Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

What I want to know is, how is this guy spending $200 a month on groceries. I spend $50 maximum, and that's with me having to pay extra for Soy Milk, Vegetarian meats, etc.

That's pretty bad. Everyone is different in how they eat though... I budget $200 per month on food, although I don't always spend that much. Usually $100-$125.

Originally Posted by Taunton

That's pretty bad. Everyone is different in how they eat though... I budget $200 per month on food, although I don't always spend that much. Usually $100-$125.

I too spend around 50 bucks a month. 9.05 dollars a week on milk and cereal.

Sometimes I'll buy bologna and bread.

I think 200 dollars a month for a student is severely excessive. I don't think someone has the right to call someone out for saying 600 isnt a big deal to him, while he's wasting so much money on food he probably doesn't need.

Before school started, I was spending about 200 a month on groceries, including food/litter for 2 cats, and a roommate that liked to feed her 4 kids with my food while I was at work. Since I started school though, I cut back to about 75 a month. Theres no need for anyone with student bills and debt to be spending that much on food.

Originally Posted by reeves

Before school started, I was spending about 200 a month on groceries, including food/litter for 2 cats, and a roommate that liked to feed her 4 kids with my food while I was at work. Since I started school though, I cut back to about 75 a month. Theres no need for anyone with student bills and debt to be spending that much on food.

Exactly. ._.

"omg the school is takign away benefits from people and they're screwing everyone over and I can't afford shit now but I'm still spending over double the amount on food that most students do."

k bud.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Exactly. ._.

"omg the school is takign away benefits from people and they're screwing everyone over and I can't afford shit now but I'm still spending over double the amount on food that most students do."

k bud.

LOL

Note to people reading....when I spent that kind of money on food, I was working 40+ hours a week, with no tuition. I was not a student.

CUPE just sent out this email about returning to work:

Unit 1 Members,

Today your bargaining team regretfully signed the back to work protocol. In order to protect member’s rights as they return to work, we had no choice but to do so. Your bargaining team and executive are both shocked and deeply concerned by the contents of this protocol, which are unprecedented both at McMaster and in the sector. However, the employer was intractable in their position. We feel as though this protocol is punitive in nature and is a direct attack on the membership for showing your strength on the lines this week.

The protocol outlines how TAs and RAs in lieu will be integrated back into the classroom. As of tomorrow (Wednesday, November 11), our unit will be back to work. You should report to work as usual.
The protocol will protect you, after you return to work, from any reprisals. It enshrines that bargaining unit members will not face any reprisals from either the union or the employer for the choice to participate or not to participate in the strike. Regardless of your own choice, you cannot be treated differently in regards to your academics (such as grant applications), any future hiring decisions or discipline, your benefits, your status as a union member or your relationship with your department and supervisor. We have agreed upon a dispute resolution system through the regular grievance procedure to resolve any breach of this protocol. Also, your benefits have been secured.
The University Administration has decided that the period of the strike will be deemed as unpaid time. As such, any bargaining unit member who did not fill out a weekly verification of intent to work form will lose 7.7% of your paid hours for this term. For a 130 hour position, this represents a loss of 10 paid hours or approximately $350 after deductions.

We acknowledge that this protocol will cause financial hardship for all of our members. The nature of this hardship will be different for all of our members and will impact individuals in different ways. Also, if you are on leave or have completed all of your appointed hours, please ensure that you let us know so that we can defend your rights as a worker. Your executive and bargaining team are currently working on ways to address this additional loss in pay and support our members. Please understand that our options are very limited at this point. We will have more in-depth discussion about these issues and present options at our next GMM, which is scheduled for November 25^th at 5:00pm. In the meantime, we invite suggestions for courses of action from our membership. Please email these suggestions to: <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected] 6.org>>.

If you have questions or trouble with your pay, our office will remain at 17 Paradise Road S until November 21^st , after which time the office will move back to our regular campus location.

I'm so annoyed that I lost a week's worth of pay for nothing. :(

I don't get it, they want to get paid for time they didn't work and since the university doesn't want to pay them for time not worked, the university is the bad guy?

*head explode*

$200 a month on groceries.....wow. My FAMILY doesn't even spend that much a month, and we eat pretty well.

Im a cheap *******, and after reviewing my debit account for the month of October, it turns out I spent a total of $173 at Fortinos. This compared to the $300 a month I spent on food when on a meal plan last year.

I dont know how you guys can eat so cheaply, but I find $200 a month, if you want to eat more than Mr Noodles, KD, and Hot Dogs, is not a ridiculous amount of money. I know at home my family of four usually spent at least $150 a week on groceries.

Back on topic...

I am kind of sick of all this Union/Striker bashing. They went through completely normal and legitimate channels relating to their contract. There was evidently a good portion of union members that thought they were getting a bad deal from the university, so they went on strike and did not break any rules by doing so.

In the end, the strike was resolved fairly, democratically and with little interruption to the students. From what I saw at the picket lines, the strikers were not harassing anyone, they were simply trying to get their message heard. Blocking traffic, though annoying, is again a legitimate way to get their message heard by the university. If strikers were legally not permitted to cause any inconvenience to the university, they would have zero bargaining power and would therefore eliminate the need for a strike in the first place.

I know it may personally inconvenience you when any union goes on strike, but the right to strike is a completely legitimate part of democracy, fairness, and equality in the workplace.

Those TAs who chose to act on their right to strike deserve just as much respect as those TAs who scabbed and acted on their right to continue working.

