Unions - Love Them Or Leave Them...

I was raised in a entrepreneurial family. They were never very successful, but they earned every penny they spent and were never accorded "benefits," "pensions," etc. We were lucky our teeth grew in "fairly straight," because there was no money for cosmetics. We were lucky also that we didn't require expensive meds, because there wasn't a lot of money around for them either.

You can tell that I am ready to rant!! Recently Canada Post has been proposing that it phase out home delivery, everywhere. OK I know that a lot of municipalities do not have home delivery. Large cities seem to have had home delivery, grandfathered in. Of course, take away something that people expect and you get an uproar.

A spokesperson for Canada Post was being interviewed on a news station and one of his arguments for initiating postal boxes was that, "seniors need more exercise anyway, so walking to a postal drop spot would be beneficial." Somehow the converse hasn't filtered down to the unions. I haven't heard anyone saying that postal workers need be more fiscally responsible and so Canada Post is limiting their pensions, doing away with their care packages and cutting back on salary increases.

Canada post picks up packages daily at my small business. This is what happened today. I had 3 boxes to be picked up. Two were fairly small and light and the other was not that big, but it was a little heavy. However, it was well within the weight that the unions deemed that the posties were able to lift. The carrier, was horrified. He said. "Where is the loading bay?" I can't pick this up. It's too heavy!! I need help!! He was about 28 years of age and looked fairly fit. I said, "wait a minute."

Whereupon, I picked up the package; followed him up two flights of stairs and held the box, while he fiddled with the lighter packages in the truck. When he came back for the one I was holding, he did have the courtesy to say thank you. I said, "it's OK, sonny. I'm probably twice your age, but I don't have a union to pay me not to work."

The times, they have changed, and both unions and management have to understand this.  I can see a new "storming of the bastille," except that the fighting force will be a lot of white haired octogenarians - beware the power of the cane, it can trip you up :)

Have an awesome day!!