Segacs’s World I Know

Unions are supposed to protect employees from abusive management, and that’s all very well and good. But who protects employees from their unions?

Blue-collar workers intent on disrupting snow-clearing operations Monday night intimidated colleagues into refusing their work assignments, Quebec’s Essential Services Council heard yesterday.

Assignment foreman Gerard Poissant of the Sud-Ouest borough said that as he went from worker to worker, others would call out in the background: “The others refused, the others refused.” And Poissant testified that a union delegate followed him around, saying: “This isn’t union advice I’m giving you, but were it me, I would refuse.”

The stress was so intense that two employees who had been prepared to take out the machines assigned to them booked off sick, he said.

In one case, the worker had already agreed to go out. But with the intimidation, he returned the keys, trembling, and announced he was going home, Poissant said.

Another blue-collar worker, a woman, badly wanted to work, and even told her colleagues that she desperately needed the money, he said.

“The others kept saying, ‘The others refused.’ She started crying and shaking,” and at 9 p.m., she, too, booked off sick, Poissant said.

Unions have so much power under Quebec law that it’s hard for employees to avoid caving under the pressure. And all too often, union leaders don’t actually have the best interests of their members in mind; instead, they’re out for their own political gains or personal victories. Employees in unionized fields have no choice but to be members, pay their dues, and toe the line… even if they disagree. And in cases like this one, where the Blue Collars are on an illegal work stoppage, it seems not even court injunctions can protect workers who actually want to do their jobs.

The system is broken. It needs to be fixed. Fast.

Things are looking really bleak for the NHL these days, with common ground still eluding the players and owners as the seconds tick down on any chance to save the season:

Last week, the players offered to take an across-the-board 24 per cent pay cut on existing contacts to help settle the stalemate. The league countered Tuesday with a graduated rollback that would see the top salaries cut by as much as 35 per cent while leaving the lowest salaries untouched.

The counter-offer from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was rejected by the union and there are no further talks scheduled.

Sure, life goes on. But without hockey, somehow the winter just seems… bleaker. Luckily I’ve been too busy at work to think about it much.

The press is making a big deal of the comments that Mahmoud Abbas has made calling for an end to armed struggle by Palestinians:

“The uprising is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means,” Abbas said. “Using the weapons was harmful and has got to stop.”

[ . . . ]

“We, at this stage, are against the militarization of the intefadeh (uprising) because we want to negotiate. And because we want to negotiate, the atmosphere should be calm in preparation for political action,” Abbas said. “That’s why we have frankly called for . . . an end to the militarization of the intefadeh.”

Too good to be true? You betcha! Reverting to type, Abbas has probably calculated that calling for less dead innocent Israelis would make him very unpopular among the Palestinian people, and has pretty much reversed himself:

“I don’t want my comment on the demilitarization of the uprising to be misunderstood … All I meant is that we are in a phase that does not necessitate arms because we want to negotiate,” Abbas said in Riyadh where he ended an official visit Wednesday.

The problem with Abbas is that he’ll never be more than a puppet leader. It doesn’t matter what he truly believes, because he isn’t strong enough to carry it out. Barghouti’s withdrawal from the leadership race was probably little more than a calculation that right now, the world powers are clamouring for peace, so he figures he’ll set Abbas up to fail. Then someone – Barghouti, or perhaps a Hamas leadership – can step in once the people are screaming for arms again.

Yes, I’m a pessimist. But it’s hard to be much else when it comes to the Mideast.

Congratulations! You are Miranda.

Which Sex and the City Character Are You?
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I also think I’m a bit addicted to that show.

The city of Montreal can’t even get the sidewalks cleared… but they had plenty of time to pass a law aimed at one of the city’s best-known buskers: the Spoonman:

Cyrille Esteve, 52, who’s better known as Spoonman, has been clacking away in front of the upscale Ogilvy’s department store for the past eight years. His regular spot is particularly busy at this time of the year, as passers-by stop to admire the store’s well-known, animated Christmas display.

But the local borough council has ordered him to stop playing at the street corner beginning January 1.

The Spoonman is a part of Montreal, much like bagels, smoked meat, and winters.

Last week I got annoyed with the news that the homeless were complaining about art in parks. But it’s a far cry from people who think that they’re owed something, to buskers who just sit and play their music – in a sense. Esteve wasn’t demanding that the city build him a home in front of Ogilvy’s. He just wanted to be left alone to busk. The city is at once holding outreach meetings to be “sensitive” to people who are murdering others in parks, and at the same time forcing the Spoonman out of his spot, clacking away. I don’t shop at Ogilvy but I’m in the area an awful lot and he’s never bothered me – in fact, he’s been the subject of numerous city articles and is the perennial winner of the Mirror’s Best Busker award. He’s even somewhat of a tourist attraction.

But the city found that so offensive, that they’ve passed a law deeming spoon playing illegal anywhere west of University street. In other words – specifically the spoon (any other instrument is ok) and specifically in that location.

Like most Montrealers, I think this is an outrage. Let the Spoonman play, I say!

If you’re not reading Imshin regularly these days, you should be. Here’s an example of why.

While you’re at it, you can vote for her or Allison for a BlogAward, even though it’s pretty much a lost cause for anyone in that category. And while you’re at the blog awards site, vote for Meryl Yourish, not just because she asked for endorsements, but because she’s also the source of a lot of the material you read here – and a very witty writer to boot. And the best Canadian blog category didn’t see fit to include yours truly (who am I kidding anyway?) but you can definitely kick a vote or two in for Damian.