Originally Posted by J-Met

Im a cheap *******, and after reviewing my debit account for the month of October, it turns out I spent a total of $173 at Fortinos. This compared to the $300 a month I spent on food when on a meal plan last year.

I dont know how you guys can eat so cheaply, but I find $200 a month, if you want to eat more than Mr Noodles, KD, and Hot Dogs, is not a ridiculous amount of money. I know at home my family of four usually spent at least $150 a week on groceries.

Back on topic...

I am kind of sick of all this Union/Striker bashing. They went through completely normal and legitimate channels relating to their contract. There was evidently a good portion of union members that thought they were getting a bad deal from the university, so they went on strike and did not break any rules by doing so.

In the end, the strike was resolved fairly, democratically and with little interruption to the students. From what I saw at the picket lines, the strikers were not harassing anyone, they were simply trying to get their message heard. Blocking traffic, though annoying, is again a legitimate way to get their message heard by the university. If strikers were legally not permitted to cause any inconvenience to the university, they would have zero bargaining power and would therefore eliminate the need for a strike in the first place.

I know it may personally inconvenience you when any union goes on strike, but the right to strike is a completely legitimate part of democracy, fairness, and equality in the workplace.

Those TAs who chose to act on their right to strike deserve just as much respect as those TAs who scabbed and acted on their right to continue working.

Well, buying stuff when its on sale helps a lot, example at Fortinos until Friday:
Cambell's Soup is $0.59
Wonder Bread is $1.89 (expiry dates range from Nov 17th-22nd)
Eggo Waffles (8 pack) are $1.99
Frozen Pizza's are $3.99

If you buy non perishable's (bottled water, canned food, Kraft Dinner, etc) when on sale you can save quite a bit of money; I've seen Kraft Dinner prices vary by over a dollar for the individual boxes, and it adds up!

Buying in bulk also helps a lot; things like Ketchup, Nutella, Pickles, Frozen Foods, Cereal, etc I buy in bulk at the beginning of the year, and spend maybe $150 dollars on that, but it saves a lot of money in the end.

I also take advantage of the free food given out at a lot of campus events. Career nights, faculty nights (when I was in first year), etc.

Eating on the cheap is part of student life.


In terms of the inconvenience thing, I believe that the point of a strike was originally to show that the employer could not function without you- that was the only inconvenience involved. Somewhere along the lines, they got the right to interfere with things that had nothing to do with them.

Originally Posted by michelle

CUPE just sent out this email about returning to work:



I'm so annoyed that I lost a week's worth of pay for nothing. :(

Ok, right off the bat, I don't intend this to be confrontational or anything; I'm am just genuinely curious.

Based on a lot of your posts, I kind of had the impression that you were against the strike, but needed to picket for financial reasons. (Before we knew that you could return to work and still be paid).

In that case, why didn't you continue working and receiving money from the university?


EDIT: I also found this article, which I found to be quite appropriate:
http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...lly1108 .html

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

Well, buying stuff when its on sale helps a lot, example at Fortinos until Friday:
Cambell's Soup is $0.59
Wonder Bread is $1.89 (expiry dates range from Nov 17th-22nd)
Eggo Waffles (8 pack) are $1.99
Frozen Pizza's are $3.99

If you buy non perishable's (bottled water, canned food, Kraft Dinner, etc) when on sale you can save quite a bit of money; I've seen Kraft Dinner prices vary by over a dollar for the individual boxes, and it adds up!

Buying in bulk also helps a lot; things like Ketchup, Nutella, Pickles, Frozen Foods, Cereal, etc I buy in bulk at the beginning of the year, and spend maybe $150 dollars on that, but it saves a lot of money in the end.

I also take advantage of the free food given out at a lot of campus events. Career nights, faculty nights (when I was in first year), etc.

Eating on the cheap is part of student life.


In terms of the inconvenience thing, I believe that the point of a strike was originally to show that the employer could not function without you- that was the only inconvenience involved. Somewhere along the lines, they got the right to interfere with things that had nothing to do with them.

wow

I NEED TO GO GET THOSE SOUP CANS AND BREAD ASAP.
TY.

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

Ok, right off the bat, I don't intend this to be confrontational or anything; I'm am just genuinely curious.

Based on a lot of your posts, I kind of had the impression that you were against the strike, but needed to picket for financial reasons. (Before we knew that you could return to work and still be paid).

In that case, why didn't you continue working and receiving money from the university?


EDIT: I also found this article, which I found to be quite appropriate:
http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...lly1108 .html

To be quite honest with you, I didn't want to get involved in the politics of it all. You're correct in saying that I didn't support the strike.

Unfortunately for me, the majority of my TA duties include using the "functionality" (using that term loosely ) of ELM, and we were denied access to that right off the bat. My Professor decided to call off tutorials for the duration of the strike, so without those and without access to ELM, there was essentially nothing I could have done.

Originally Posted by michelle

To be quite honest with you, I didn't want to get involved in the politics of it all. You're correct in saying that I didn't support the strike.

Unfortunately for me, the majority of my TA duties include using the "functionality" (using that term loosely ) of ELM, and we were denied access to that right off the bat. My Professor decided to call off tutorials for the duration of the strike, so without those and without access to ELM, there was essentially nothing I could have done.

Yeah, that really does suck. Did you ask if you could do departmental work? I know some TAs who had labs etc that were cancelled and were allowed to do random work for the department so that they could still get paid.

On the bright side, at least if you decide to TA again next year you won't have to deal with this!

I was kind of just hoping that it wouldn't last long. Thank goodness it hasn't!

As for next year, I'll be outta here!