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On Strike Against Who?

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wm pasz	Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:43 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto	As Toronto finds itself in the second week of a strike by 30,000 municipal workers, members of CUPE Locals 79 and 416, a disturbing scene is unfolding. Although the workers' dispute is with the City, the optics of the strike - what the citizens see both in the media and with their own eyes - paint an ugly picture of strikers pitted against their community. The rest. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X
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Laboryes	Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:36 am
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1959	Quote: If unions and their members want to achieve any measure of lasting security and to keep their decent wages and benefits, they are going to have to reach out to their communities in more than symbolic or superficial ways. At minimum they must stop setting themselves up as enemies of the people. I couldn't agree more Wanda! Why not appeal to the community and ask everyone in the city to take all their garbage and dump it in the front yards of city officials or on the front steps of the city building? You would be "including" your community in your actions and putting the garbage where it belongs! Fill a few city officials fronts yards and I bet you have a deal in a nano second! Just a thought. _________________ "When people refuse to obey, then democracy comes alive." Howard Zinn
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wm pasz	Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:12 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto	A really unfortunate thing about "playing by the rules" during collective bargaining and especially during a strike is that unions just don't communicate with the public about the issues. I continue to hear in the media and on the street, vague references to there being a number of concessions on the table but there's nothing - not even on the web sites of the two locals - as to what these are. If the locals communicated openly about these with the public, they might actually get some support (depending on what the City is trying to roll back) but they don't. As it is, the only issue the public is aware of are the cashable sick days which, as I've already said, isn't an issue that the public is going to get behind. Taking the fight to the bureaucrats' doorsteps could be a very effective tactic but again, the unofficial (but firmly entrenched) "rules of the bargaining game" don't allow that kind of thing and the bureaucrats are happy they don't. So the strike is now in its 3rd week and unsettling events continue. Today's Toronto Star has an interesting article about the effect the strike will have on the local rat population. Nice. Certain areas of the city (especially downtown) are starting to reek of festering garbage. Residents who live close to parks that have become temporary dumping grounds are having problems coping with the stench. In yet another wierd development (and a strange example of striker-citizen cooperation), a court injunction was required to prevent picketers and residents to quit blocking the site to prevent it from being sprayed with pesticide. The spraying had been ordered by public health authorities which had deemed the site a public health hazard after maggots and other pests were found flourishing within the mounds of garbage bags. The residents were apparently concerned about the ill effects of the pesticide. Oh well, pick your poison. Maggots or chemicals? Hmmm, life's full of tough choices. There are now also reports about the possible long term ill effects of the shit (literally) and chemical stew that is surely leaching into the ground where it will remain long after the trash is finally removed. I was thinking the other day that this is all very strangely ironic. Under the supposedly benevolent umbrella of the labor relations system, it seems that three parties - labor, management and the public - are going out of their way to recreate the conditions under which workers lived in the 1800's - squalor, filth, pest infestations, stench, breeding grounds of disease in people's backyards. WTF?! This could have been handled much differently and without setting up cesspits in community parks (why parks of all places?!) Much better contingency plans should have been made by the bureaucrats and it would also help if they knew the first thing about negotiating (a strike was pretty much a given when City officials decided to ask for a wage freeze after City Counselors voted themselves a raise and after the City agreed to 3% pay hikes for managers, police and fire fighters). The bureaucracy is stupid, lazy, self-interested, lacks essential skills and disconnected from reality. Unfortunately the same can be said for the union bureaucracy. This is what happens when institutions slip out from under the control of the people. It's bad enough that they start running our lives but it's worse when they start ruining our lives. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X
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Laboryes	Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:28 am
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1959	Quote: Taking the fight to the bureaucrats' doorsteps could be a very effective tactic but again, the unofficial (but firmly entrenched) "rules of the bargaining game" don't allow that kind of thing and the bureaucrats are happy they don't. Screw the city bureaucrats' and screw the union bureaurates'! This is where the workers need to bond with the community and take matters into their own hands. If the people involved in this strike could convince the community to use the city building as their garbage drop off....well now you have the community involved which takes some of the heat off the union workers! Remember the Save Mart hair action? Not one union bureaucrat involved in that action, just workers appealing to the community and the community taking the action from there. And as you remember the corporate bureaucrats caved on the issue! Quote: I was thinking the other day that this is all very strangely ironic. Under the supposedly benevolent umbrella of the labor relations system, it seems that three parties - labor, management and the public - are going out of their way to recreate the conditions under which workers lived in the 1800's - squalor, filth, pest infestations, stench, breeding grounds of disease in people's backyards. WTF?! Again in the late 1800s what did people do to fight these kind of atrocities? Were these not the days of Mother Jones? Playing by the rules was not the order of the day that brought any kind of change back then! It's no differnent today, play by the rules set up to oppress and you will stay oppressed! Quote: This is what happens when institutions slip out from under the control of the people. It's bad enough that they start running our lives but it's worse when they start ruining our lives. Who's allowing the control? Exactly...the people! When the people refuse to obey, then democracy comes alive! It's worth a try anyway! It's obvious playing by the rules doesn't work for the ordinary working people so why not try something different??? _________________ "When people refuse to obey, then democracy comes alive." Howard Zinn
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wm pasz	Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:53 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto	Quote: If the people involved in this strike could convince the community to use the city building as their garbage drop off....well now you have the community involved which takes some of the heat off the union workers! It's surprising how often I'm seeing this sentiment expressed on blogs, in opinion letters and in conversation with people. Our city hall has a huge public square in front which could accommodate a mountain of trash. In fact, if you look at the two curved towers - a little ingenuity could turn them into a the world's biggest garbage silo. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X
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Laboryes	Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:19 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1959	wm pasz wrote: It's surprising how often I'm seeing this sentiment expressed on blogs, in opinion letters and in conversation with people. Next step..... Turning talk into action! _________________ "When people refuse to obey, then democracy comes alive." Howard Zinn
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Laboryes	Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:06 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1959	Laboryes wrote: Turning talk into action! Just a thought Wanda.....but maybe we should make a flyer that strikers could give to the community to get people thinking where the garbage should really go? Any thoughts? _________________ "When people refuse to obey, then democracy comes alive." Howard Zinn
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