MiddleClassCentrist

"Only 43% of Ontarians could correctly pinpoint the source of the unions’ complaints while 40% of respondents falsely believed the fight was over compensation and sick days and another 20% admitted they “don’t know.”" Why do they admit, in a Poll, that it is a false accusation... yet in their articles promote that the government is saying that it is only about compensation? http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/11/ontarians-angry-at-mcguintys-handling-of-teachers-dispute-but-more-miffed-at-the-pampered-teachers-poll/

Why don't we ever target the real evils in society? The wealthy are very good at getting regular people to point the finger at other regular people... They have money to spread their propaganda and target workers who are organized enough to counter it. http://www.moveon.org/share/72e232/hollywood-legend-ed-asner-has-outraged-republicans?rc=share-41e290

Sect 14 of Bill 115 prohibited OLRB from considering constitutionality of Bill 115 even though they always have considered these issues. This ruling was fixed, and awaits a court decision.

I do agree, that a strategy based on good will after being raped may generate more support. I actually feel like the secondary union is caving to a few more extreme members. Take note that only elementary published the numbers from their political protest vote (92%). Secondary only issued a statement that they were strongly in favour of... (that means anywhere from 60%-79%)

Ironic... Dalton uses OLRB when he restricted teacher's right to use it with Bill 115.

Why do people expect them to bend over and lube up? Is that what you would do?

Not a strike. Political protest. Learn the difference. A strike is against the employers (School Boards). A political protest is against the government. You can't declare protest against the government illegal. HOWEVER; school boards do have the right to penalize workers who fail to show up to their job site.

Mike Harris learned that you can't declare political protest illegal. 2 weeks of the 90's strike was political protest... In a democracy, if you declare political protest illegal, you aren't living in a democracy anymore.

Some more ciders have been showing up, so I've been trying them out. I like that each one has a distinct flavour based on the apples/process they use.

I wouldn't say that teachers are in a baby boom to post baby boom world of measurement. People respected them back then. Now they continue to do what used to be done as goodwill, for respect (coaching, clubs, etc.) but, without getting the respect. Education delivery is changing. With information at our fingertips, student learning can be much more independent. From talking with teachers, there are a few problems with this model as a single basis of learning it requires a drive to learn new information for interest, something that often hasn't been fostered at home by parents it takes way more time to accomplish student empowered learning (collaborative or student driven) Students require ambition to achieve, students without ambition to achieve get less out of this model It costs more money to implement. Access to technology, consumable materials and larger classrooms. If you want to change the way we educate, it takes time and money. That's on the government and voters, not the teachers. The problem is that making the system cheaper, and making the system more efficient and effective are not the same.

I looked into Beer and Wine, both actually seem to require more care. Probably because it's more popular so there are more vocal opinions about how to do it right. Cider was extremely simple, and the folk doing it seemed less up tight about the process. It would be true for those very few who can actually taste the intricacies and differences between fermentations in the same process. Brewer's have to be very precise because customers expect a product to taste exactly the same every time they go to drink one. Home brewing is more experimental, exact same results aren't expected all the time, just similar. Each batch can have a unique flavour and that's what it is all about. If I use an air sealed container, the yeast I am using is the same as the yeast they use, I'll get a very similar result. I also get control over the taste. Dry cider? Ferment longer. Cloudy cider bother me? perform secondary fermentation. Higher alcohol content? add more sugar before fermentation. Sweeter? Add sugar/juice after fermentation/kill yeast off. Sparkling? do not kill yeast, add sugar just before bottling and let sit for some weeks. It also drops cost of having a drink... even with the expensive no preservative, not from concentrate, natural apple juice I bought, It's still under $1 a pint. I picked up the basics for apple cider fermentation. Trying to ferment apple juice first (apparently common for commercial cideries to do, since that's what I've been drinking I figured I'd try it first to see how close mine is.) Was going to do real cider but, could only find spiced cider and wasn't sure about it. Just needed a fermentation bucket, with lid and airlock, a hydrometer to estimate alcohol/sugar content and a siphon. Only $55 I also put an order in for a 3 Gallon carboy if I want to do secondary fermentation. I don't have a second fridge to store cider, as sparkling cider should be refrigerated after it's aged so I wanted to work with smaller batches. I still have a 5 Gallon fermentation bucket, but will only be able to do single fermentation batches at that amount, maybe in the winter when I can store it in my garage. Let's see how my first attempt goes.

"Teacher" Librarian - Staff with a regular librarian... cheaper. Guidance "Teacher" - Staff with a social worker. Guidance isn't teaching, it's just helping students sign up for courses based on their goal. Student Success "Teacher" - Tracks down and talks to students who are missing classes, tries to arrange work to be completed. Probably some child/youth worker would be better and cheaper here. Working at those could easily take away 3%. We could probably also get rid of Phys. Ed teachers and just bring in personal trainers. Mostly because there is no work involved with Phys. Ed. (no outside marking or prep work required, students prep the gym and marking is done by observation) It shouldn't be paid the same rate as teaching. Then, offer salaried coaching positions to bump up the trainers salary. Potentially lowers cost and benefits public as extracurriculars become part of a job description.

How about charging the boomers more, since they aren't paying enough into the system to support their entitlements... the younger generations have to...

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1305278--polls-suggests-ontario-pc-leader-tim-hudak-s-right-turn-is-not-helping-with-voters To be honest, I think this is all part of the liberal plan. Push some right wing smoke screen to force the PC's further right... Making the Liberals the only choice for moderates... even with their history.

