A few nights ago, I spoke to my mom on the phone.  During our conversation, I told her that, after experiencing the strike in Cusco and also in some other countries, I have mixed feelings about whether I should support  union workers or not.  While I truly do believe that the workers do need to be treated with great respect and to have the right to stand up for themselves when they feel that their needs are not met, when strikes happen, they impact many in the community and even throughout the world greatly.

When public transportation went on strike the other day, it created major havoc for people who needed to go to work and to school.  Is it fair for the whole community to be put in a rest mode because of lack of transportation?  It could even be dangerous.  For example, what if some of the doctors rely on public transportation to get to hospitals, and they certainly need to be there for their patients.

Another example is that when I was in France for four months last year, Air France pilots announced that they were going on strike a few days before I was about to head home to the US.  It was somewhat nerve wrecking because I needed to get home for my friend’s upcoming retirement party and to get ready to head to Australia and New Zealand for a month.  I certainly did have a back-up plan in my mind which was to take a train to one of the airports at the bordering countries and try to change my ticket from there.  Fortunately, the strike ended the DAY BEFORE I headed out!  WHEW!

On the other hand, if I were an employee who was being mistreated along with a large number of other workers, I would certainly want to somehow stand up strong for ourselves to fight for the needs that we deserve.

So, what I’m saying is that I feel that there is a need for a middle ground so that both sides are not unfairly impacted.  To be honest, I feel like I’m stuck in the middle about which side I should take.

The moral of this story is that traveling to other countries to experience something that I rarely or never experience in my own country allows me to form educated opinions.