The really good news for Dal Profs

Given the uncertainty around the legality of picket line burning barrels in Halifax it's probably a good thing that the Dal profs and the university just reached an agreement that will avoid a strike.

That being said, had there been a strike I do think it would have been pretty neat to see what the architecture profs could have come up with strike-shack-wise had their been a late winter strike.

Bad news for Dal profs

If the experiences of striking transit workers are in any way indicative of what Dal profs might face on a picket line, things are looking good as far as those all-important burning barrels are concerned.  It seems that after a slight reprieve the city is not less inclined to let the practice go unchecked.  A local newspaper is now reporting that if when 911 calls are lodged about barrels the fire department will be dispatched to douse the fire.

What a sad state of affairs for organized labour in Halifax.

Cameron: 41
Neil: 0

Good news for Dal profs

As some of you may know, it looks as though the Dalhousie faculty and support staff may both be drawing closer to strikes.  Given the time of year these strikes would be taking place one would expect any picket lines to include strike huts and burning barrels.

Fortunately for future Halifax strikers, as a result of the ongoing transit strike the municipal government has recently agreed to not enforce the bylaw that makes illegal to have barrel fires in Halifax.  Presumably this precedent will carry over to other contemporaneous strikes?

Anyway,  assuming that the transit strike keeps going and the Dal faculty and support staff strike, Halifax could soon become the barrel fire capital of Canada.

I'm also curious about strike etiquette.  If to separate unions at the same employer are on strike at the same time how are picket positions determined?  Seems like there's a chance that the second union to go out could get stuck with dud locations.

Cameron: 36
Neil: 0

Glad I'm not driving in Halifax

Well, after a period of on-again, off-again negotiations Halifax is finally in the midst of a transit strike.

Though Halifax's transit system probably isn't used quite as much as it could be, it still has quite a number of users who will be inconvenienced by this strike.  And it sounds as though even non-users are being inconvenienced by increased traffic.

Strangely, Neil and I might some of the few people who might actually benefit.  If Dalhousie is successful in its negotiations we may be reimbursed for the period of time our U-Passes were out of commission.  And as we likely won't be in a position to actually use our U-Passes during the strike this will just be a benefit.

Even though I do stand to benefit from a long strike I hope that they are able to resolve the dispute shortly.

Cameron: 2
Neil: 0

Another mystery is solved

A few nights ago, during a particularly beautiful sunset, I decided to go for a walk.

While walking along a street not to far from where I live I happened to take a look at a set of mail boxes. Because of the ongoing mail strike I hadn't taken a look at one of these in quite a few weeks, even though when I get mail it is delivered to such a unit.

Almost immediately I noticed that this unit had been modified. The mail slot above the mail boxes had been sealed off (though, strangely, the material doing the sealing still mentions details of mail pick-up).

Until seeing that at least some number of mail slots have been closed I had been wondering how Canada Post expected to deal with all of the mail that must surely be piling up as a result of the strike and it seems that one approach is not to accept it until after the strike. Now that I have seen this one approach to rejecting new mail, I am curious to see if other forms of mail slots have also been sealed, or if they are still capable of accepting mail.

I also do wonder how bad that first day back will be. Will people have saved up all kinds of items to mail? Or with they be like me, and have nothing to send after weeks without access to a mail slot?

All in all, I am just glad to know how at least part of the problem is being dealt with.

A Few Quick Notes 538

-We seem to be experiencing another overcast and cool, but dry, day in Wolfville. Though I am not a fan of particularly high temperatures, I really wouldn't mind it being a bit warmer than the low teens on most June afternoons.

-Maybe it was because I frequently vacationed in Michigan as a child, but Jack Kevorkian is definitely an individual I associate with my childhood (though not in as morbid a way as you might imagine). Anyway, I was somewhat surprised to hear that he recently died. I wonder if someone will try to fill his shoes?

-As some of you may know, as of this morning many Canada Post employees are striking. Much to my surprise, this development did not mean delays for packages that I was expecting from Newfoundland.

-I have been having a hard time motivating myself to get back to work in this post-comps period. Hopefully I can find a way to turn a corner in the very near future.

-For the few weeks leading up to my comps I was consuming far too much coffee. I suspect that I was frequently consuming upwards of 3 litres of coffee a day. My consumption was so high not because I wanted the caffeine, but mainly because I just like drinking warm beverages and I do my best to avoid tea during the day. Anyway, I am pretty sure that this rate of coffee consumption wasn't doing anything good for my mood, sleep quality, or rate of productivity. Fortunately, in the past few days I have seen a precipitous drop in my rate of coffee consumption. I just hope that I can keep it up and that I don't slip back in to this 3 litres a day trend (of course, I did just buy a few kilos of coffee beans).