I've been hearing a lot about the WGA strike, and I thought I'd share a story of my own.
My mother's union(PSAC) went on strike a few weeks ago. It's been resolved now, but when they decided to strike, there hadn't been a signed contract in two years. That means there were no cost of living raises, no changes in work from home policies, no changes AT ALL. That means over that time, her wage effectively DECREASED by over 10%.
PSAC went to the table, and asked for cost of living +2% wage increases, over the course of three years and a more flexible work from home policy. The government offered them a 8.25% over 4 years. SIGNIFICANTLY less than inflation. A year and a half later, they offer a 9% increase over 3 years(not even enough to catch up with cost of living RIGHT NOW, let alone throughout the contract) and no work from home. This was, frankly, insulting. So, PSAC decided to strike.
Her union has 150,000 workers. The largest strike in Canadian history. 150,000 people who had the value of their work ignored. 150,000 people who said THIS IS ENOUGH.
One of the most genuinely shocking things, to me, was how anti-union the news was. CBC, which generally aligns with my bias pretty well(they claim to be unbiased but we alllllll know how that goes), would not stop talking about how much it was affecting the public, and how the union should have taken the deal, and how dare people only be able to go to the passport office if it's urgent! To be clear, necessary services were still being provided. The public impact was not that huge. However, not ONCE did CBC talk about why the union hadn't taken the deal or how the workers(who got strike pay less than minimum wage) were being affected.
Now, I see the same thing happening with the WGA strike. Sooooo many people and news places are talking about how their favorite shows might be canceled, or maybe the next season will be bad, or or or ect ect. I and it's so frustrating.
In the end, my mom's union got 12% over 4 years(still not cost of living) and a more flexible work from home. I hope the WGA has better luck.
