So.
At my school, the University of Windsor, the faculty have been on strike for a week now.
The Windsor University Faculty Association (WUFA) is striking for a number of things that I don't wish to discuss because I've discussed them and heard them discussed ad nauseum for what feels like the past seventeen thousand years.
Basically, sessionals are getting paid dirt, the admin is trying to claw back benefits, and lots of people are being all-around jerks.

Well, listen up, everyone.
I support WUFA, I will support WUFA till the day I die, and I don't have to justify my decision to you. Yes, I'm out there every day picketing with the faculty, and until you've done the same, shut up and don't whine to me about how bad the strike is.

NEXT. The administration insists that WUFA isn't willing to bargain. WUFA insists that the administration isn't willing to bargain. Admin says WUFA is lying, WUFA tells me the admin is lying. Listen, I know BOTH of you are lying to me, and I'm sick of it! I don't care WHO is lying by this point, just shut up and get back to the bargaining table! That's right, sit your asses down and bargain. We can't get any closer to resolving anything if you AREN'T BARGAINING.

ADMIN: You guys are being pretty serious a-holes, you know? Listen, you spent all of yesterday insisting that your top-secret board meeting was in camera, so that nobody else could listen in on your discussion. And yet? This morning apparently you were ready to have people know what you were doing, because you PUBLISHED YOUR NEW PROPOSAL IN THE EFFING WINDSOR STAR. Were you confused? Did you forget that you were supposed to be bargaining with WUFA, not with the mass media? Did you press the wrong button on your speed dial? Again, I don't give a damn. Just shut up, stop the media shenanigans, and get your asses in that bargaining room.

AND: Stop telling me nobody wants to be on strike. I KNOW nobody wants to be on strike. Given a choice between picketing in the hot sun for three hours a day and spending those three hours in a classroom with a captive audience talking about a subject you love, what person--what human being--would choose the former? Enough with the platitudes, let's see some action.

DEAR IDIOTS who keep driving by in their cars and yelling "Get back to work!" at us: SHUT UP. Do you honestly think that, if ending the strike was as simple as going back to the classrooms and teaching, we'd still be standing here A WEEK LATER? Yeah, that's right. So shut up and just keep driving. None of these faculty who have been scraping by on strike pay and picketing for hours need to hear you being a loudmouth idiot.

ON A SIDE NOTE, the admin seem to be pretty good at operating a business under capitalism. Unfortunately, the flip side of that is they are really lousy at running a school. Let's do some math:
FACULTY + STUDENTS = INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING
SCHOOL - FACULTY - STUDENTS = BUNCH OF EMPTY BUILDINGS.
Admin, you guys are smart, because you're experiencing a deficit and you've decided to push the burden of recovering from that deficit onto your employees. That's good and deplorable business sense. Too bad you forgot who your employees ARE. They are not just your average unionized slackers cluttering up the office. They are teachers. They are the people on whom this university is founded. They are the people who improve the reputation of this university. They are the people who bring in the money and the research grants that you guys seem to love so much. So why the hell would you try and make up your deficit off their backs? This sounds like a bad plan to me.

FINALLY: I am going to punch the next person who complains about how long the strike is lasting. Shooting off your big mouth about it isn't doing ANYTHING. You want to help resolve the strike? Get out on the picket line. Hold a sign, bake cookies, support the teachers. This isn't exactly sunshine and buttercups for them, either. Don't blame the strike on the faculty. They can't cross the picket line, because that would completely undermine the purpose of the collective bargaining unit. They're on strike because the admin left them no other choice, so shut up.
If you support WUFA, show it. If not, I don't care. Just get out of my face.