As civil service employees strike in Toronto, we should look at the ways of decreasing the size of government so we can take back our property rights.
It just doesn’t make sense to me. Public service employees feel that they are entitled to more “stuff” because they are in the position to ask for more stuff. If anyone in the private sector went on strike, the employer would say, “Don’t like your job? You can leave.”
As of Midnight Monday, 24,000 civil workers from CUPE 416 went on strike including: garbage collection, city-run daycare, ferries recreation centers, park maintenance and other services that OUR tax dollars pay for.
A similar strike affected the Toronto area in 2002 when civil service employees exuded the same demands: a cost of living increase, seniority, job security, more sick days better benefits and other goodies that we all want but do not get. That strike ended in 16 days under the direction of the provincial government who introduced back-to-work legislation.
Of course, if these unions do not receive these demands they use coercion and violence as seen in this video above.
It is quite absurd already that the governments are practicing Keynesian theory by spending money during a recession, however these strikers do not see how lucky they are to even have a job during these tough economic times.
These employees must remember that they work for us and not the other way around. We should not be at their mercy every time they want something better. The same goes with every other public sector job; some jobs pay higher amounts than the average salary, provide pensions and benefits, longer sick days and more breaks but they still want more for some ungodly reason.
I am for the right to be in a union and the right to strike because I believe in freedom and liberty, but it gets out of hand when certain employees make $60,000/year, get 15 sick days, better benefits than most and still want more.
The city of Toronto did do something right when they allowed people to drop off their own garbage at several transfer stations, but as seen in the video above, many residents had to leave under duress.
When is it that the citizens of Toronto will stop depending on the Municipal, Provincial and Federal governments for help in our everyday lives? This strike is more than just a bunch of employees whining about their job, this is about our invasion of our property rights through taxation for inept and irrelevant services.
Our politicians should take a massive pay cut just as we do. Residents of this city should demand documents listing how much each of our taxes goes to each part of the government. Citizens of Toronto should demand that politicians receive less pay and decrease the size of government. If not, I strike!
In the end, this CUPE 416 will receive what they want because let’s face it, we Torontonians are not smart nor brave enough to find other ways of throwing out our garbage.
