Schism in Toronto CUPE strike: Summer workers start petition to get legislated back to work

Whoops, I forgot to add the link: http://www.petitiononline.com/cupe79/petition.html

Whichever scum started this petition should be sent back to kindergarten and be taught the meaning of the word "society" - then they can move on to the word "freedom". They are not worthy to be part of a society yet. I truly hope their "higher" education is aborted before they do any real damage.

That "scum" is probably some 17 year old kid who's a day camp counsellor and probably doesn't know the first thing about unions or solidarity. I think this is a case where education is called for, stat.  When a large portion of your membership are part-time, seasonal kids, you've got to do some major education on the basics.

Like telling them that, in fact, they probably CAN find part-time minimum wage jobs for the rest of the summer (which is what they should be doing instead of undermining their union), but that the reason their jobs pay more than that is because their union FIGHTS for those wages.

Not to mention that summer jobs for students amount to supplemantary income to whatever it is they are using to get through the school year. Never mind the wages of CUPE workers who are also trying to put their kids through school.

Maybe the 17-year-old should start a petition for parents to be shot so they can collect death and dismemberment insurance to finance their education.

My real problem is with Sineed, for opening a thread to notify us of this toxic waste - and doing so in "labour and consumption". I demand that this thread be closed.

It's been a horrible day of union bashing (just have a look at Mayor Miller's Facebook).

Dude - we've been talking about this strike on a couple of threads over here.  And Michelle started that other thread about union-bashing.  This development is pertinent and interesting to babblers.

What I'm wondering is, how do you respond to this (I mean, other than how you've already responded)?  This kid is getting some attention with this petition, and there are people who admire his initiative.

I have found the input of babblers to sometimes come in handy when arguing with folks.

I can actually sympathize with the students who have probably arranged these jobs well ahead of time, and would have to really struggle to find something else at this point. 

However, the same students should be even more upset with McGinty for watching the manufacturing sector dissapear.  This sector used to employ, at tremendously good wages, summer employment for tens of thousands of students across Ontario.

A strike that will, come what may, last a couple of weeks pales in comparasson to the loss of summer employment opportunity in manufacturing for students, so if they want to get their knickers in a knot about something, that should be it.

Back-to-work legislation? Taking away workers' freedom? Show me where that has been discussed, please. I must have missed it. You just initiated that discussion. It's one thing to say workers are greedy and stupid (expression of free opinion) - it's another thing to call for their Charter rights to be crushed. Make the distinction, please.

Same way I would respond to a petition by a 17-year-old male saying that women should be excluded from the workforce and be required to cook and reproduce. With utter contempt. This is the 21st century.

What's your definition of "people"?

Good. Tell them the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that free collective bargaining is protected by the Charter. Tell them that if they want to live in Iran or Colombia or some U.S. states, where trade unionists spend lots of time in jail or getting lynched, they should pack and leave before freedom of movement is banned after some other "petition". Tell them that workers' rights to withdraw labour do not take a lower rung to the right of this punk to freely express its opinion, or the rights of women to be equal, or the rights of people of colour to not be discriminated against, or the rights of people to freedom of conscience. Tell them that they can dress up the words "slave labour" into whatever fancy-ass terms they have been taught by their lecturers in school, but the ugly stinking face of slavery shines through the "Dear Sirs" and the oh-so-polite turns of phrase.

Or, you can translate the above into more polite language. I can't find the diplomatic words just at the moment.

*hands clapping* unionist!

Global national  out here had a whole segment on TO's strike and the "poor" students being deprived of their summer jobs, and those "poor" TO Islanders who have no ferry service. It really was just a union bashing segment and not a news piece at all.

I certainly empathize with summer students who suddenly don't have summer employment because of the strike and don't see any immediate prospect of starting work again. However, this isn't going to shorten the length of the strike.

I find this the most hilarious part of the letter:

If they're concerned about being unable to afford post-secondary education, why don't they ask McGuinty to stop hiking tuition fees?

If the self-important ass who drafted this pathetic whining petition had any scruples, it might have said something along these lines:

Anyway, they could draft it better than that.

Hi, I'm the self-interested scum that many of you are referring to. Just thought I'd come here and clear some stuff up. 

First of all, any university student in this province who follows the news has at least one bone to pick with McGuinty. After all, it was his administration that lifted the freeze on tuition fees and sent them soaring up in the first place.

