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On Strike: April 28: Fight for the living. Mourn for the dead.
April 27-28, 2002
Labour to Eves: We’re backing OPSEU
A group of Ontario’s top labour leaders delivered a stern message to the premier’s office Friday.
Ernie Eves wasn’t there when OFL President Wayne Samuelson and four other union leaders arrived.
But they left a clear message with the premier’s staff .
“If the premier continues to talk publicly about a new dialogue with the people of this province, he should respond to the real issues of the people of the province, including the OPSEU strike,“ Samuelson said.
In a letter to the premier, he said the OPSEU strike has broad implications for other unions,
“The labour movement has watched with alarm your government’s attempts to undermine the strike through the use of oppressive and unnecessary injunctions against lawful picketing.”
More than 130 labour board orders and court injunctions have restricted picketing since the strike began, a record for any Ontario strike.
James Clancy, president of the National Union of Public and General Employees, pledged that the labour movement would support the OPSEU strike with no-interest loans.
Canadian Labour Congress leaders will meet in Toronto Monday to discuss further support.
Also with Samuelson Friday were: Bob Borch, Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Sid Ryan, Canadian Union of Public Employees; and Cec Makowski, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
A growing complex
Public Safety and Security Minister Bob Runciman seems not to like the OPSEU trailer parked in front of his Brockville office.
A hand-written notice from the police chief has asked that it be moved as it was blocking traffic.
Anything to oblige. OPSEU has moved the trailer to an adjacent parking lot, and installed a tent on Runciman’s lawn. A portable washroom completes the growing housing complex.
In Hawkesbury on Friday, Local 426, led by Guy Rouleau, had a festive parade of nearly 200 members which lifted spirits.
Reaching out for Ernie
Jackie Sele of Local 222 led two teams of Hamilton flying squad members to Ernie Eves’ campaign office in Orangeville Friday, where they staged a sit-in from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
During their visit, the dozen activists were told they couldn’t use the washrooms, unless they were volunteers. When they filled out volunteer forms, they were told their credentials would have to be checked before they were allowed to stuff envelopes.
Ernie’s staff said they did not know how to reach him; that he was “incommunicado.”
Is it good to know others can’t reach him either? Or is that bad?
Want to reach Ernie? Here’s how:
Ernie@ErnieEves.com
163 First Street, Orangeville, ON L9W 3J8
Phone: 519-941-1255
Toll-Free: 1-866-225-3837
If you are going to Orangeville to picket Eves’ office or to get involved in the campaign, give Tim Little a call. That way the local campaign will know you are coming and can plan for your participation.
Tim’s cell number is: 416-540-7003
Music has union power
Sudbury has a group of songsters supporting the picket line on Larch Street. They are known as the Wonder Bras - “We will support you.”
Which is a perfect lead-in to another song from Thunder Bay’s Flying Pickets.
We shall not be moved
Chorus:
We shall not, we shall not be moved.
We shall not, we shall not be moved.
Like a tree, that’s standing by the water, we shall not be moved.
The union is behind us, we shall not be moved.
The union is behind us, we shall not be moved.
Like a tree, that’s standing by the water, we shall not be moved.
Chorus
We’ll stand and fight together, we shall not be moved.
We’ll stand and fight together, we shall not be moved.
Like a tree, that’s standing by the water, we shall not be moved.
Chorus
We’re fighting for our families, we shall not be moved.
We’re fighting for our families, we shall not be moved.
Like a tree, that’s standing by the water, we shall not be moved.
Chorus
We’re not afraid of Tories, we shall not be moved.
We’re not afraid of Tories, we shall not be moved.
Like a tree, that’s standing by the water, we shall not be moved.
Chorus
Ernie’s voters look for leadership
These postings come from the internet website, www.canada.com.
They are both from constituents in the riding where Ernie Eves is seeking election.
From a man in sales in Bolton:
Mr Eves....something’s wrong, you say one thing. OPSEU says another. The news today is confusing at best! I need to get my customers’ license plates registered. I can’t see any harm in you actively participating in the talks. So take OPSEU up on the offer and join them in finding the
deal you both can live with. I negotiate with my customers daily and so can you. Show me your leadership before I vote. Thank You
From a woman in Palgrave:
I would think the management board negotiators working on behalf of the people of Ontario must cease the misleading statements to the Premier. I as a taxpayer expect my premier to be fully informed and, in turn, honest with me. I can hardly understand how the chief negotiator for the
people of this province is able to deceive, or at best mislead the elected politicians. If I lie to my boss I would at least expect discipline and he should be subject to the same.
