Sunday 26 June 2011

Time For An Update

Finally I have some time to blog again - still working like a mad thing, in fact yesterday was my ninth Saturday working in a row. The overtime is greatly appreciated (by the credit card company, by the furniture company, by the phone company... ) to be sure, but I'm getting pretty tired of it, and I really miss my guy. So, next weekend, though they offered me work for the Saturday, I am off. Friday is the holiday, so why would I agree to work Saturday, thus giving me a day off, a day at work, and another day off, when I could just simply have a marvelous three day weekend and RELAX?!?! My response was to gently refuse (I was nice, I didn't laugh in their faces) and tell them "I need a break." I am very much looking forward to the short week and the three day rest, especially because I think the rest of the summer may well follow the same pattern that has been established since the end of April. *sigh*

Having whinged sufficiently, let me show you what I will be acquiring with some of that excess of overtime monies :D


This is the Mythos Collection, from Fresh From The Cauldron which is insanely moderately expensive, though scarily enough I was able to cover the cost from just one paycheque with all that lovely overtime on it.

Other than that, and picking up a couple of extra skeins from that collection from other people - Heracles, which is the skein in the top row, third from the right and Dionysus, which bottom left - there hasn't been much yarn acquisition this month. I did buy a Louet Hand Dyeing Kit, which has three 50g skeins of yarn, the dyes and instructions on how to make a mess of your kitchen, but I haven't played with that yet. I think that will be on the menu for this week :D

I did receive a couple of my sock club shipments before Canada Post decided to lock out the carriers earlier this month but the rest, including an order from Knit Picks that would have delivered THAT DAY!!!!! is currently sitting in limbo in a warehouse somewhere. Bastards. Sam from Yummy Yarn Studio has, to her considerable cost, been shipping using FedEx, but that's just not a feasible long-term option for anyone. It's just too expensive. I asked Sam a few days ago how much more it is for her to ship that way and she said it was triple the cost of Canada Post.

Please don't think I'm bashing on the postal carriers - I'm not. I was perfectly happy for them to express their displeasure with the state of contract negotiations by exercising their right to strike because CUPW was actually concerned with not having a huge impact on the consumer, so they were doing rolling, one day strikes in various cities and towns across the country. One day. I usually only get any mail two or three days in a week anyway, so what do I care if my postie goes off for one day to carry a picket sign around the local post office? It's one day I don't get to admire his hair - it's soooo long and pretty :D Canada Post, on the other hand, decided that they didn't give a flying fart, and locked out the posties a week and a half ago. On the day my Knit Picks order would have BEEN DELIVERED!!!!! (Just a little upset, can you tell?)

So, earlier this week, the federal government put their sticky fingers into the mess, which at first seems like a good idea - to get the mail service flowing again and reduce the hardship of small business who rely on it for a large chunk of their dealings - BUT what they have done is condoned the actions of management (Canada Post) against the unionised workers. I want my mail. I do. I don't, however, want the management/union labour negotiation route short-circuited by federal interference. The terms dictated by the feds in their back-to-work legislation that was tabled on Monday lowers the wages that were offered by Canada Post in their last offer, thus costing them even less so where would be the incentive to come to an agreement with CUPW before the legislation was passed, which it was last night? Wages weren't even the biggest sticking point, but when the federal government comes in on the side of management of a Crown corporation, how is that even remotely fair? And what will stop them from doing it again? Nothing at all.

The federal opposition party, the NDP, were exercising all the tricks they had in their arsenal to try to delay passage of the bill - and complaining mightily (and rather self-righteously) about having to do it - but unfortunately it wasn't enough. Talks between Canada Post and CUPW broke off Wednesday with no resolution in sight, and even a quick conference yesterday still yielded no results. Like I said, though, why would it, when the legislation is in Canada Post's favour? My biggest problem with this is that it was management who basically said "Fuck you" to the carriers, yet they get rewarded for it. So those of us in the working world, who look at our pay where it says "Union Dues" in the deduction column, are pretty much screwed. I don't want unions to rule the world (though the current governments of most countries really don't seem to be doing that great a job of it) but I do want to believe that there is someone there who can fight for me if I need it and have a chance of winning.

However, now all the federal MP's can go off for their three month vacation (after having worked a whopping 34 days since the election - they should try my schedule) without having to worry about the postal lockout. I don't like the leader of the opposition party, and when they started their delaying tactics for the passage of this bill I thought it was just grandstanding. The more I've looked at it, though, the less I believe that. I don't know if their motivation was truly pure and for the workers, but they did try to buy time for a settlement to be reached before the legislation was passed. It wasn't going to happen, but they tried. 

Anyway, time to put the soapbox away and go wake up the man. He had a gig last night that I don't think went terribly well and didn't get to bed til 4:30 this morning, so I've been letting him sleep while I cruised around Ravelry and wrote up this lovely missive.

:P

Later

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