Quantcast
Union culture and sense of entitlement needs to stop – Metro US

Union culture and sense of entitlement needs to stop

Re: Messy details (July 30)

I’m sure I join a multitude of Torontonians who are baffled (interpretation: Downright irked) by the “garbage strike” situation that plagued our city for more than a month.

How can a city that is so culturally united be so socially and civilly divided?

This isn’t the first time we’ve had a garbage strike. Why doesn’t the city have a contingency plan that would deploy private resources to do what the public sector refuses to do? Financial reasons aside, the blatant disregard for the environmental and health implications resulting from the mountains of garbage in our neighbourhoods is both worrisome and utterly irresponsible from both CUPE members and the mayor.

I understand union members should be entitled to the same rights/benefits as us non-unionized workers. But this culture and sense of entitlement needs to stop.

Like the rest of the working population, if I don’t like my job I have a choice: Stay and work happily, or leave and find a job that I can be satisfied with. I don’t threaten to leave and stop working.

Simply put: Garbage workers get paid to take out the garbage, much like I get paid to do my job.

Whether we all do our jobs happily and without complaint is a personal choice and a reflection of personal character. What CUPE Local 79 and 416 members haven’t seemed to learn from their early years is that you can’t always have your cake and eat it, too. Sometimes we all need to be a little less selfish and think about what we’re actually doing.

All I have to say to CUPE and the mayor is: Get paid, go back to work, and pick up the mess you all created.