All in the family
When Ethan Otto Keir James arrived at 4:40 p.m. Thursday, he was a welcome 7 lb., 6 oz addition to several OPSEU families.
He’s the first grandchild for Chris Goodfellow, and the third for Tiina James, both of Local 720.
And Tiina Augruso of Local 736 is Ethan’s proud aunt.
Local 604 goes on tour
Carol Hughes reports her local in Elliot Lake made a visit to Local 609 in Blind River on Thursday to visit the courthouse there.
They picketed with whistles and horns, signs and songs, and then went into the waiting area, where they continued to sing.
“They must have loved the music, because nobody asked us to leave,” said Carol. Apparently the music was clearly audible inside the court room, even after they closed the doors to the hallway area.
Symposium faces boycott
One of the reasons scientists have been crossing OPSEU lines at the Ontario Forest Research Institute in Sault Ste. Marie is that they are organizing an “important” symposium in May.
Their action may backfire, as Bruce Tomlinson of Local 603 is organizing a boycott of the session.
“The symposium is about how to make clear cuts similar to large forest fires. Anyone involved in forest management planning such as foresters (government and industry) may be attending,” Bruce says. “Please talk to any foresters on the line. Check locally with your forestry
companies. If they have people attending, talk to their union and see if you can change their minds.” Two presenters have already pulled out.
Details of the symposium are on the web at /www.landscape-ecology.com/enfd/index.html
Bruce has drafted a letter urging the boycott which you can get from him by emailing local603@shaw.ca.
Mama don’ ’low no bridge repair round here
Local 640 strikers from Cochrane joined Local 628 in Hearst Thursday to block repairs on the Kabi Bridge.
It has been operating with one lane since it started to break apart more than a month ago.
Managers had called in an MTO Emergency Services bridge crew to fix it, then pulled them off the job and hired a contractor.
Pickets aimed to stop the contractor. They walked back and forth on the highway as the flagperson let vehicles through. They also handed out pamphlets explaining OPSEU work.
Most people were supportive, reports Suzanne Morin, our Hearst correspondent. When Local 640 arrived, they stopped the work and parked their vehicles in the middle of their worksite, slowing traffic for two hours. The OPP warned them about walking on the highway, but permitted
stopping the contractor.
Thanks for the colours
Esther Kovacs of Local 652 in Chapleau is proudly flying an OPSEU flag thanks to two members of Local 224 from Owen Sound that she met in Orangeville.
Jim Hastings (MNR) and Jim Martell (Corrections) have added to the visibility of the strike in Chapleau, where the flag has become an object of pride on the line.
The Orangeville rally had an electric atmosphere, and the reception was warm and supportive, Esther writes.
Why do we have essential services?
• You ask, we’ll answer
A strike involving the wide range of services that OPSEU members provide is no simple matter. It raises some fundamental questions about the kind of society we live in.
The right to belong to a trade union is basic in a democracy. So is the right to take part in the union’s legal activities, to negotiate for better wages and working conditions and to speak out for the members of the union and the work they do.
Also fundamental in a democracy is the rights of individual citizens to be treated with respect and not to be put in jeopardy.
When a strike involves services which affect people directly, these basic principles come into conflict with each other.
When OPSEU gained the right to strike, this conflict was resolved by the concept of essential services.
From the perspective of sheer unbridled union power, essential services are bad. They weaken the union’s ability to inflict serious pain.
However from any kind of humanitarian perspective, they are good. Withdrawing essential services would inflict pain on the wrong people - on the disadvantaged and helpless, not on the politicians who call the shots.
From a public relations perspective, a series of deaths resulting from the withdrawal of essential services - by no means an impossible outcome - would quickly turn public sympathy and support against the union.
In a private sector strike, the balance between the parties is strictly economic.
