CUPE Strike

I have to toss my 2 cents in regarding the Toronto CUPE Strike. Get back to work! I am not versed in all the issues but when it comes to sick days I do not support CUPE’s wish list. Sick days are there if you get sick. If you do not get sick, great you don’t need them. They are not yours to accumulate and then be paid out. Those are called vacation days. The following is from CUPE’s propaganda, which was given to me by a CUPE member:

Many of us have worked for decades on the understanding that we have a sick plan and would be paid for a portion of unused sick days when we retire. We believed the City’s promise.

I find it hard to believe that many of you were operating on a belief when you have a signed contract. Regardless, you do have a sick plan, if you are sick you are paid. Very few of us have that kind of plan!

The payout for accumulated sick days – which has stringent rules – is the only severance we receive when we retire from the City of Toronto, if we are eligible.

Again, I do not support the idea of accumulating sick days in order to have them “paid out” at a certain point. If you are sick those days are there, if you are not (sick) then move along they are not your days. When you retire you have a pension to live on. And although I am not sure, I imagine the CUPE pension is far better than the on I’ll be getting!

Local 416 and Local 79 members can only get paid sick time after six months of
employment.

So what’s your point? Most companies have wait times before benefits kick in. Why should the taxpayers of Toronto pay someone for sick days within the first 6 months of employment?

In Local 79, only full-time city workers have a payout provision. Members in the
city’s homes for the aged have paid sick days with no payout.

I am sure you have guessed my position on this one. The full-time city workers are lucky and two wrongs do not make a right!

About 10,000 part-time child care, public health, hostel and recreation workers
have no paid sick days at all. Local 79 has been trying for a decade to improve
this situation. Now we are fighting just to hold on to what is already there for
some members.

As a private sector employee I never had paid sick days. However, my employer used to manage sick days on a case-by-case basis. Having said that, I have no problem agreeing to a limited number of paid sick days, however no accumulation. Again these days are not earned by an employee they are a benefit. No one asks to accumulate other benefits like massage or dental coverage. Let’s just add up the benefits I did not use and then have them paid out to me!

You would have to work for 15 years without taking one sick day to earn the
maximum payout after 25 years of service. That means no illness, no having to
stay home to take care of a sick child or an ailing parent for 15 years.

Again, your point is? I think it is great that you can call in “sick” and then stay home and care for your child or parent. That is an amazing benefit that most of us do not share.

Full-time workers in Local 79 and Local 416 must work 10 years before they are
eligible for any payout. The percentage of banked sick days that will be paid
and the maximum to which they will be paid grows with the number of years of
service.

This is an awesome benefit that they should be grateful for. However, spreading this across CUPE is unrealistic and not something I am willing to pay for.

The proposal made by the city to replace our current provisions is a substandard
short-term disability plan.

Like most employees I think you should be offered a reasonable package either paid by your employer or a co-pay plan. If the STD plan is substandard then fight for a good one, which I am and I believe most Torontonians would get behind.

To wrap this up, if you want support then fight for something we can get behind. You have great jobs and you are paid well. The odds of you ever getting fired are slim. Your sick day requests are, simply, unacceptable.

I just watched this video on Global’s website. Ann Dembinski needs a wake up call. Her comments, referring to the Mayor, “if he has time to discuss the details of bargaining with 3 million Torontonians he should get himself to the bargaining table”. What was that Ann? The Mayor is obligated to inform us, the people who pay your salary and clearly he has been at the table. After hearing Ann I have even less support for CUPE.

When I walk past the CUPE workers with signs that say “We work for you Toronto”. I want to yell then get back to work! I do not want to pay you for accumulated days that you have not earned. I am willing to provide a fair and reasonable insurance plan that covers you if you get sick. But shake your collective head. No one gets accumulated sick days. You either use your insurance or you don’t and most of us hope we don’t! Now GET BACK TO WORK!

For the Sake of it

Today I am Blogging for the sake of Blogging. I am in that place of thinking I have nothing to say and if I do say anything I risk coming off as a whiner. The same old stuff coming from the same old stuff. Regardless, I think I might as well use some of the time, before I head off to work, to do some writing.

I am thinking of taking the plunge and starting a business. Nothing new, meaning no new ideas here, just figure I would get into some of the things I want to do but have yet to do. No time like the present! Of course, I worry about spending the money to register the business name. I worry about how I am going to get clients and I worry about whether or not I will be any good at the business I want to run. Worry worry worry, which we all know is useless. Still it has me in its grip.

I also want to start a business with a partner. I believe that a partner would keep me on track and in motion. Things must get done and when I am accountable to others, in most cases, I come through. Trouble is I have had no success in finding someone willing to take the risk with me. I may be onto someone now, but we have to make the time to get to it and I am not sure if that will happen.

In the past I ran a cleaning company with my sister. We worked well together and I would be into creating a family based business. That is tough because, well, lets just leave it at that. I asked my niece but I have not heard back and I often think about asking my nephews. I should but I haven’t.

So, there you go. This is what you get when I Blog for the sake of Blogging. I am confident in my ideas, I really do have great ideas, it is my execution that falls apart. Of course, that was yesterday and this is a new day.

Looking Back

I am sitting here listening to the song “unsent” which came up at a conversation this evening over dinner. I realized that I have very successfully shut out the past of my life. I can see into the great beyond and what happened but I have no clear sight lines and I feel disconnected from it all. In the muddle of memories I do recall the back porch of my house on Broadway. I loved the back porch. It was the place I sat with my Father and watched thunderstorms. It was the place my sister and I escaped to when being inside the house was more than we could handle. It was the same place my other sister joined us when she got home.

