Public service employment has grown by 31 per cent

[mariomike]

I know guys who worked in the coke ovens at Algoma, they also loved the work because even though it was a pretty hazardous to your health job, their bosses only made them work the minimum amount required so most their 12 hour shift was sitting around getting paid to watch tv.

Sounds like the "Power Shift" our department , used to , have.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Respectfully I think that's overly dramatic. Perhaps these are jobs more fitted to robotics and machinery than people.

If robots can build cars and make me a coffee they should be able to do these jobs. Or pay the human exorbitant amounts of money to damage their health like this.

So its not as bad now is what you're saying ? And the health risks are minimalized ?

Lots of people don’t realize how dangerous a bunch of jobs are. Back when my grandfather was training in the 50s they said one out of every thirty going into being a lineman would die on the job. Thats reality.

Automation and technology can potentially reduce risks but not eliminate them. Things are much safer today than they were even 30 years ago. Better personal protective equipment and more importantly corporations in Canada get heavily fined when a worker gets seriously injured or killed making it in their fiscal interest to try and protect their employees health.

But don’t delude yourself into believing they do it out of the goodness of their hearts. When they say offshoring work is cheaper, this is why.

These jobs do also pay above average generally.

Simple personal example, I am a repair Machinist/Fitter. My job if done wrong is extremely dangerous, I could show videos of people being turned into pink mist due to making simple mistakes. There is also a good chance by time I retire I shall be physically broken and I have increased risks of cancer over your general public due to the oils/greases/materials handled, smoke breathed, etc.

I still love the work.

Most blue collar jobs are dangerous to your health long term at the minimum. You can’t automate them particularly well. If they could they would because a robot is cheaper than a person.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I am of course talking about non-unionized employment.

We have a mix of unionized and non-unionized employees. I barely consider Unionized employees to be Company employees. The way some Unions act, they are more like private contractors/mercenaries that we pay to operate equipment we happen to own.

That's why it always pays to have spies in the union's ranks.

Follow me for more industrial age leadership hacks

 

[Colin Parkinson]

That's why it always pays to have spies in the union's ranks.

Follow me for more industrial age leadership hacks

I worked for BC Ferries for a bit, it was so bad that at the terminal where I worked the assistant terminal manager and the shop steward had gone to school together and secretly conspired together, to get things done by not advising management or the union. The relationship in BCF between the union and management was utterly toxic.
When I worked at TC, the shop steward and the Regional Director General would do coffee once a week to discuss grievance and potential issues, so they can deal with them before they became a major issue. A far better relationship and far more productive and better for organization and the workers. Neither could really affect the bigger issues, but they could affect the day to day stuff.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I worked for BC Ferries for a bit, it was so bad that at the terminal where I worked the assistant terminal manager and the shop steward had gone to school together and secretly conspired together, to get things done by not advising management or the union. The relationship in BCF between the union and management was utterly toxic.
When I worked at TC, the shop steward and the Regional Director General would do coffee once a week to discuss grievance and potential issues, so they can deal with them before they became a major issue. A far better relationship and far more productive and better for organization and the workers. Neither could really affect the bigger issues, but they could affect the day to day stuff.

And then there's Canada Post

 

[Colin Parkinson]

And then there's Canada Post

Outside workers generally have high enjoyment of their job, inside workers not so much.

 

[mariomike]

Outside workers generally have high enjoyment of their job, inside workers not so much.

Never seem to read of disgruntled - outside - letter carriers " going postal".

 

[daftandbarmy]

Outside workers generally have high enjoyment of their job, inside workers not so much.

That theory doesn't seem to hold up when applied to the Infantry vs. Air Force

 

[Navy_Pete]

People shouldn't be dying or selling off years of their lives for their employers. I can see the irony in saying that as a CAF member, but that worker at Stelco or in mines has a much worse job than me IMHO.

To a certain extent, but there are plenty of jobs that take years off your life on way or another (underwater welder comes to mind) so at least it was properly compensated. Plus as mentioned there was actually a lot of PPE as well as other controls in place to minimize exposure, so much less hazardous then it used to be.

Still plenty of minimum wage jobs that are more dangerous then they should be and the worst ones I ever worked were in small shops doing manual labour. Despite regularly doing dangerous things with the CAF, almost never felt especially at risk due to the training we had and the safety precautions in place where it was practicable. And that included being a live test weight on a heavy jackstaff transfer between two ships (PRE and FRE?) when that used to still be a CRR and subbies were disposable, or in actual fires and floods.

There are a few exceptions to that, but was on ships that limped out the door with less than the legal minimum and got worse during the sail, but that was a bit of RCN cowboying masquerading as 'managed risk' (that no one wanted to figure out what it actually was before they accepted it).