In municipal public sector strikes - garbage or transit for example - the balance is services and pressure to keep very obvious services. These strikes also take place at the municipal level, where people are closer to their elected representatives and where the pressure can mount
more quickly. The services are also a whole lot more visible. A mountain of garbage is as difficult to ignore as traffic-clogged transit-free streets.
CECBA, which defines which services must be provided, uses pretty clear criteria. Essential services are required to prevent danger to life, health or safety (but not social programs), to maintain the operation of the courts (but not the entire justice system), to prevent
environmental disaster (but not mere ecological problems), and to prevent destruction or serious deterioration (but not harm) to machinery, equipment or premises.
In the last strike, and through the labour board and courts in this one, the question of essential services is being further defined.
Obviously from the viewpoint of the union, the fewer essential service workers, the better. More people on the line means a stronger strike. From the employer’s perspective, the reverse holds. The more people at work, the less disruption.
It’s a moral dilemma, a balancing act between power and professionalism.
88% means nothing to #88
New York Ranger Eric Lindros crossed an OPSEU picket line at Algonquin Park to go fishing Friday.
The six-foot-four, 235-pound Lindros, who wears No. 88 on the ice, waited at the picket line before crossing and spoke to strikers.
This would not have happened if the Rangers had made the playoffs.
Lindros, currently paid $2.1 million a year by the Rangers, is perhaps the only National Hockey League player to have his own “anti-fan association.” Check out the Eric Lindros Anti-Fan Association web site at http://www.geocities.com/boltsnutt/elafa/.
Chosen as the number one draft pick overall in the 1991 NHL draft, Lindros refused to play for the Québec Nordiques and was eventually traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Peter Forsberg, several other players, and $15 million in cash.
The Nordiques later became the Stanley-Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche, in part because Peter Forsberg turned out to be, well, Peter Forsberg.
Everyone can lobby
Kevin Burke says Canadian Tire has a customer feedback link which members can use to lobby, and “they really do get back within 48 hours.”
Anyone with a computer can drop Canadian Tire a line about selling hunting and fishing licences during the strike. Canadian Tire stores approached so far have agreed to give up the licence sales.
Here’s the link to customer feedback: https://ctsupport.cana diantire.ca/customer_service.html
Just a sec!
Managers of Local 545 did up a schedule of “compulsory” overtime for people to work early, late, and on weekends starting Saturday, Terry Aversa of Local 517 reports.
They forgot they have an ESA in place. They had moved essential data entry clerks to other jobs, and then complained of a backlog. The local said redeploying the clerks back to the essential data entry work is the solution, not overtime.
Burning Passions Theatre
In association with the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice and the Unfit to Govern Campaign presents:
ONTARIO, Yours Too....
A new theatre piece about community and governance
created by: matthew behrens, elyssa livergant, carole logan, lisa peryman, kristen romaine, and laurel smith
Mayworks (free to strikers)
Thursday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.
University of Toronto, Med-Sci Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto; Wheelchair accessible; Suggested donation: $8.
For more information, call Burning Passions at (416) 651-4514 or the OCSJ (416) 441-3714. Check our websites: www.web.ca/~burning and ocsj@ocsj.ca.
Touring Schedule for ONTARIO, Yours Too...
Tuesday, April 30, 7:30 p.m. Halton Coalition for Social Justice, Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave., Burlington
Thursday, May 9, 7:30 p.m. Hamilton-Wentworth Coalition for Social Justice, Self-Help Centre, 255 West Ave. N., Hamilton
Saturday, May 11, 7:30 p.m. Windsor Coalition for Social Justice, Mackenzie Hall, Windsor
Sunday, May 12, 2:30 p.m. Kent County Coalition for Social Justice, Chatham
Monday, May 13, 8p.m. Guelph-Wellington Coalition for Social Justice, Youth Music Centre, Guelph
Saturday, June 8, 7:30 p.m. Sudbury Coalition for Social Justice, Sudbury
Sunday, June 9, 2:30 p.m. North Bay Network for Social Action, Anishnabe Friendship Centre, 280 Cassells St., North Bay
Saturday, June 15, 7:30 p.m. NCWAR, St. Catharines
Check the web: www.opseu.org has the latest on everything.
Original approved for publication by Leah Casselman, President
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