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Not sure why you would in the first place.

   

I always buy used cars. Just gotta be careful of the guy wearing the chesterfield.

   

There's a whole other issue!

One that others might care more about than we do, since we're "locked in" and collecting, after contributing about 10% of our pay for all those years.

   

Contract negotiations do take place in boardrooms. Where the hell do you think we do what we do?


That's what everyone would prefer, especially teachers. Unfortunately, management never brings their final deal to the table until the pressure of a strike threat comes close. That's the fault of management, not teachers. I've negotiated from both sides of the table and it's ALWAYS management that drags things out, not teachers. Your blame is miscast. Blame the boards, not the unions.

   

Of course I wasn't there. But I know that volunteers are volunteering and are encouraged to do so. There's no policy reason why you can't volunteer. So what reason were you told that you couldn't volunteer? Or do you want me to keep guessing so you can tell me how each guess is wrong? I'm not Kreskin, for fuck's sake.

   

I think you'd agree that contracts are often unofficially negotiated out in the open for media attention to sway public opinion. To lay all the blame at the feet of a school board simply isn't fair.

It's not only the fault of the union as the government plays an equal part in the game as well.

   

Do you know that specifically in relation to the Durham District School Board? Are you a teacher within the board? Were you privy to all their union-to-teacher communication during the strike?

Our school made a decision not to allow parent volunteers to run activities in the absence of teachers. It was an individual school decision that was made at numerous schools in Durham and in Toronto. I was told 'No'.

There are still volunteers that do things in the school. I'm currently fundraising for an anniversary event in May. You're trying to tell me what I was told didn't happen and that there's no way it would have happened yet I'm aware of multiple cases personally in which it did in two different school boards.

You're right, you ain't Kreskin but you sure do your best.

   

The union and the government may want their positions in the public, but none of that has anything to do with what goes on in negotiations. Public opinion has no bearing on the negotiating process. The actual negotiations happen at a local level, without the government or the provincial union reps present.


It depends on the contract. In the most recent negotiations, boards were told, by government, how it was going to be. So this time around, it was ALL government/board fault. In past negotiations, blame for delays have fallen on both sides. But 99% of the time, it's the board that stretches things out to the point where parents start to get nervous or inconvenienced. It doesn't have to be that way, but it is and that's not the unions' fault.

   

You still haven't answered "why". I guess you don't want to reveal that, so I won't ask it again. But whatever the reason, it's a management decision, not something that the union or the teachers have anything to do with. Put your blame in the right place.

   

Why we weren't allowed to volunteer? In my personal case, it was to "avoid upsetting the teachers" and to "support them in their fight". We weren't told to "go find a teacher to work with you" or anything like you suggest. Just plain old "no".

I did place the blame properly. I said "schools" didn't allow us to volunteer. Not teachers.

   

So why are you bashing teachers then? Your beef is with management.

   

Because teachers made the choice to withdrawal services to put us in that situation, not management.

It left management in a sticky situation; allow parents to help out, offending people you have to work with daily or upset a few kids for a few months. In my case, they opted for the former. Easier politically speaking within the workplace.

Teachers deserve some of the blame here, as much as you disagree.

   

But that wasn't the teachers' choice. It was a choice forced on them by government and management who refused to negotiate for MONTHS! You said you wanted the negotiating done in boardrooms. That wasn't possible because ONE side refused to do so. If the boards had been allowed to deal in December, it wouldn't have been an issue the following September. Once again, you've placed the blame at the wrong feet.


The sticky situation was created by management (well, actually government...the boards were fairly hamstrung)


I don't see how teachers deserve any of the blame when it wasn't their side that refused to talk, it wasn't their side that delayed and delayed until it got to be nearing the new school year, and it wasn't there side that ultimately forced the job action by imposing contracts. You blame a fight on the guy who instigated it, not the guy who just punched back.

   

   

I don't know all the details, as I was not involved, but what I saw on the news lead me to believe that the government and boards purposely didn't deal with the teachers because they wanted a strike thinking it would cause a public outcry from people like Icy. Seems to have worked, at least in his case. If that is really the case than it would appear it's the government that "doesn't care" about kids.

   

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