"I hate unions!" "I hate the government!"
Personally, I hate it all. It sickens me to no end the amount of drivel from this ridiculous argument. The whole time people yell at the unions and the government they're fighting over the same thing. Our healthcare system is in shambles and must be saved.
Some think that everyone deserves equal healthcare. Others believe that the only way to save healthcare is to privatize it. Personally I believe that our healthcare system is better off being public because public companies don't have to show a profit. Private companies do. When you walk into a hospital would you rather be seen as a patient or a customer? (customer: actual term used in private hospitals).
Recently the cleaning staff was privatized and what a difference a profit makes. Back in the day when a patient's contaminated blood, feces or vomit spilled to the floor the nurse had only to call housekeeping and it would be cleaned. Now, according to some nurses I've talked to, the nurse must phone a call center in Florida, Asia or wherever, they then contact the company who calls someone to clean the mess. Not to mention the horribly expensive procedure of sterilizing sheets. Oh well, if you're really sick you won't even notice.
As for essential services being affected by the job action. I'm sure if he was still alive that fellow who died of a heart attack near a closed hospital would eloquently argue that essential services have been affected for a long time. Constant cuts have made hospitals a horrible place to work with morale so low that it's sometimes tough to tell who's the most sick.
Sadly, the worst is yet to come. The Liberals have made it clear: we don't negotiate with terrorists - er, unions. Why negotiate at all when they simply have to wait for the strike then legislate them back to work forcing them to swallow the contract they're given? With that attitude one can only cringe thinking about the nurses' contract soon to expire.
And if that wasn't exciting enough, the teachers will soon be on the chopping block as well. To put the teacher situation in perspective you have to appreciate that last time Gordon Campbell talked to them, they were in court. You see, the Liberals decided to take away the teachers' right to discuss the terms of their contract. The Supreme Court found that unconstitutional. So then the Liberals made a new law saying they can't bargain no matter what any court of law says. Now there's the kind of law-abiding example we should set for our children.
So the war on unions continues to rage hurting all the innocent people who rely on public care. I suppose it's just business as usual in a political climate that insists when it comes to health care or education, if you can't afford it, you don't deserve it.
