It was only in my first year that I saw my first 'strike'. On a particular day, unhappy lecturers/professors would go on strike because of some unhappy issue with the university (most likely to do with the pay). Near the west entrance, a man which i presume is one of the unhappy ones would stand and give leaflets out to whoever he meets, whether be it a student, prospective student, a parent or even a guest. The leaflet which was a 1/3 of an A4 size paper was in the format as shown below:
Lecturers from not getting their issue redressed.
(that was the heading)
(Then the rest of the paper would be in bullet form:)
- issue a
- issue b
- issue c
While this strike is happening, several hundreds of students would be in their nice comfortable room, lazing around, enjoying the extra hours of sleep.
Which comes to the strike today. Today, there was a strike, most of my department went on strike (manufacturing engineering & management). I guess probably only the engineering department as there were some management classes continuing, but that was in Jubillee campus. With only a Computer programming and an Ergonomics in Design class today and both were on strike, I wanted some extra hours of sleep. Unfortunately that wasn't granted as I still had group meetings due to my year-long project to attend and discuss certain stuff.
I didn't see any lecturers walking around though. However the engineering lab technicians were still working, I guess they must be quite content with whatever they get.
Coming back to strikes, the only other strike I happen to witness, was around the time the US was "rescuing" Iraq from their "dictator". At that time, UK sent some soldiers over to help the US. A large group of people, who I think either came from Iraq or somewhere in the Middle East, started parading from one end of the University Park Main campus to the other side (well mostly the busiest places), shouting "Stop War on Iraq" and they were carrying huge banners and signs.
Previously, during the weekend, I happened to watch the BBC News where the UK prime minister, Tony Blair spoke of how God ordered him to invade Iraq. Using religion as an excuse just to invade some other country is like the Crusades way back in the Middle Age times, where some group of knights head off to conquer Jerusalem etc etc. Using religion as an excuse is also like the radical Muslims using the word 'jihad' and exploiting certain passages in the Al-Quran to go and whack someone.
Back to the strikes....
Well, strikes here are allowed and very 'legal', a larger degree of freedom compared back home. Back home, there are strikes , like for example the recent 'increase in fuel price strike' or even the 'don't demolish my home strike' etc etc. These small strikes are like small flies. The big ones, would be the 'bebaskan lim guan eng' type of strikes or protests, where the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) comes along, whistling with their see through plastic crowd shield and batons. Not to forget the tank or van which shoots a stream of water at a high amount of pressure at the protestors. I can't even see that 'water tank' or 'water van' in UK at all. Must be probably of the large and almighty powerful employee union or "The Union" ..whatever it is called.
If I were to compare UK and home, I would say the home should establish this "Union" so that everyone can earn a decent pay. Like for example: a minimum wage/hour in UK would be about $4.50 depending on what job it is or what you are required to do.
McDonalds: $5/hour
Sainsbury's (checkout cashier): around $6 to $7 /hour
Sainsbury's (packing items and restocking): around $5 to $6/ hour
Packing Pizzas in a factory : about $9-10/hour
(All the above is in British Sterling Pounds)
Whereas, back home, there is no such thing as a minimum wage. Companies can pay whatever they want. Basically it's just pure common sense. Using common sense to determine what they should pay the employees.
McDonalds: $2.50/hour
KFC: $3/hour
Shakey's: $3.50/hour
Pizza Hut: $3.50/hour
Coffee Bean: $5/hour
(All the above is in Ringgit Malaysia)
Of course, the pay per hour would change due to the location. IE if it's in London, the pay would change, if its in Midvalley, the pay would change.
Malaysia should establish a "Union". Maybe one day, if we follow what the Brits are doing (excluding the one where, using religion as an excuse to war) , Malaysia might grow up to being a stronger nation, in all aspects, and the ringgit would get stronger. RM 6.50 to 1 British Sterling Pound sucks.
Lecturers from
(that was the heading)
(Then the rest of the paper would be in bullet form:)
- issue a
- issue b
- issue c
While this strike is happening, several hundreds of students would be in their nice comfortable room, lazing around, enjoying the extra hours of sleep.
Which comes to the strike today. Today, there was a strike, most of my department went on strike (manufacturing engineering & management). I guess probably only the engineering department as there were some management classes continuing, but that was in Jubillee campus. With only a Computer programming and an Ergonomics in Design class today and both were on strike, I wanted some extra hours of sleep. Unfortunately that wasn't granted as I still had group meetings due to my year-long project to attend and discuss certain stuff.
I didn't see any lecturers walking around though. However the engineering lab technicians were still working, I guess they must be quite content with whatever they get.
Coming back to strikes, the only other strike I happen to witness, was around the time the US was "rescuing" Iraq from their "dictator". At that time, UK sent some soldiers over to help the US. A large group of people, who I think either came from Iraq or somewhere in the Middle East, started parading from one end of the University Park Main campus to the other side (well mostly the busiest places), shouting "Stop War on Iraq" and they were carrying huge banners and signs.
Previously, during the weekend, I happened to watch the BBC News where the UK prime minister, Tony Blair spoke of how God ordered him to invade Iraq. Using religion as an excuse just to invade some other country is like the Crusades way back in the Middle Age times, where some group of knights head off to conquer Jerusalem etc etc. Using religion as an excuse is also like the radical Muslims using the word 'jihad' and exploiting certain passages in the Al-Quran to go and whack someone.
Back to the strikes....
Well, strikes here are allowed and very 'legal', a larger degree of freedom compared back home. Back home, there are strikes , like for example the recent 'increase in fuel price strike' or even the 'don't demolish my home strike' etc etc. These small strikes are like small flies. The big ones, would be the 'bebaskan lim guan eng' type of strikes or protests, where the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) comes along, whistling with their see through plastic crowd shield and batons. Not to forget the tank or van which shoots a stream of water at a high amount of pressure at the protestors. I can't even see that 'water tank' or 'water van' in UK at all. Must be probably of the large and almighty powerful employee union or "The Union" ..whatever it is called.
If I were to compare UK and home, I would say the home should establish this "Union" so that everyone can earn a decent pay. Like for example: a minimum wage/hour in UK would be about $4.50 depending on what job it is or what you are required to do.
McDonalds: $5/hour
Sainsbury's (checkout cashier): around $6 to $7 /hour
Sainsbury's (packing items and restocking): around $5 to $6/ hour
Packing Pizzas in a factory : about $9-10/hour
(All the above is in British Sterling Pounds)
Whereas, back home, there is no such thing as a minimum wage. Companies can pay whatever they want. Basically it's just pure common sense. Using common sense to determine what they should pay the employees.
McDonalds: $2.50/hour
KFC: $3/hour
Shakey's: $3.50/hour
Pizza Hut: $3.50/hour
Coffee Bean: $5/hour
(All the above is in Ringgit Malaysia)
Of course, the pay per hour would change due to the location. IE if it's in London, the pay would change, if its in Midvalley, the pay would change.
Malaysia should establish a "Union". Maybe one day, if we follow what the Brits are doing (excluding the one where, using religion as an excuse to war) , Malaysia might grow up to being a stronger nation, in all aspects, and the ringgit would get stronger. RM 6.50 to 1 British Sterling Pound sucks.
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