Canadian Federal Politics Thread v5

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by Locke

I worked at Greyhound for Christmases....my sweet chariot of sympathy swings quite low.

You know what I care about? Seniors getting their pensions and benefits cheques because they still get them by mail because they're too old and their grandkids dont want to teach them 'computers.'

But in seriousness, I havent really looked into what Canada Post's problems are, I assume its the usual...money, but to be honest? Those guys get paid fairly well as it is.

Disbanding the postal service would hurt rural and remote communities the most. There is no for-profit company that would take up rural deliveries because it is not profitable. That is exactly what happened when Greyhound shut down, for many communities no alternative ever filled that void. The seniors getting their pension checks in the mail in small towns all over the country would be SCREWED. And for the big cities where package delivery is profitable, the prices would spike because the for-profit companies would raise their prices in order to generate maximum profit, and they'd be able to do this more easily with Canada Post out of the picture.

The CUPW is striking because wages haven't kept pace with inflation. These are full-time workers who are finding it more and more difficult to support themselves and their families on their full-time income. If you don't know why they're striking but feel the need to comment on it, maybe look into it a little bit first?

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Locke

I worked at Greyhound for Christmases....my sweet chariot of sympathy swings quite low.

You know what I care about? Seniors getting their pensions and benefits cheques because they still get them by mail because they're too old and their grandkids dont want to teach them 'computers.'

You’ve already brought this up and had it pointed out to you that Canada post is still delivering those cheques during the strike. Personally I don’t think you give a rats ass about them getting their cheques and are more concerned with trying to use them as a means to try and paint the postal employees in a negative light.

But in seriousness, I havent really looked into what Canada Post's problems are, I assume its the usual...money, but to be honest? Those guys get paid fairly well as it is.

If you say so.

[Doctorfever]

I get that Canada Post workers wages haven’t kept up with inflation, I don’t think may wages have (I could be wrong).

#Justinflation.

[Dan02]

I don't think we should do away with Canada Post, but daily mail service should go the way of the Dodo, once maybe twice a week tops would be more then sufficient. Yes it would be a big reduction in workforce but right now they're just wasting tax payer dollars.

[Locke]

You know who's income is keeping up with inflation? Basically nobody.

Thats the problem with rampant inflation.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

You’ve already brought this up and had it pointed out to you that Canada post is still delivering those cheques during the strike. Personally I don’t think you give a rats ass about them getting their cheques and are more concerned with trying to use them as a means to try and paint the postal employees in a negative light.

If you say so.

I see the T4s. What do you think the average Mail Carrier makes?

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

I get that Canada Post workers wages haven’t kept up with inflation, I don’t think may wages have (I could be wrong).

#Justinflation.

The wage increases for most who renewed their contracts over the last couple of years have been better than the less than 3% annually that Canada Post is offering at the moment.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

I get that Canada Post workers wages haven’t kept up with inflation, I don’t think may wages have (I could be wrong).

#Justinflation.

Yes, it's a problem that workers in many industries are experiencing, and it's not a coincidence that it's happening at a time when union membership is historically low.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Locke

I see the T4s. What do you think the average Mail Carrier makes?

Do you see the amount of hours they work on those T4s?

According to their collective agreement letter carriers start at around $21/hour and top out around $29, after 7 years!

That does not strike me as an obscene wage.

Why do you think they don’t deserve how much they make?

[PepsiFree]

Basically anyone whose job is or can be easily replaced with AI or automation should probably be pro-union, pro-collective bargaining, and pro-wage increases and protections.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Basically anyone whose job is or can be easily replaced with AI or automation who works for a living should probably be pro-union, pro-collective bargaining, and pro-wage increases and protections.

Being pro-union doesn’t mean you have to want to unionize your workplace. It’s just a basic understanding that there’s literally no one else looking to maintain or improve the current standards both union and non-union workers have.

Not to mention that there’s also some pretty lousy employers out there who make a lot of money exploiting some of societies most vulnerable. So we should probably encourage governments to make it easier for those people to get the help that they need.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Being pro-union doesn’t mean you have to want to unionize your workplace. It’s just a basic understanding that there’s literally no one else looking to maintain or improve the current standards both union and non-union workers have.

Not to mention that there’s also some pretty lousy employers out there who make a lot of money exploiting some of societies most vulnerable. So we should probably encourage governments to make it easier for those people to get the help that they need.

100%. My point wasn’t that nobody else should be supporting/in favour of these things, but at very least there’s an incredibly “head in the sand” quality to people whose careers will cease to exist in the near future arguing against the limited structures that exist to protect workers.

Doesn’t mean you have to have some desire to unionize. But workers, even those of smaller businesses that consider themselves employers, should collectively align on supporting these things without reservation or they risk arguing against their own best interest.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Being pro-union doesn’t mean you have to want to unionize your workplace. It’s just a basic understanding that there’s literally no one else looking to maintain or improve the current standards both union and non-union workers have.



Not to mention that there’s also some pretty lousy employers out there who make a lot of money exploiting some of societies most vulnerable. So we should probably encourage governments to make it easier for those people to get the help that they need.

You put this a lot more succinctly than I would have.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Basically anyone whose job is or can be easily replaced with AI or automation should probably be pro-union, pro-collective bargaining, and pro-wage increases and protections.

Perhaps, but society should not support keeping people in jobs that can be automated.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by SebC

Perhaps, but society should not support keeping people in jobs that can be automated.

Society should support people who lose their jobs to automation instead.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Party Elephant

You put this a lot more succinctly than I would have.

I don’t know what succinctly means but I’ll just blindly assume it’s an endearing term.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GGG

Society should support people who lose their jobs to automation instead.

You clearly learned nothing from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!'

Slavery is great, children are expendable and Charlie Bucket's dad lot his toothpaste-cap application job to a robot, re-trained and repaired the robots who took his job and everyone lived happily ever after!!

Except presumably the Oompa-Loompas. I dont think they were ever mentioned again after that last song.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by SebC

Perhaps, but society should not support keeping people in jobs that can be automated.

Originally Posted by GGG

Society should support people who lose their jobs to automation instead.

GGG nailed it. It’s fine not support keeping people in jobs that can be automated… so long as you actually have proper supports in place, which we don’t, so we should support workers in that absence.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

GGG nailed it. It’s fine not support keeping people in jobs that can be automated… so long as you actually have proper supports in place, which we don’t, so we should support workers in that absence.

The answer is automation and UBI, not luddism. If you block automation you also prevent the pressure buildup that will get us UBI.

[Wormius]

Were concerns over automation part of the grievances Canada Post has?