Saturday, December 13, 2008

Walking the picket line

Unfortunately for some folks in Ottawa, OC Transpo has gone on strike. Being retired and getting around mostly by car and not needing to be in the downtown area too much, I can manage quite well. I do notice too that there are a lot more cars on the road and driving around can be a slow process. It did not help that there was a major snow event in Ottawa this week.

I have been using the bus to go downtown and then walking to and from various transit stations. I do not have an appointment downtown until early January and hopefully by then, the two sides will have got their differences sorted out.

When I was working there was a transit strike that lasted quite a few weeks. Some of us living close by got together and shared in a car pool. There was parking available quite cheaply at one of the municipal arenas. It worked out alright but it was an inconvenience.

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I did work in a unionized environment and the union decided a couple of times to go on strike. Some of my colleagues did walk on the picket line but I was not inclined to do so.

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The other strike that affected me at work was a postal strike. At that time the library had many printed magazines and books being sent in the mail. It was more of an issue when the strike was over because we were deluged with very large piles of mail.

I wonder now that the library is more virtual with electronic resources that a postal strike would not have such a major impact.

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I was involved somewhat in labour relations. I went to work for the Department of Labour (later Labour Canada and the Labour Program) in November of 1976. Of passing interest to those working in the library, the first Minister of Labour was Mackenzie King and he started the library in the department. I think if you looked hard enough in some of the hidden corners of the library, you might still find a few books from his era.

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