the bankruptcies in the printing industry had nothing to do with multinationals - but everything to do with technological change, an oversupply in a shrinking market - especially after 911.

with colour printing being done on smaller less expensive presses,
a number of big shops went under while smaller leaner printshops survived.

same thing happened in the pre-press industry 15 years ago.
There were specialized pre-press houses that did colour scanning with highly trained and highly paid technicians - and rightly so, because it took years of experience - but then they were replaced by with much cheaper computerized equipment. At the same the though there was a growth in the number of people doing graphic design.

why cant you compare public and private sector?,
traditionally the public workers have enjoyed better benefits and job security than the rest of us. If youre going to compare someone in Alberta then you should compare everyone.

sure I'd like for everyone to make more money and wed all be better off. Except it has to come from somewhere. 25% of your taxes go to pay interest on the national debt - due to decades of govt overspending - inasmuch I dislike the LIberals and their ill-advised
tax cut within a few days in office, the Federal govt cut the payments to the provinces years ago - the NDP had the same problem with the Health care contracts..

as far as whether the Medical Technicians pay difference in Alberta,
is what $36per hour compared to $38?, they also do better than the rest of the country. So what if real estate is higher in vancouver
its not much higher than toronto - its also a nicer place to live

(and real estate is not that high in the rural areas)

I dont even begrudge my friend getting 19$ an hour to drive a forklift.

But what does the number of vacation weeks have to do with the cost of living? Im sure that the average is far more than those in the private sector can hope for.

and I say again, the HEU and the Nurses union want to have the money as they do in the States - but they dont want an American style system.

and according to yesterdays news, in a worldwide study comparing medical systems, the US and Canadian ended up pretty much the same.