Apparently they are, given the [url=http://rabble.ca/comment/990830/Re-Should-transit-be-essential-service][...'s response in this thread[/color][/url] to complaints that advocating removal of workers' right to strike is inconsistent with babble policy:
In defining itself as "progressive," rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist and [b]pro-labour[/b] stance. Discussion which develops and expands progressive thought is encouraged and welcome. babble is NOT intended as a place where the basic and essential values of human rights, feminism, anti-racism, and [b]labour rights are to be debated or refought[/b].
The very title of that thread - Should transit be an "essential service"? - is code for, should busdrivers be prohibited from striking. Likewise, the [url=http://rabble.ca/columnists/ottawa-citizens-still][color=red]Rabble column[/color][/url] on which the thread is based not only suggests debating transit workers' right to strike - it bemoans the fact that the Canada Industrial Relations Board refused Rona Ambrose's invitation to declare the strike unlawful:
told the CBC during the strike, "I think about 99 per cent of us would love it to be essential service."And yet, transit is not an essential service according to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The suspension of bus service did not pose any immediate danger to the health and safety of Ottawa's citizens they ruled. The ruling went against the wishes of many transit workers themselves. As veteran bus driver Tony Mitchell
It is conceivable that the author, Ashifa Kassam, is just plain ignorant, given that the [i]Canada Labour Code[/i] doesn't incorporate the concept of "essential service" except in the sense of services necessary to avoid "immediate and serious danger to the health or safety of the public". Of course transit is "essential" to people, and of course the authorities must finance and provide this service. But to raise this issue in the context of a strike, and as is done here, is to treat workers as slaves.
What is even more disturbing about that thread is the hierarchy of rights that is established. Not only can you apparently debate the freedoms of workers on babble, you can do it right in the one forum which should be especially safe from such attacks. As one poster said: "Where else would you want to see this occur?"
I see this occur every day - in the MSM, in the streets, in the workplaces. On babble, I don't want to see that particular debate. I want to see workers' rights taken for granted - God-given - unassailable - and then babblers considering, together, how to expand and defend those rights against the kinds of attacks that should come only from the outside.