strike05
Day 5 – Our green spaces with green bags

And the tempers? They are a-flaring today!

Same routine today, biked to City Hall, found my garbage picture of the day along the way, got my coffee and waited for the signing sheets to arrive. I’m becoming more and more annoyed with this as I’m not seeing any real signs of negotiations from either party. So as a result, not only will I not block any entrances, but I will not start walking until I have signed in, so if our Stewards decide to arrive 30 – 45 minutes late, then I’ll be happy to listen to some catchy tunes until then.

At 8ish, after just a few rounds on the circle of strike, this dude with an air of importance decided to stop everyone and gather them in a group that he then divided in 2. He then explained that group A would now go to Old City Hall and group B would stay at City Hall and block parking entrances and front/back doors. (See, the jazz festival will be in full swing this afternoon and for this event they’ve erected a huge tent on Nathan Phillips Square, blocking any view from the street of the few hundred people walking with signs. I agree with the union, it’s really not effective at all to continue marching there) This one lady went ballistic and started raising her voice against this door blocking. And I echoed: “Good for you ma’am. I feel exactly the same”. And then it started:
Mean Union Woman: “So why are you picketing then if you don’t want to make people aware of it”
Me: “Well, our role here is to make people aware, not to piss them off or set them against us”
Mean Union Woman: “They’ll never learn if we don’t take time to tell them”
Me: “Obviously you haven’t been pushed enough this week. I have, and don’t want any more of it”
Mean Union Woman: “If people push you, you call the cops”
Me: “That WAS a cop”
Mean Union Woman: “Did you take his badge number?”
Me: “I’m sorry if I failed, but the gun on his belt made my brain stop and my knees shake”
Mean Union Woman: “That’s the problem, you need to report these things. And we have to tell people why we’re striking… Do you even know why we’re striking?”
Me: “Actually, not really. No one is telling us anything. That 100 pages of demands on the negotiation tables is really not clear exactly what we’re fighting for.”
Mean Union Woman: “Then you shouldn’t be here”
Me: “I don’t want to be here”
Me (then turning to my walking partner): “Wow, that’s a lot of noise coming out of such a small person.”

And I walked away as she babbled some more… Seriously though. I’m really not sure what it is our union has us marching for, except for Fair Contract. And that we want it now.

Mr. Mayor, it’s time you tell us the real story of what is going on. The fact that you announced 19 new garbage stations on Day 2 means that you had been planning for this strike to go on for a long time way before it even started. Mr. Mayor, your popularity is slipping down with everyone, not only have you lost the city’s union’s vote at the next election, but you’ve lost the votes of their spouses, their children who are old enough to vote, their neighbours who sympathize with them, and their neighbours’ spouses… You get the picture, right? Same goes for your Mr. Premier, you’re not making any fans fast with your cavalier approach to this strike by asking people to be patient. Both of you should take a little bicycle ride at 6:30am and smell how disgusting your city is right now after only a few days. It’s time everyone gets their head out of their asses, sit down at negotiation tables like grown-ups and discuss this seriously, while the people who were hired to provide services to the residents of Toronto go back to their daily duties.

Mr. Mayor and Mr. Premier, you really don’t need reminders that you promised us to work for the city and the province’s best interests if we elected you, do you? How is punishing 2.48 million residents achieving your electoral promises?

Oh and by the way, same goes to you Local 79. People are impatient, they want to go back to work because they are not being told why you can’t negotiate a fair contract. Tell us what the issues are, don’t hide behind a media black out. Ask your members how they feel on the issues. Make the general public understand why it is important to continue fighting, don’t put this in the hands of ill-informed people like me, on the front lines.

Today, some angry resident decided that he’d shit in a bag and bring it to Old City Hall and drop it, open, by the steps, to teach us all a lesson. I can tell you, it was not a pleasant moment for any of us.

« »