As for freedom and a worker's right to strike, I personally agree with you on that. I think workers should be allowed agency, especially in the face of unfair treatment from employers. It's shameful and irresponsible for any employer to tell some of its employees they aren't entitled to the same treatment as others just because they're last in line. 

But in a union of 24,000 representing a diverse range of jobs, you have to respect that people aren't going to see eye-to-eye on everything, especially when some of them see no immediate gains for themselves at the end of this strike. I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but using rhetoric like 'solidarity' and 'brothers and sisters,' and evoking imagery of workers united, arm-in-arm fighting against tyrannical employers doesn't work for people whose only frame of reference to these things is in a history textbook. 

That's why there's a petition pushing back-to-work legislation. I'd love to the see the City and the union reach an agreement, but right now they don't seem to be anywhere close to that. For a lot of us summer workers, we have only eight weeks of full-time employment with the City before we go back to school. The strike in Windsor has already lasted three weeks longer than that. If this strike is resolved in September or even late August, it'll be a hard fought victory for City workers. But for us summer employees, we'll get nothing. No benefits, no wages. And despite the easy stereotype, many summer workers aren't spoiled, wealthy kids whose parents pay for everything.

By the way, we've also started a letter-writing campaign to our mayor and city councillors to get them off their asses and pushing for a fair end to this strike, and I encourage everyone to let their elected officials know they disapprove of the City's arrogance during this strike. 

We're not strike bashers or anti-union activists, we're a group of like-minded people who love their jobs and want to get back to work and on with their lives. I would be surprised to find a single union member who would rather walk the picket line than return to work. And in a case such as this where the employer's behaviour is so clearly out of order, surely any reasonable arbitrator would give the employees a fair deal.

After reading so many ill-informed and downright stupid anti-strike comments on other websites (my favourite was one that suggested we all be fired and replaced with robots), I always assumed the union crowd to be more intelligent, unwilling to consider an issue as multi-faceted as a city-wide strike with a two-dimensional, 'you're either with us or against us' mentality.

Oops.

Well, it's true that part-timers, term employees, and such, often get the short end of the stick. But wouldn't you agree that the interests of those who will be staying for the long haul should take precedence?

Hey Brendan,

While I agree with you whole heartedly that it sucks that the PT workers are not making money they need, neither are the FT workers who have families and mortgages.

A few points....you knew when you started working that you were joining a union; you knew 4 years ago when the last contract became effective that we could be in this situation this year; the unions usually choose to strike at a time when it has an effect - 7 years ago, the strike was in the same time frame and pools were closed.

Are you aware that one of the major issues with this negotiation is PT Wage Harmonization?  Are you even aware that PT wages are STILL according to the pay scale from the former city?  That someone doing the same job as you do in another district is making as much as $3.50 LESS an hour than you are making?  Not to mention in your own district there are 4 different pay scales being used.

SO - there will be a benefit to you and other PT workers in these negotiations.  I don't really believe that anyone wins in a strike situation, it will take us all a VERY long time to be ahead any money, however, this is the reality of being in a union.  If you don't like it, find a job that pays you minimum wage - that is likely all you would get.  You make close to $14 an hour to get a great tan and sit on your butt most of the summer. 

N.Beltov, the Facebook group 'Rec workers for ending the strike' and the petition that stemmed from that is not in support of, or against, any of the union's grounds for striking. Whether the strike is legitimate or not (some of us think it is, some think it isn't), it has been going on now for almost two weeks and it needs to end.

On a side note, if your customized status is a reference to the The Prisoner, that's awesome.

city_worker: I know about the wage harmonization issue, and I know how hard a strike is on everyone, especially people supporting a family. The union has been very good to me, and has helped make my summer job safe, secure and well-paid. We're not speaking out against the union, just pushing for an end to the strike. 

I see you've adopted Michelle's approach and are trying to use "education" and "persuasion" with some glib-talking character who calls for a legislated end to workers' right to strike. Good luck to you.

Self_important_ass.  I'm going to direct your attention the Babble Policy Statement which you agreed to when you registered.  Specifically, this part:

In terms of labour rights, what you are proposing is simply anathema. I accept that you probably do not know a great deal about labour issues in any global or historic sense, and give you a modest benifit of the doubt by not suspending your account immediatly. However, you will not propose and defend back to work legislation here, and especially on this forum, or you account will be suspended. There's a lot of collective wisdom here when it comes to this issue, and you may be well advised to read rather than post for a while.

Thank you old goat for actually clearing things up.

