I’m a little concerned about the (Saskatchewan) premier’s course of action around the strike by the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance workers. (Brad) Wall was pretty quick to say he was going to use the power of the law to legislate the workers back to work. But no strike comes around just because workers want to picket the employer.
There are two sides to every story and one side – that of the workers – is not being discussed.
These workers were without a contract since October 2009 and what they were asking for was not out of line with what was being offered around the province.
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The amount of 7.75 percent over three years barely covers the increase in the cost of living.
Why was our premier not ordering the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance managers to bargain in good faith?
Union members have had to go on strike in the past but have always made sure that the citizens of Saskatchewan were not put at risk.
Wall talks about taking highway workers off the job when a storm was coming. Well, let me tell you, those workers did not leave their posts easily and returned to work so that people’s health and safety was not put at risk.
Union members are part of rural communities where they live and work. Taking strike action does not come easily; I’m sure the decision did not come easily in the crop insurance strike.
Also, I should mention that a lot of these workers spent their time away from the job helping people in a flood situation by sandbagging. Yet the Wall government makes union workers out to be some kind of monsters who don’t have a conscience.
Why is it that workers are not allowed to make a decent living but there is no limit on what the wealthy can make? Workers don’t have anybody to go to to ask for assistance. They have to bargain with the employer for their wages and benefits; yet the Wall government persists in taking these rights away.
I would ask the public -if there were no workers, where would all of our businesses and corporations be today? These are the people who make the wheels turn.
It’s very easy to govern when there is lots of money, but why are working people not entitled to share?
Sid Wonitowy,Yorkton, Sask.
