Bruce Monkhouse said:
Remember no one wants to be out there but this is the way it works in the civi world,
Fair enough Bruce,
But where I (and many others) have a problem with the ongoing PSAC labour dispute is when strike action has a deleterious impact upon our ability to do what we are paid to do. It is not simply a matter of showing up late for PT because you couldn't get on base out of uniform. When strike action begins to adversely affect the delivery of military training, we have a "no win" situation.
My school (CTC Tactics) has 10 training days in which to deliver the Residency portion of the "Army Tactical Operations Course" starting on Monday. Two days of the curriculm are TEWT-based, and as such are dependant upon contracted civilian coaches getting on base to pick up the students and deliver them to the TEWT site. A further 5 days of the ATOC Residency package are JCATS (Janus) based. If the part-time JCATS civilian employees cannot access the base due to PSAC strike action, then we cannot train. There is no scope to "adjust" our timings, nor make-up lost training opportunities. When strike action precludes the JCATs interactors from showing up for work on time, the only people who suffer are our military students who have travelled at great expense to attend a very regimented (and zero-flex) 10-day training program. Who suffers? And to what quantifiable end? Do our students have any bearing on the outcome of the Federal Government labour dispute? Do I or my fellow military instructors? The answer is a resounding "NO".
I am generally sympathetic to the striking PSAC workers. I don't mind having to wait an extra 20 minutes (on a personal level) to get on base during strike action. Where I have a fundamental problem with the strike action is when it screws with my military duties to the point of no recovery. When my students' training resources are unecessarily waylayed, I can no longer do my job. That situation is manifestly unnaceptable. It is precisely this sort of thing that turns me from a reasonably sympathetic (albeit greatly inconvenienced) bystander into a manifest hater of the sheer obstinate ignorance demonstrated by the average striker.....
The PSAC employees are entitled to strike and protest. We all know that. The "Defense Team" notwithstanding, I understand and appreciate their plight. But the minute a labour protest precludes me from doing my job for the benefit of Army as a whole? Well, to say that the civiilian strikers have lost my support would be a manifest understatement.....
If PSAC wants to strike and disrupt "life" then by all means do it on Parliament Hill where the effects will be felt. There is zero to be gained by jacking around those of us who wear the uniform. We're supposedly on the same "defence team". Furthermore, none of us in uniform has the wherewithal to make an iota of difference in settling the labour dispute. The only people that suffer as a result of piquet lines at a military establishment are the CF personnel and (in my case) their students.
Quite frankly, the current situation of day by day "will they, or won't they screw us around" is ludicrous. As much wiser minds have said in the past, "this ain't no way to run a railroad". If PSAC keeps targetting Military members and our training-essential (but non-union employees), they are simply cutting their own throats. My patience is already wearing VERY thin, and we've only just begun the latest charade.....
Quite frankly, impeding access to a military establishment should be manifestly illegal. It apparently is, but there are ludicrous loopholes which say that a "reduced flow" of 5 cars per hour is perfectly acceptable. Bull-crap! Screw with the learning opportunity that I am trying to afford my military students, and you have just made an enemy.
It has only just begun, and I've already had enough of the crap. For the PSAC employees - pick on somebody who can do something about your grievances. Just let me do my job. Interfere with the learning of my students, and you royally piss me off. At that point, I am all for the "billy-club" approach....
Just my $.02.....