His first post:

His last post:

I wonder what's next?

meanwhile Miller says "it is all about the children"

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/662556

CUPE strike pay is $200 per week - same for part time as for full time workers. No deductions. Tax free. Take home pay for part time work (say 20 hours at $22 per hour) is around $290.

Just sayin.

cmkl

Well worth sayin', though. It's a great point that really puts this petition in perspective.

Thanks for posting that, cmkl.  I had no idea.  That makes this petition particularly egregious, doesn't it?

Don't you have to do picket duty to get strike pay?

Maybe the part-timers just don't wanna walk the line?

Yup.  It's either show up at the picket line, or show up at the pool (or day camp or whatever).  Seems to me if you're going to get paid almost as much for walking the line, then maybe their time would be better spent holding a sign at the picket line than making petitions online that undermine the union side.

I'm quite sure the Self-Important Ass has given up his strike pay to lead by example and demonstrate his personal integrity. Mind you, perhaps I'm being too harsh on the future business leaders of our society.

Saw some of those students down at Nathan Philips Square today, picketing CUPE workers and demanding they are legislated back to work. I have no pity for them. These students are making jack squat and I'm having a real hard time trying to figure out why they just don't join in with CUPE strikers or get another job that pays the same or better wages.

Maybe they are getting paid rto picket CUPE?

Never thought of that but that could be a real possibility. A very real possibility.

Well why wouldn't they be picketing in solidarity and collecting their strike pay?

Supposedly they are the students who work on the ferrys to Ward Island. I'm not sure what their status is re: union or not.

Given the shiftiness of the government, I wouldn't put it past any one to plant those students in the middle of downtown TO to stir up sympathy and anti-union sentiments.

Hmmm... picketers demanding that workers' rights be crushed. Are you involved in that, Self-Important Asshole? Where is that distinguished young leader when we need some answers??

It must be Opposite Day. I'm agreeing with what someone from the CD Howe Institute and someone from McGill's business school have to say.

If the unions that represent inside and outside municipal workers and the city cannot come to terms within a few weeks, the province will be under political - not to mention health-related - pressure to order an end to the strike. With the stroke of a pen, the province could do so by way of back-to-work legislation.
However satisfying that might seem in the short term, back-to-work legislation would merely postpone confronting the core disputes that need resolving. The benefits of clean streets and open swimming pools are apparent; the long-term consequences of back-to-work legislation are not.
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/661812

This brings light on something that has long bothered me: middle-class "students" who work part-time and summer jobs. These kids will often work for shit wages or as in the case of Self Important Asshole undermine their union because THEY DONT REALLY NEED THE MONEY! So many students take poverty vacations and "slum it" while in school for some kind of character building exercise and then go on to become bankers and managers (as Unionist alluded to). I think that it is a deliberate attempt to undermine the working class and wage system - same as manufactured unemployment.

And S.I.A, you make me sick you fucking coward. Show some respect.

Generalize much?  When I went to U of T there were the rich kids like you say, but many of us were working to pay our tuition because our families couldn't support us.  I didn't scrub toilets for fun, or to "slum it."  Many of my classmates were the same.

The people who don't need the money are a tiny minority.

That said, how do folks feel about my having started this thread?  Unionist was cranky about it, but I'm kinda pleased we managed to engage the guy who started that petition - I was hoping that would happen.  Maybe he got something to think about.

I forgive you, Sineed.

But tell me what you learned from "engaging" this guy.

My first summer job (81-86) was in an unionized environment where we paid union dues but were prohibited from being union members. That somehow felt unjust at the time but the continuing employees had a bigger stake in their union local. As a staring wage, I made over 200% of the NB minimum wage and received wage premiums for other jobs (ex. jackhammering, painting).  This experience meant that when I went to Carleton in Fall 1986 and the TA union was in negotiations with a strike mandate I immediately became active in my local. I even became local president for a brief period of time in 1987 until I went to the bastion of conservatism UWO for Doctoral studies. Summer jobs at unionized locations can be good training grounds for future union activity. As I sit here, I realize I havent't belonged to a union for 22 years. Tells us a bit about the state of working in the pse sector.

I would have a HUGE problem with paying union dues but being prohibited from being a union member.  Are you sure that's the way it was?  I can't imagine how that could be...?

Yes, it was the case. There was a minimum period of time one neeeded to be employed in order to become a member of the union (6 months I believe) and I never worked more than 4 consecutive months as a summer student. My father who was president of another union local on the waterfront used to get an earful from me about this subject.

