Thoughts on the "Garbage Strike", (revised)

I have been following some of the reporting of the CUPE strike in Toronto, especially with regard to the garbage situation. To be honest, it is difficult not to be aware of this situation, and the opinions held by the Union, the City, and the populace of Toronto. As the holder of a senior leadership position in a larger private sector local, (in a previous life), I have definite opinions with regard to most matters regarding organized labour. Up front, I support the position of the Union regarding the issues surrounding concessions demanded by the employer.

All labour negotiations that go into the ditch and result in a labour disruption are political acts. There are clearly two strategies in dealing with the current garbage situation. The first, and it appears that is the track the Union has chosen, it a complete withdrawal of all services and a militant posture that paints both management, and the users of the system, (the people), as the adversary. This is partially the result of biased reporting in the media and the Union's "take no prisoners", strategy. Who is to blame actually, is mostly irrelevant. The Unions's position, can be an effective tactic, but it requires a clear winner, and a clear loser. In this case the populace with likely eventually have to concede, or force back to work legislation, but the Union will in the end, have lost the support the people. It cannot be overstated that the Union does represent a workforce in the public service.

The second strategy would be in my opinion as effective in the short term and less damaging to the Union in the long term. Politically they should adopt a less confrontational posture, in their dealings with the populace. There should be an effort made to assist the public in any way they can, (without breaking their own strike of course). This should include efforts such as assisting the people at the transfer stations, by helping people carry their trash bags, minimizing any delays, public displays of good citizenship, such as cleaning up litter in parks, and beaches etc. This may seen counter-intuitive, but in the end public support can help end this strike and not leave everyone with a bitter taste in their mouths. In other words, they need to be seen not as the problem, but in a sympathetic light. Public opinion will support a victim before an aggressor.

Unions in these times of recession have enough of a public relations problem without leaving everyone with the impression that they are greedy, inflexible, and/or totally self-serving. Strikes are a result of the failure of negotiations, and should not be used as an excuse to declare war on everyone not in the local. When it is over, and it will eventually come to an end, the Union will still have to deal with management, and and the public. It is obvious that it is easier to organize and operate in an environment that is sympathetic to organized labour rather, than with the hostility now being suborned by the Union's strike strategy.

I ran across a blog this evening and stand corrected. Although I don't usually agree with Warren Kinsella's point of view, he has provided another point of view regarding the tactics of the union, one that hasn't been covered in the main stream media.
http://www.warrenkinsella.com/index.php

I went to the CUPE Local 416 site and I still support their actions but still believe they are losing the PR part of this fight. They are up against a lot of media bias but even finding their site wasn't totally simple with a Google search and it is not the best layout to get their message out.
http://www.local416.org/

"Remembering fallen mine workers"

Remembering fallen mine workers is the title, (and link), to a story that appeared in Sudbury's Northern Life this weekend. It is the story of a tragic event that took place in 1984 at Falconbridge Limited's No. 5 Shaft a few miles north of Sudbury. Although not personally involved, (I was on the opposite shift at the time), this single event has had a profound and far reaching effect on my working career and the repercussions have been felt throughout the working world. After the rockburst, production at the mine ceased and it was placed on a salvage basis and only the shafts and ore transportation systems were maintained. I continued working at what was known at Falconbridge East End mines for another seven years before moving to the "West End". No one who worked there ever forgot how quickly things can go horribly wrong on the job and just how much diligence is required to keep a workplace, any workplace, safe.

Conservatives are at Best Only Capable of Mismanagement.

I am puzzled as to what our Federal Government is doing. Perhaps I shouldn't be, after all this particular government hasn't shown a lot of promise when it comes to putting the people first. Their game plan seems to be all about self-preservation and posturing in front of the media.
In the Toronto Star, today, ('Virtually nothing coming' from Tory stimulus fund) there was an article that detailed how little of the money allocated for infrastructure stimulus has actually been released by the feds. The numbers are pitiful.

To be fair, I will also include a link that illustrates the Conservative Government's position, (Flaherty looks for way to end stimulus). So it seems that Harper and Flaherty are ready to unilaterally declare an end to the recession and leave the unemployed in this country to their own devices. This position seems to be echoed by cabinet when, "Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said EI changes were far from a done deal and would depend on the state of the economy." in today's Ottawa Sun.

