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    Weyburn, Saskatchewan until recently was home to the only unionized Walmart in Canada three years ago a vote was held to decertify the union. The votes were ignored until in early August when a decision was made by the Supreme Court to count them. Fifty one voted to decertify the union while only five wanted to keep it. 

     The United Food and Commercial Workers' Union wanted to appeal to the labour board decision about the accusations of unfair labour practices which the High Court Refused. 

Canada VS. USA Debate: Specific Post

Which economic system best answers the question of scarcity in order to provide a better quality of life for it's citizens: Canada or the USA? Personally I believe that Canada best answers the question of scarcity. The Canadian government provides social programs including health care,  pension for senior citizens, income assistance, etc. They also have launched a ten year plan to end homelessness. Already they've helped over 4,000 people and the number continues to go up. There are several more reasons why I believe Canada has a better economic system to solve scarcity which is mentioned in the debate. 

McDonalds, Burger king, Wendy's, and their rivals can sell food inexpensively because they pay their workers low wages. That unpleasant economic reality will confront diners in eight cities later this month during a work stoppage organized by a coalition of unions and community groups.

The Strike was to raise awareness of the plight of workers in fast food and other low-wage industries such as retail. It was scheduled for Aug. 29. The workers demanded, a $15 per hour minimum wage and the right to form a union. Most people think fast-food workers are teenagers, but that not true. The average age for these employees tops 28. Many of them have families and are forced to work two jobs to make ends meet.  

In the U.S President Obama called for the minimum wage to be raised to $9 per hour from $7.25, which is slightly ahead of the $8.69 per hour median wage paid fast food employees. Industry groups have argued they can't afford to pay $15 an hour and sustain their businesses. 

In Alberta the wage was increased to $9.95/hour from $8.50. In other places in Canada the minimum wage varies with a high of $11/hour in Alberta.

Labour Unions are important because they help promote the rights of labour workers. This is essential because they provide lots of services for workers. These things consist of weekends, child labour laws, overtime, minimum wage, injury protection, workmen’s compensation issuance, pension security and the right to organize.  Those are the main issues they address but they also cover may more issues. 

Bibliography:

http://money.msn.com/now/post--fast-food-workers-uniting-to-strike-on-aug-29

Blizzard conditions in Calgary did not stop more than 100 union members and their supporters from protesting two provincial bills Monday night.

I think that this is a good example of what Labour Unions stand for and that is making sure that workers in the Union have rights that are well right. They are important in protecting rights so people want to work and feel safe working. Also making sure that people are getting paid enough (Minimum wage or above). Also people want to feel safe when they retire that they will have some money this is how pensions work. Someone needs to feel safe on the job, it's just morally right. 

Collaborative Consumption: Specific Post

On Thursday our class had a mini Swapsity of our own. Swapsity is a modern day barter system where you provide a product or service in exchange for a product or service from someone else. 

Everyone brought a range of things varying from Rubik Cube solving lessons to novels and movies. I brought several mini cherry pies which I was able to trade for many different items and I still had left overs in the end. One of my favourite trades was to Miss G, one tart for three bags of her special tea imported from Japan and I also traded Mrs. Waite one tart for two bags of tea. I really like tea as I'm sure you can tell. 

I think the bartering system is a really effective way to reduce the amounts of energy that goes into making products as well as it reduces the amounts of trash that comes out in the end. If we trade an item or service we no longer need/want to someone who needs or wants that product or service then the product is begin used over again and that's one more thing that did need to be made and one less item that ends up in a landfill when we're done with it. 

Almost a week ago, our grade 9's had our very own Swapcity! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate in the activity, but after talking to some of my friends, I decided I would write about their experiences, and their thoughts since I wasn't able to experience it myself. 

Collective bargaining: negotiating as a group

I was able to see a little bit of the swapcity happening, and I noticed that there was so much energy, and everyone was talking, and trading things that they wanted for the same value as whatever they had to trade. It was cool to see the kind of things people would bring in, to see what they would trade and to see what kind of value they found in those items. 

Lots of my friends had said that the swapcity was very eye opening, and quite the experience. One of my friends had mentioned that there was a lot of competition among peers to trade and get the things that they wanted. There were also lots of interesting trades going on. I know that two of my friends decided to trade an item for a service, but my friend who offered the service wish had offered an item instead because she found it was less time consuming, and took less effort. 

If I was able to participate in this activity, I would've offered my "The Fault in Our Stars" book by John Green. I would've decided to offer this because it is of great value to me, being my favourite book. By offering something of great value to me, I would've hoped to find someone who would find the same value in my book as I do, and offer to trade something in return like another book, or a piece of jewellery, or a service. If I could choose anything to get in return of my book, I would choose for someone to give me something vintage. Whether it be jewellery, a diary/journal, a book, a picture, anything, I would've accepted it. I have thing for vintage :)