I'm surprised too, Caissa, although I don't know which province it was and whether the appropriate labour law has been changed since. Here is what the Canada Labour Code says, very clearly and strictly, on this subject, in Section 25(2):

Interesting. NB, PSAC local. (1981-86) We were not allowed to participate in union meetings or take part in any other decision making processes. If we were granted full rights, and if my memory serves me correctly, we would have constituted 50% of the membership in my first couple of years. 

I remember in the bad old days trades apprentices not being allowed full membership or full rights in various international craft unions. But to your point, we can't have radical young whippersnappers constituting the majority, now, can we?

ETA: If you were in PSAC, I'm guessing you worked for the federal govt? In which case, you would have been covered by the Public Service Staff Relations Act, which until it was replaced by the PSLRA in 2004 or so, used to read like this (Section 40(3)):

... Which might be taken to imply that discrimination on other grounds (age, length of service, etc.) was ok!!

Meanwhile, Section 66(2) of the new act is a slight improvement - it would prohibit age discrimination, but not service:

Anyway, rights of public service employees have always been more in the nature of privileges which can be removed at the whim of Her Majesty, and trade unionist spirit has sometimes been slow in growing.

Does this mean we've exhausted the thread topic here? Where is that young man who supported/opposed the right to strike?

My first summer job just prior to entering college (and I had consecutive summer jobs since grade 6) was in 1969 driving a big truck for Ottawa Neighborhood Services delivering unwanted castoff donations (damaged furniture, clothing etc) to the dump. Wasn't a union job, and I desperately needed the money to survive the first year of college. My dad had been hospitalized with terminal cancer two years prior, and died the next year, and his disability pension apparently didn't amount to much, just enough for my mom to get by. I had just left home at the end of high school and was fending for myself, and was barely getting by. I didn't know *anyone* entering college or university back then who had parents who could afford to pay their kid's college or university education without those kids also earning money in summer jobs. My impression here on the coast is that things haven't changed much - every college and university student here on the coast has no choice but to earn a shitload of money during the summer months to be able to afford to stay in school.

Unionist wrote: If you were in PSAC, I'm guessing you worked for the federal govt?

Yes, National Harbours Board and then Ports Canada.

The city's offer is now public: http://www.toronto.ca/offer/index.htm

I think you all acted as bullies in this thread.  Calling people assholes, ad hominem attacks, and pulling up the babble policy as a subtle threat to stop someone's questioning do nothing to help further the progressive cause.  Both the initial poster and the author of this petition consider themselves progressive and show an interest in learning more - but you all jumped on them like they were Stephen Harper's biggest champions.

Although I am not a regular babbler, I like many others read these posts and have learned a lot from them, often changing my views based on the great ideas put forward.  Not everyone is born with a perfect knowledge of labour rights, and this should be a safe(r) place to bring up these issues and have them debated. 

If this is the kind of communicative tone the labour rights movement intends to have in Canada -- then I predict a poor future for it. Solidarity my ass.

Stop this toxicity -- practice what you preach.

More like, what he learned from us  

Sometimes when people feel passionate about something, they can forget to err on the side of tact.

I haven't said too much in this thread, other than starting it, but I think what I'd say is if you're a summer student and there's a labour dispute, you need to keep in mind that you're only around for a couple of months, while the full-timers may be there until retirement, and pension issues, long-term or short-term disability plans, benefits, and other things that would be totally irrelevant to a summer student constitute part of the livelihood of the permanent staff.  And you have to acknowledge and respect that.

And failing to acknowledge and respect that, whilst trying to undermine the efforts of the permanent staff to protect their livelihood is going to piss people off.

Anyway, CUPE locals 416 and 79 are going to be formally responding to the offer made yesterday, perhaps by the end of today.  I'm aquiver with suspense...

We're not sticklers for academic prowess and scholarly perfection here. When someone says: "Force those people to work on pain of incarceration or fines, so that I can make my money this summer!", then this is not a safe place to bring up or to debate that view. You see, every other place in this society which degrades and devalues workers is a "safe" place to spew such classist and enslaving venom - from the mainstream media, to the legislative assemblies, to the classrooms at all levels of our educational systems, you name it. Here, we have built a place, just one lousy little forum on babble, where we expect it to be taken for granted that workers are not to be treated like slaves.

If that's unacceptable to you, then I strongly suggest that you get lost.

Oh, boo hoo, we ought to maintain some "tone" in defending one of the most basic rights a human being ought to have - to work or not to work for some boss - otherwise you, in your first post here, will look down from your pinnacle and lecture us about "toxicity". Go have a cool drink and think about what human freedom means.