I remember raccoons joining us as well. And my Father so brave and unflinching as the raccoon and her family explored the porch and the possibility of breaking into the cage that housed my guinea pigs. I knew my little guinea pigs were safe; my Father was out there. I also remember watching TV out there and jumping the rocks in the rock garden instead of taking the stairs. My Mother frowned on that and one day I torn open my shin and understood her frown a little better. I also remember the glow of my Father’s cigarette and how thin he was and how strong he was.

I recalled him very clearly this evening while I was lying in bed. I was reading and for some reason, I think a cemetery scene in the book, I was taken to his place in the cemetery. I imagined going there and standing over his grave, silently willing him to answer my questions and tell me what to do. Then I would look over my shoulder and there he would be. In those pants that did not fit him, pulled tight with an old worn belt. He would be wearing the T-shirt with the picture of my niece on it; it was so worn out but he kept it and wore it. I had to stop myself, control the image because he was coming in so clear I thought just maybe I would get to see him again. I can hold that imagine in my mind but I am not ready to see him standing in front of me again. I would be swept away.

It takes some form of energy inside me to stand at the edge of this image and not let go. Like pushing down a scream you really want to release. Sometimes, when people leave you there is a space left there that time cannot fill. There are moments when you are unaware of it, you move along doing your thing and then suddenly there it is again, a gap where that person used to be. The phones calls you no longer receive, the jokes that go untold and the advice and support you want so much but cannot hear unless you stop, hold your hand up and listen real close.

I am only sure of this void, the void created by my Father’s death. I recall how the world was suddenly bigger and more dangerous and how I could not figure out why everyone was just going about their business. I remember wanting a day to pretend that it did not happen and having that taken suddenly when my cell phone rang. We had to bury my Father by sundown Monday so I had to meet my family at the funeral home. I do not recall a time, other than the evening before my Father died, that I ever publicly displayed with total abandon my raw emotions. I made a call to Mother and spoke to her threw a torrent of tears and anguish as I walked myself home. I feel that torrent now but it stays in its place inside.

I have no idea what this all means. Remembering. Being blocked from remembering. But I am thinking now of my Mother who, I am sure, would give anything to remember. Age is a cruel partner that walks within us all. It is almost 3am and I am awake. I am tired now and probably could drift off to sleep. I am not sure I will just yet. I need time to settle and perhaps a third bowl of Cap’n Crunch, comfort food to get me through to the morning. The AC is back on and working its magic inside my apartment. I am deeply grateful. Tonight, I will sleep under my comforter in the warmth of my dreams.

Late Night Cat Feedings

Last night I helped a friend of mine that is a volunteer for the Annex Cat Rescue. We went to China Town and Kensington Market and fed the feral cats. It’s fun but last night I was put off by the heat (see the next post) as I knew I could not seek relief at home as the AC was not working. The upside is the conversation as we walk/drive around feeding the cats. And I know I wont offend my friend when I say the cats are even better!

We saw quite a few (cats) and most of them are known to Rondi. I know some, but as I only help when Rondi needs it, my cat acquaintances are falling in number. Last night I met two new cats. One has an owner somewhere. The little guy is not “fixed” and is wearing a collar that, despite my attempts, I could not get off. His eye is infected as well and looks very bad. He is friendly but wary. Anyone want a cat?

The other guy I met is a large thin tom. He was a great cat and seriously had me considering, at least, fostering him until he found a home. He also needs to be “fixed”, which right now I cannot afford. I believe the ACR is going to attempt to trap him. He would make a fine pet cat as he is very friendly and just seems to want food and some lov’n!

It is amazing what lives among our concrete and garbage, the raccoons and cats and mice and rats, all running around the streets. I find the raccoons very endearing. The little ones are so cute and curious. They look at us as if they are saying “hey over here, leave us some too!”. We do, well Rondi does, sometimes I just want to get moving! As for the rats, I have a great time yelling RAT and watching Rondi scream and jump.

That was my Sunday night. It takes about 2 hours to do the route, feed the cats and take a bunch of pictures. I like it when the cats let me pet them. I like the conversation. I like walking down the back lanes of the Annex and commenting on how run down the place is. I do my best to avoid the stinky laneways and I am always grateful to get back in my car and turn on the AC!

Summer sweat - not so sweet!

I am just hot everywhere I go. It seems the past few days has been about sweating and being uncomfortable. I am not sure what I am suppose to learn from this experience, however, I am quite sure that if the heat was off in my building in December it would have been fixed over night! Not to say that I am resentful or bitter about living the past weekend without AC. I believe that what needed to be done was done.

It’s just that it occurred to me that I have not been able to cool off in what seems like days. I have had some moments; I spent Sunday afternoon in Starbucks reading. That was cool. But I sweat when I get to work and I am sweating when I get home. I am warm lying bed and then I begin to sweat when I sit to watch TV! I think it began with the shock of heat I got when I arrived in Virginia Beach. I left Toronto and it was about 22 and I got to VB and it was 37! I have no idea how they cope with that day in and day out.

Being overweight does not help either. I am carrying around an extra 20 pounds at least. I am sure that makes me sweat. I decided that once the AC is working again I will start to ride my bike. That was a great way to put off riding my bike! Of course, it appears that the time has come. The AC is working again, although I am not sure it is in my unit. It either has not worked its way to my place or my unit is now broken. I’ll find out when I get home. If it is working maybe I’ll go out for a bike ride!

This is why I look forward to winter. I am a “sweater” and I need the cool cold air to keep the water in my body! If the heat went off in my building I would not even notice. I turned it on once last winter when the temperature dropped in December. I used it for about 2 days and turned it back off. This is also why I have no qualms using the AC full tilt all summer long. I make up for that in the winter when I use zero energy to heat my home. Even steven if you will.