I do like the dry cider. I just looked up how to make my own cider aswell... seems extremely easy to get started. Could juice my own apples if I wanted to. Makes me want to plant some Apple trees. Pour 23L of Juice, 1kg Sugar, brewers yeast in glass fermenter. Seal and leave 2 weeks.

Thanks for the links, I'm in Ontario and hadn't looked into the craft cider yet. The stuff you can buy at our liquor store is all just the big manufacturer versions. Most don't have added flavour but, have sugar added (not sure if it is before fermentation or after fermentation, before fermentation creates more alcohol so serves a purpose).

Teachers are challenging the bill in court, yes. But the Bill itself and the implementation of the bill are two different beasts. Normally you could fight implementation/abuse of legislation, this takes away those rights. In other words, all actions that come as a result of the bill are not to be challenged in any way. The MoE can violate all of the human rights code and suffer no consequence, take away constitutional rights of teachers and suffer no consequence as the Ontario Labour Board is not allowed to expedite the process. IT's been worded to make this a fight that will continue to be around for years. My teacher friends said their union reps estimate 5-7 years with the possibility for longer in the appeal process of the Bill itself... only once the Bill itself is declared a violation charter rights, can the other stuff be dug back up and challenged. I should add, even the OECTA MoU still gives young teachers 3/4's grid movement over 2 years. OSSTF improved on the OECTA deal (subjectively improved). The only reason some teacher locals voted down the tentative agreements is because that bill exists. We can easily go back to labour peace with a substantively identical freeze on secondary and catholic teachers without Bill 115. That being said, I don't even know what would please elementary teachers... They are such a militant union... but they have the most to lose. Secondary has more people with in demand qualifications and job experience outside of teaching (Engineering, Maths, Business, Technology, Science) so they seem to be more sensible.

It's definitely sweeter than beer but, no where near the cocktail drinks. I'm hoping the options for Cider improve. There's only a few options where I live (Sir Perry, Dukes, Alexander Keiths, and then some flavoured stuff). Really like dukes, Sir Perry definitely tastes sweeter than Dukes.. I stick to Pear/Apple ciders, I find the pear ones more sweet than the Apple ones.

Make them essential then... oh wait... that means arbitrators might give them more favourable deals. Only <15%(ish, was a forum poll) said that they have been inconvenienced by the teacher strikes. Holding hostage? Give me a break. If you think that Bill 115 prevents job action, you have been misled. Teachers can still walk off the job en masse. Political action can't be declared illegal, as Mike Harris found out. You can stop a strike, but you can't stop protest against government. Unless conservatives really want us to be more totalitarian and less democratic. All Bill 115 does is give the Minister of Education power to do whatever the hell he/she wants without asking legislature for approval... who the F would want that? It also prevents or restrict teachers from challenging any implementation of the bill in court, or against the humans rights code and constitution. The only route the teachers have been left with is job action, and charter violation. Would any good legislation require that it's implementation be immune from constitutional challenge or vetting against human rights code?

I had wanted to try some ever since I had seen the documentary called "The Bottany of Desire" that looked at how popular plant species actually own us. It talked about how Apple trees can't be grown from seed, as the result is random each time. A MacIntosh can only be cut and grafted from another MacIntosh. Planting the seeds won't result in the same Apple. Said the best hard cider actually comes from random crops of Apples. Anyways, It really got me interested in it. Because each cider has a uniqueness that beer doesn't. Beer is bitter and doesn't taste good to me, so I have to be in the mood for a beer. So I've been trying some out, and it is now my drink of preference. It's also a great summer drink because it's great served with ice. I stay away from the flavoured stuff, not looking for a fruity drink. Are there any other cider drinkers out there? Any recommended brands that you've found?

How often, in any sector, has a new contract been negotiated before the stress of not having a contract is applied?The most teachers could have been under the old contract was 3 weeks, if the province locked them out and imposed a contract. Yeah, I'm sure they were really holding out for a mere 3 weeks of the old contract . I don't know where you get your information but, it's missing key labour process facts.

Why, may I ask, do we need to target teachers? I know it is the PC party mantra. "Make them work for dirt, and give them more work until all of them are burnt out". Teachers agreed to a wage freeze. The tentative deals made by OSSTF have wage freezes in them. All teachers are asking for is the SAME type of agreement as was given to other public unions. A freeze without strips. If the Government had balls, it would actually impose the terms it is targeting teachers with on EVERYONE in the public sector. Not just try to make teachers out to be the lackeys who need a rough alignment. If the Government did that... and didn't pick and choose who got a good deal (OPP, College Professors, Firefighters) Teachers would be on board. They already agreed to the same terms that the college teachers did. OSSTF had tentative agreements negotiated with local boards that were rejected, or altered by Broten (Why? Both the boards and teachers agreed to cuts like the OECTA MoU just pushed around a bit. is she nuts?) That is why we are where we are right now. Yet you want to stick it to the teachers...

Your understanding is spotty. Teachers lazily awaiting automatically getting a new contract isn't true, in good faith bargaining it is assumed that the previous deal you made was in good faith and fair. Therefore, while bargaining a new contract, the old one will apply until a new one is reached. That's just the law. After a few weeks, the government could have locked teachers out and imposed a contract. This would have been over already with imposed contracts at the start of the year but, the government looks really bad for locking out teachers so they choose a poorly worded, long and drawn out legislation.

Technically speaking, they are better suited for provincial politics than federal... but, maybe at least they'd sell us out to foreign megacorps less often?

Unproven claim.