"In a rare, high-stakes bid to end the strike, Mayor David Miller has gone over the heads of union leaders to give Torontonians and city workers details of a new offer that includes a 7.2-per-cent pay raise over four years.

The mayor's gambit was denounced by the presidents of Locals 79 and 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who said they were "disgusted" and rejected the slightly sweeter proposal."

I don't believe anyone here called him an ass, I believe that they were calling him by the name that he choose self_important_ass

dp

People are fuming at Mayor Miller on Facebook. These people are NOT pro-worker. They are anti-union, selfish asses and I am about the only person (short of perhaps two) that is on the side of the unions. I'm getting hammered by right wing idiots who actually beleive these workers should be paid less because they collect garbage and don't have a university education. They are disgusting! I hate getting all worked up but shoot, this is really depressing. Is this a representative of the majority? Who are these people to drive from the burbs in their gas hogging cars, dump all over Toronto then split back to the burbs giving us all the finger? And to these fools, it's all about garbage. Nothing else. The city doesn't look like hell, I know it but to hear these people speak you'd think we were wallowing in garbage downtown.

I can't keep this up on Facebook alone.

Sorry to contradict you Refuge. I began upthread by calling him a self-important ass, you're right, and then he appeared. Once he came here and lectured us - and said in one breath that he supported the right to strike and in another that he wanted this strike crushed by legislation - I dubbed him "asshole". I repeat that characterization here, for the record, so that there is no possible confusion. He is not an ally, he is not confused, he is on the other side of the trench and his calls for crushing workers' rights have no place here.

I just read the petition at the top.  It seems like the summer student workers do belong to the union.  Yes, I do belong to a union.  However, I would never take any action that would contradict my union's position.  This includes creating or signing a petition demanding that the government legislate the workers back to work.  If one is pissed off at the union's position, talk to the executive privately.

And/or go to the membership meeting and speak out in front of everyone. Or lobby the other members to support your position. That's what the rest of us have to do. But once a decision is taken, unite behind it.

They should do neural linguistic tests to ensure those who fall into the social approval designation, do not man pickets. And I am being serious.

Well, irregardless of your irritation of him he participated in making the ass or self apointed ass (or some other variation therin) his name by  taking it on himself so it can hardly be used against anyone here at babble.  Just as threatening someone that they need to follow the policy of babble or lest they are kicked off (when the policy of babble is follow it or get kicked off) is a little silly.  Why should people not refer to him as ass when he took on the name and why should he not have to follow babble policy just because he started the stupid ignorant petition.  I don't refer to anyone as ass even if I am irritated (or some stronger emotion) with them, unless they ask me to.

.

More lazy reporting from The Toronto Star's Nick Aveling in today's paper.  The headline reads:

Cracks in union resolve as strike nears Week 4 520 workers decide to cross picket lines as others refuse to endorse 'stupid' dump site wait times

"As Toronto enters Day 21 of a strike that has stopped garbage collection, curbed municipal services and shut down scores of daycare centres, more than 520 striking city employees have decided to cross their own picket lines and go back to work, city officials say."

However, Aveling later says: "

Exactly which workers - inside or outside, full-time or part-time - have crossed the lines is unclear. Also unclear is how many of their requests to return to work have been granted. A city spokesperson declined to comment, and Daley said the union does not keep track."

Of course, that reveal is buried deep in the "article".

What is the point of instituting a mandatory 15 min. wait if there is no line? I cannot see how those would help the union's position whatsoever. If union member are scared to use their names when discussing this, I doubt they would feel comfortable speaking out at meetings, as unionist suggests.

Yes, they're comfortable speaking with a Toronto Star reporter, but not to their own co-workers. That's because workers who get up in union meetings and say, "I think this 15-min thing won't help - I have alternative ideas for tactics to build support", will probably be assaulted on their way out of the meeting and find their home burned to the ground and their family held hostage.

Or, is that not the stereotype you had in mind, Ghislaine?

You have obviously never been a union member nor attended a union meeting in your life. Why not, instead of drawing conclusions from reading MSM propaganda, just ask a few questions about subjects you know nothing about.

I have been a union member, with UPSE here with the provincial gov't and with IATSE. I have attended union meetings with both and worked on devising a public response to government cuts to early childhood programs with UPSE members. I am currently non-unionized fed. crown corp (which enjoys union-level benefits due to the efforts of PSAC). 