Turns out I’m not the only lefty in the blogosphere… in a post reminiscent of this one. You just watch: one day we shall dominate.

Speaking of the Blue Collar labour dispute, Paul puts things into perspective:

Gratified as I am that the blue collar workers have seen fit, in their infinite grace, to perform some cursory salting and de-icing on the sidewalks of some major arteries, I don’t live on one of those, but on the myriad of small streets in the Snowdon area. Moreover, my street is on a slope.

Therefore, allow me to explain the joy that is my life every time I have to take my dog outside: I open the front door, descend the stairs, reach the sidewalk, and try my damnedest by using a combination of tap-dancing, the Funky Chicken, and walking like a penguin to keep myself from sliding into parked cars, or all the way down the street on my face.

Granted, I’ll admit that one can have nothing more than a passing acquaintance with the adjective “funny” until you’ve seen your dog slip, spin one hundred and eighty degrees in the air, and fall flat on his back whilst taking a leak, but, all comedy aside, this is no way to live. (I should also note that comedy value decreases exponentially if one’s dog is still on its leash and one ends up sprawled across the hood of a car whilst laughing.)

Where I live (NDG), it’s no better. Even at the best of times, the sidewalk by my building isn’t exactly well-maintained. These days, it’s a veritable skating rink. If you think it’s easy skating in heels, *you* try it while carrying 5 bags of groceries.

The Blue Collar workers who agreed to binding arbitration but kicked up a fuss when it didn’t come out in their favour are being petty and nonsensical. They’re also endangering plenty of people who have to get around on dangerously slippery sidewalks. They’re predicting more freezing rain for tomorrow, and the workers had better get their acts together before the situation gets much, much worse. As Paul says:

To sum things up, I stand by my original statement. Montreal’s blue collar workers’ union is made up of lazy, overpaid, inconsiderate arseclowns. If they think that the public is behind them, they’re very sadly mistaken, and I would like to see them called on the carpet for the massive amount of injury and inconvenience that witholding basic services has inflicted upon the residents of this city.

Couldn’t agree with you more, Paul.

Strike here:

Quebecers’ hopes of an early Christmas gift in the form of an end to the three-week-long SAQ strike were dashed last night as liquor-store employees turned out in force to reject their employer’s latest offer by a vote of 88 per cent.

Strike there:

Hoping a strike during the holiday rush will pressure Canada Post into a new contract offer, postal workers have launched rotating strikes in two Atlantic centres. Without a contract since October, the striking postal workers in Fredericton, New Brunswick and Antigonish, Nova Scotia are among 2,500 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada in a legal strike position.

Strike, strike everywhere:

The dishes, garbage and dirty laundry would pile up for days when Cat and Harlan Barnard’s teenage children refused to do their chores. So the Barnards went on strike, moving out of their house and into a domed tent set up in their front driveway. The parents refuse to cook, clean or drive for their children — Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12 — until they shape up.

Add a labour dispute:

With more freezing rain and snow to hit the city this weekend, Montreal blue collar workers will not rule out work stoppages to protest conditions in their new city contract, a union spokesperson said Thursday.

[ . . . ]

Roads and sidewalks in Ville Marie and Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce were especially treacherous after blue collar workers there refused assignments from managers, a task that was handled by unionized workers under the old contract.

And let’s not forget the ongoing lockout:

The league and the Players Association held a four-hour meeting Thursday, the first session in three months, with the union presenting the latest proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement. The six-year, six-point offer, which did not contain a salary cap, will be reviewed by the league and addressed on Tuesday at the next scheduled meeting.

With all these strikes, sometimes it seems like I’m the only person who’s actually working.

The Canadian Supreme Court issued its decision on gay marriage today in a historic judgement that essentially kicked the issue back into the hands of lawmakers:

In a landmark ruling, Canada’s Supreme Court said the government was within its constitutional rights to change the definition of marriage to allow gay and lesbian weddings.

[ . . . ]

The legislation is expected to win the necessary support in parliament, after it is introduced by the government early next year.

But the court ruled that religious officials could not be compelled to marry same sex couples, if the practice ran counter to their beliefs.

It also declined to rule on the question of whether a change to the laws regarding same-sex marriage was required by the constitution, a move that could complicate the task of shepherding the draft law through parliament.

This is a nice ‘something for everyone’ compromise. For those in favour of gay marriage, it cleared the way for a new definition of marriage. For those opposed, it didn’t compel the issue on a constitutional basis, nor did it step on the toes of religious autonomy. For those who believe that this was a matter for legislators and not judges, the Supreme Court essentially agreed.

It’s a shame that the court didn’t have the courage to decisively say that discrimination against gay people is against the spirit of the Charter of Rights. This ruling reminds me that sometimes, trying to be everything to everyone means ending up being nothing to nobody.

The ball’s in Parliament’s court now. A vote for gay marriage is expected to pass fairly easily, with the NDP, the Bloc, and most Liberals voting for, and the Conservatives voting against. But on principle, I disagree that matters such as rights should be decided by a majority-rule vote.

I suppose I’ll have to be patient as I wait for the country to catch up to that thinking. After all, at least we’re a lot further ahead on the issue than our US neighbours.