"FINALLY YORK U, SCHOOL'S IN!"

It'd been twelve weeks of empty lecture halls, silent corridors and abandoned text books. But the 45,000 kids who's education was put on hold can finally breath a sigh of relief today, in class that is.

It was November 6 that TA's, contract faculty and graduate assistants went on strike and after repeatedly failed attempts at coming to an agreement the McGuinty government vowed to put an end to it. The legislation passed a 'back-to-work' bill on January 29 abruptly ending the 85 day old strike.

Unfortunately, had the government not intervened (they should have intervened sooner) the school year might have been lost. It's the students first day back and amid the anger, frustration and disgust by all the parties involved, the only one's that truly suffered throughout this mess were the kids.

Some went as far as to transfer out of York and continue their education elsewhere as not to lose the rest of the school year, while last year students faced the problem of delaying their graduation. Those that rely on summer jobs to pay their tuition this fall were left out in the cold. Most recently the Federation of Students has asked York for a 12% refund on tuition with the shortened school year.

As for CUPE, the actions of the union (I'll call them delay tactics) are an entirely another story. They've turned education into nothing more than a bargaining chip (with students as the hostages) fueled by what some have called 'greed'.

Now let's look at the big picture here and the domino affect it's caused. Aside from York's credibility being damaged with the strike, it affected new registrations with a deadline of January 12. The numbers are down by more than 15% from last year. Their demands are nothing short of what everyone wants with their own employers. We all want benefits and increased job security (I mean who doesn't?) but with the economy the way it is, they should seriously be thankful they even have a job. You can imagine there will be strained relations amongst teaching staff, students and the government alike in the future.

Well, one things for sure it's been an interesting (to say the least) two months of suspense, drama and comedy starring CUPE's, Tyler Shipley. Hey, don't we have enough of this on 'Superchannel' already?