Why not, instead of drawing conclusions about people who you don't know, just answer the questions?

I will take your advice and ask a few questions:
Is the union's decision to have min. 15 minute wait times MSM Propaganda? If it isn't, why would they make such a decision?

Are the comments from union members in that article MSM propaganda? Could you imagine for one moment that striking members might legitimately not want to enforce these new measures?

Ghislaine, there's a big difference between discussing tactics at a union meeting and breaking solidarity to criticize the tactics the union decided upon publicly to a Toronto Star reporter.

The time to raise objections to tactics used IS at the union meeting during strategizing time.  Or by calling a meeting now and saying that they don't want to alienate the public and that this tactic isn't working if they feel it needs to stop.  The time to raise objections is NOT on the picket line, talking to a reporter who will then use it to undermine the bargaining position of the local during a strike.  Those anonymous picketers have now given the city public relations ammunition by invoking the stereotype of "union bosses" facing a revolt by the "membership", at a time when public opinion is already against the union and being flamed by the mayor and the media.  Why help the other side?

Here is the link for 1weasel's snippet above. Loath though I am to go to The Star, but will use it as an opportunity  to find their advertisrs in order to write them letters of boycott of their products and services.

I'm sure the people who started this petition believe that they are going to be able to overturn the wishes of the majority, and it was a majority of Union members who voted to withhold their services, but has anyone taken the time to see what the law states with regard to this. Check the Ontario Labour Relations Act, (1995). Those who believe the city simply is able to terminate all or part of the Union's bargaining rights are dreaming. Just for example, under Termination of Bargaining Rights during a labour dispute, nothing can be done for at least six months. At that point it would take forty percent of the entire bargaining unit stating that they wish to decertify. That would get you a supervised vote. It isn't going to happen.

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_95l01_e.htm

I'm no fan of back to work legislation, but unless the City Administration is ready to remove its demands for take-aways and concessions in the contract and reach a negotiated contract, wouldn't the back to work legislation also make binding arbitration mandatory?

What would the likely outcome of government mandated binding arbitration be for the workers?

Would it be the status quo contract? A lesser contract? More or less than the City's latest offer? Or even a better contract than could reasonably be expected to be negotiated?

The reason I said you have never been to a union meeting was your idle speculation that picketers were "SCARED" to raise their views. I guess you must have lived in fear when you attended your union meetings?

Usually, but not always, the Union will achieve a better contract monetarily than they would be able to negotiate, especially during a recession. Arbitrators tend to apply industry patterns when making their determinations about what is fair. Back to work legislation tends to poison future negotiations. One side or the other will decide there is no sense bargaining when the province will send them back to work and they will "roll the dice" that the arbitrated settlement will be to their advantage. Collective bargaining works best for both sides when they come to a mutual consensus.

Enough trash talk about striking workers

They are public health nurses who care for new mothers, the poor and those with sexually transmitted diseases.

They look after the weak and fragile in the city's homes for the aged – and, by the way, these people have no right to strike.

They put their lives on the line and yet, considering the salary increases being offered to them in comparison with what the mostly male-dominated police and fire fighters have won, they are being insulted, if not outright discriminated against.

"During the SARS crisis, during the Legionnaire's Disease crisis, our members continued to go in there," Dembinski tells me. "They pick something up, they don't get a single day in sick time."

Just because they are invisible, both in their jobs and during this strike, does not mean their work is not as valuable or necessary as that performed by the police and firefighters.

It's just that their front lines are different.

Their picket lines should not be ignored just because they perform what too many people think of as "women's work."

Walk a few hours in their shoes, will you?

Show some support.

Great column as usual by Antonia Zerbisias - thanks, writer.

Hey - will the Star be apologizing for this one as well?

also their was an amazing article by a 16 year old highschool student who is a lifeguard. she wrote about being on strike with 79.

I'm Tamie, 16 and on strike

thanks writer...got stuck actually doing work for a bit and did not have a chance to post story

I took my morning walk and I noticed the grass was cut on the boulevards along Steeles and Bayview (on the Toronto side). Is this work done by private contractors? Paving work seems to going on as before as well. 

I was in Toronto the other day and nothing like the smell of hot piss! whew!, I had a nice chat with one of the picketers at city hall and warned them about binding arbitration, I've been through it and I would bet to a member would have rather gone down swinging then agreed to this draconian situation:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/ferr-d18.shtml

I'm not sure about the grass-cutting, but paving work is contracted-out.