of yours or my business, this issue is between the employees and the employer, between your souse and you. It is none of our business, neither is it your business to comment on whether you think the bargaining positions are valid. Too often bargaining is drawn into the media. It is not our business to ask. People complain when their privacy is invaded or compromised. This is the same situation. You may not like it but it is NONE of OUR business! Respect that!

correction… (LIKE between your SPOUSE and you}

pgdoug@If both parties want to keep things quiet then you may have a point, but typically, by the point at which strike action takes place, both sides are asking the public for support. Once that happens, the public certainly has a valid interest in learning about the dispute. In this case, there is a further public interest because a major public institution is affected. It isn’t at all appropriate to treat coug78 as if he were a voyeur prying into a marital dispute.

Excuse me pgdoug! It is my business when as a taxpayer, I am on the hook for whatever it is they want and settle on. (or give)

I feel the same for every single government paid position. (at all levels) I do have a vested interest in all of them. So, I do care. I do have an interest and I do have an opinion and it is my business. Because it involves me for a long time.

“cougs78 what they ask for is none of yours or my business”

Well that’s interesting. Given that they are outside holding signs, placards and look to be asking for support, one can only assume that they want the public to become engaged.

If they want public support, how could that same public be expected to make that decision if they did not know what the conflict is about?

Of course its our business. Who the hell pays these people their wages?? Taxpayers of course.

The are striking a University that is bought and paid for by taxpayers. Any settlement will come out of tax dollars.

I agree that the dispute is between the employee’s and the employer’s, and in this case the employer’s are the taxpayers of BC.

UNBC and its board have learnt nothing from the past mistakes of Jago, Cozzetto. Why UNBC is in a deadlock with both UNBC faculty association and the CUPE 3799 staff of UNBC over new agreements for 2 years? The current conflict is over putting limits on the management to fire UNBC staff (and faculty).

Recall the tens of pink slips that Don Cozzetto distributed (in his very first year) on becoming UNBC president in 2006? (He left 2 years later with a 1 Mil $ golden package). Or the firing of UNBC director of athletics by George Iwama on his very first year in office in 2009?

Did we hear any rationale for these from the over-expanded VP of external relations in UNBC Robert Van Adrichem. Robert became a VP and his propaganda staff multiplied, and his budget bloated for more than 1 Mil $ per year, at the time these firings were going on. A good manager would have put the 1 Mil $ to support several Engineering degree programs in UNBC.

UNBC is facing shortfall of around 2% for each of the next 2 years and there will be layoffs and the workers are asking for job security. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand this.

The fact remains… our central banks have been printing money (monetary inflation) to make the bankers whole from the gambling debts they incurred in the markets.

The banks have been hording this bailout wealth trying to appear solvent. Money supply has tripled in only one decade but it has yet to reach main street, but when it does and it will soon, we will soon see massive inflation thereby driving down the real value of a dollar… investors especially foreign investors will then demand a higher return on their investments in order to have real growth on their investments… and therefore interest rates will start to go up fast to try and keep with inflation.

10% inflation would bankrupt the country… economists say we could be in the range of 30% inflation to correct for the massive ‘quantitative easing’ (printing money) monetary inflation over and above real wage growth.

For business in a rising interest rate world, which is the only way it has left to go… Companies (households as well) will be spending more money on borrowing costs than business expansion costs. That means lower profit margins, lower dividends, and less hiring. Plus, more layoffs.

For governments in a rising interest rate world, which is the only way it has left to go… Governments will be spending more money on borrowing costs than program service costs… furthermore with lower corporate profits (corporate tax rates won’t matter if they don’t have profits), and lower financial income, and less private sector employment, the tax base will most assuredly shrink.

So when interest rates are going down and the economy is one of a ponzi scheme to the highest bidder using debt financing… it is a great time for government unions to ask for a raise and for governments to simply factor it into their growth forecasts… but when 2013 arrives with rising interest rates and the treasury runs dry… one has to really think the gains asked for in a strike like this simply will not be attainable.

They may simply want to be thankful they have a secure job a year from now. We will all loose once the ponzi economy unravels, some more than others. If the CUPE can get anything now they should sign for it… the window is closing fast for them.

IMHO

Thanks Palopu! I didn`t think I was out of line asking the question!