It appears that it is long past time to consider the competence of our current government. I am ready for an election on these issues. It would be an expensive to be sure, but the Conservatives clearly have no plan and leaving things as they are is potentially more damaging than not.

Harper-speak

Stephen Harper, in Cambridge, this morning, told Canadians they should be pleased that his government has managed to keep the deficit at $50 billion, while lowering taxes. This is good, prudent financial management? The conservatives blew the budget surplus left by the previous government in an ill considered GST reduction that has had little impact on the average Canadian's life. They took a balanced budget, and ran it into deficit, all the while continuing their tax reduction plans and ran us into the hole even further, potentially to the tune of $134 billion, (according to TD Bank economists).

I will grant that we are in a major economic downturn worldwide, but the actions of our federal government haven't done much to mitigate the problem...

What Is Going On At Chalk River?

Lost in the media feeding frenzy surrounding Natural Resources Minister, Lisa Raitt's inappropriate, and insensitive remarks surrounding the "sexy medical isotopes issue", was Stephen Harper's pronouncement that Canada would eventually be out of the medical isotope business. There are some serious issues that need to be publicly aired before the Federal Government proceeds with this course of action. I, like most Canadians, haven't enough information to either agree or disagree with their plans. We need to examine the history of how it is that the AECL has effectively melted down economically since the Conservatives came to power. Also, who is going to gain from the failure and sale of the AECL? Canada is the supplier of 80% of the medical isotopes used in this country, and 40% of the isotopes used worldwide. In the early '90's the isotope marketing business Nordion was sold to MDS and AECL took back a forty year contract to supply medical isotopes to MDS-Nordion. Now that Harper has announced the shutdown of the aging Chalk River reactor, and the shelving of the Maple reactor project, (originally planned to replace Chalk River), MDS has launched a $1.65 billion lawsuit against the Federal Government, (guess who pays the costs on that?).

Further, now that they are shutting that facility down, what is going to happen to all of the spent nuclear fuel stored at the Chalk River site, and where will they store the ever increasing stockpile of nuclear waste?

This country definitely needs a long term policy to deal with the nuclear issue and short term economics, or political expediency shouldn't be the main criteria in making any of these decisions.

For additional information, check the links below:

http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/06/09/LittleReactorsCouldnt/

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/feb2008/cana-f22.shtml

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/457036

Employment Insurance Fails Working People

I have been trying to keep track of the EI issue in the media lately, and I have come to the conclusion that this is yet another instance where the right wing agenda of our elected officials in Ottawa has frayed the social safety net we once enjoyed in this country. At one time, working people were entitled to collect up to 52 weeks of benefits, if they suffered the loss of their employment. I fell into that category at one time in the 1970's. Their was no work available anywhere in the country in spite of the fact that I was a fully qualified miner, with a college education, and a background in mines engineering. This was a devastating time for me, and my family. It was not too many years later that we began to hear voices complaining about the cost of helping our fellow citizens, who should really be looking after themselves. Tax cuts became the mantra of the middle classes, (when times are good economically, everyone thinks they are middle class or better).

There have been relatively good times economically over the past couple of decades, although this is open to debate as to whether the economic gains have been real, or the result of manipulation of the monetary and banking systems. At any rate most people got on for the ride, at least until the bubble burst last year. A succession of right wing governments, Liberal and Conservative that have reflected the meaner, more self-centred mood of Canadians and have essentially destroyed the EI program as we once knew it. Now that we are in the worst recession in the last 60 years or so, more workers than ever are in need of assistance. The neo-conservatives decry any social programs as the result of our "Nanny-State", and our Federal Government has long since gutted the program that was supposed to be in place to protect workers in bad times. There exists now a mish-mash of conflicting regulations and entitlements that have been designed to limit the amount payable to those facing unemployment and in many cases totally excluded workers who cannot qualify because of geographical location.

There will undoubtedly be an election sometime soon, possibly this fall. Working people should remember the incompetence, and duplicity of the current government and vote accordingly. Employment Insurance is an issue that should be an issue that you consider when you vote in the next election.

For additional reading, you might want to check out these links on the Progressive Economics Forum:

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2009/06/04/stephen-gordon-employment-insurance/

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2009/05/11/ei-before-the-crisis/

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2009/05/01/td-on-ei/