4570 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

MW in BC is $15.65, to be precise.

[dasmo]

We have the folks who were fired for not getting injected but we also have all the folks in the private sector who were essentially suspended from working. Think about the pay cuts the service industry workers got by no tips for a LONG time. Meanwhile....

 

A just-released report suggests taxpayers in British Columbia spent millions more during the pandemic on raises for government workers.

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, 33,336 B.C. government workers got raises in 2020, at a cost of approximately $69 million.

In 2021, 28,972 got a pay boost, to the tune of about $47 million. In total, $116,095,813 went to paying workers more over the two-year period, the report from the fiscally-conservative non-profit says.

In a news release Monday, B.C. director for the CTF Kris Sims pointed out many non-government workers took a pay cut, lost their job or saw their business severely impacted during the same time.

 

https://bc.ctvnews.c...non-profit says.

[Mike K.]

There you go.

The one constant, always, is unions decrying how bad their members have it. They always compare private sector wages to the wages their membership earns, but never do they compare the economic fragility of private labour, the less than comparable benefits, the higher output expectations, the lack of job security and for many (most?), a lack of pension.

[Barrrister]

One should always calculate the value of a pension as simply a deferred wage. A good actuary can calculate the value of a pension within a very precise range. My point is that it is very deceptive to just look at wages rather than the whole value of the employment contract including pensions, sick days and holidays.  

[dasmo]

I learned something new from these court docs. Our regulators also changed the approval process in 2020 to make way for this product to be marketed and bypass the usual length of safety and efficacy studies.... Phase three was no not completed... rather just two months into the trial was satisfactory for authorization. 

[dasmo]

Ding! Some media coverage.

 

LILLEY: Court records show Trudeau brought in vaccine mandates for travel purely based on politics

 

That lawsuit has made public documents, first reported by Rupa Subramanya, which show health officials were scrambling to find any justification for vaccine mandates for travel before they came into effect. The documents also show that the lead doctor who approved the use of COVID-19 vaccines was not consulted on whether such mandates would be effective.

 

Aaron McCrorie, the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security at Transport Canada, was emailing people at Health Canada in October 2021, just weeks before the travel mandate took effect, looking for anything to support the policy.

 

“To the extent that updated data exist or that there is clearer evidence of the safety benefit of vaccination on the users or other stakeholders of the transportation system, it would be helpful to assist Transport Canada supporting its measures,” McCrorie wrote.

He followed up again days later saying, “need something fairly soon.” The only response he received, according to the court record, a set of talking points on the general benefits of vaccination.

 

https://torontosun.c...sed-on-politics

[Mike K.]

One should always calculate the value of a pension as simply a deferred wage. A good actuary can calculate the value of a pension within a very precise range. My point is that it is very deceptive to just look at wages rather than the whole value of the employment contract including pensions, sick days and holidays.  

 

There is no better employment, pound for pound, than a government or public sector job.

 

Ironically, the most complaints about employment emerge from public sector workers (fielded on Twitter, during working hours) 

[Sparky]

There is no better employment, pound for pound, than a government or public sector job.
:

I wouldn’t have made it through the first week.

[Victoria Watcher]

Yes. I’m guessing he didn’t mean it exactly that way.

[sebberry]

Ding! Some media coverage.

 

LILLEY: Court records show Trudeau brought in vaccine mandates for travel purely based on politics

 

That lawsuit has made public documents, first reported by Rupa Subramanya, which show health officials were scrambling to find any justification for vaccine mandates for travel before they came into effect. The documents also show that the lead doctor who approved the use of COVID-19 vaccines was not consulted on whether such mandates would be effective.

 

Aaron McCrorie, the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security at Transport Canada, was emailing people at Health Canada in October 2021, just weeks before the travel mandate took effect, looking for anything to support the policy.

 

“To the extent that updated data exist or that there is clearer evidence of the safety benefit of vaccination on the users or other stakeholders of the transportation system, it would be helpful to assist Transport Canada supporting its measures,” McCrorie wrote.

He followed up again days later saying, “need something fairly soon.” The only response he received, according to the court record, a set of talking points on the general benefits of vaccination.

 

https://torontosun.c...sed-on-politics

 

 

The findings shed new light on the effectiveness of Canada’s border measures, revealing that the number of COVID-19 cases entering Canada declined by 10-fold four weeks after restrictions barring the entry of most foreign nationals were implemented in March 2020.

“COVID-19 importations were accelerating in the lead up to March 2020, but experienced a sharp and drastic decline after travel restrictions were put in place,” says Angela McLaughlin (she/her), a PhD candidate in bioinformatics at UBC and the study’s lead author. “The data shows that federal travel restrictions can be effective in reducing viral importations when implemented rapidly.”

[...]

https://news.ubc.ca/...-new-outbreaks/

[dasmo]

If you stop people from traveling you will have less travelers to test and thus a drop in COVID "Importations". #landriseduh

[dasmo]

Also you forgot the headline from the article 

Travel restrictions significantly reduced COVID-19 cases entering Canada — but insufficient to prevent new outbreaks

[Mike K.]

#landriseduh

[Nparker]

#landriseduh

#thankstruckers

[Victoria Watcher]

Roast is still missing about 40 per cent of its sales because not all workers have returned to downtown, she said.

 

 

https://www.timescol...dollars-5688788

 

Cliff Leir, who owns two Fol Epi bakeries and Agrius restaurant, said he is owed $4,000. He has stopped using Tutti.

 

After signing up early in the pandemic he noticed this spring that regular payments were ­falling behind, at one time ­reaching a total owed of $10,000, he said. The company was apologetic and made up some of what was owing.

 

Leir said he tries to support local, even their salt is locally produced, and pays staff a living wage.

 

“We did okay when the [COVID-19] subsidies were coming in but now there are no subsidies,” Leir said. “It is very tight.

 

“We are barely keeping our head above water.”

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 August 2022 - 04:06 AM.

[Mike K.]

For a while restaurateurs were telling me the subsidies were in fact rewarding less business in order to meet the subsidy requirements. One fellow said the subsidies made it so they had some of their best profits ever, with far less work, and the simplicity of take-out only. The industry also saw a tip shift from 15% to 20%, which workers love.

However, the challenge isn’t the market (Victorians love to eat out, order in), it’s the political landscape. When you’re paying $3,000/month in property taxes to the municipality, that eventually starts to turn the tables as inflation roars.

[Victoria Watcher]

The FOI Epi guy also pays wages in excess of industry standard. Does he get correspondingly better productivity? Probably not. That might be part of his problem.

Why own “two bakeries and a restaurant” and barely scrape by? Sounds like owning a Subway would be less headache for the return.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 August 2022 - 07:14 AM.

[dasmo]

Why let the government tell you to not serve people when you are in the service business? At least put up some resistance. The hush money wasn’t going to last forever.

[Mike K.]

The government controls every facet of that business of serving people, though.

Licensing, health inspections, patron capacities, wages, operating hours and they also tax you.

[dasmo]

The few places I know that didn’t comply to the “show me your papers” routine are doing just fine.