The media was out for the AUPE picketer performance on the 1st. While the media was their, they did their usual theatre, then reverted back to their normal misconduct, once the media cameras were gone.
Then there was the huge performance put on, this time for the benefit of Artspace members, on Saturday.
This is one clip that's uploaded; more will be added as we're able. There's an awful lot of footage.
As a side note, there are signs all over the place, letting everyone know that video taken could end up on YouTube.
This went on for hours and hours.
Their accusations grow increasingly irrational and bizarre.
It's a really obvious - oblivious? - attempt to control public perception.
Here's the basics.
SAIL turned down the mediator's recommendation because it would bankrupt them. The mediator's recommendation was just that; a recommendation. Both sides were free to accept or reject it, but the union seems to be trying to make it like there was some sort of requirement to accept it. You can bet that if the mediator had come up with something that actually fit SAIL's budget, the union would have voted against it and cried foul.
SAIL has always been transparent with the financials, including acknowledging mistakes made in the past, which have been rectified or are in the process of being rectified. Remember; SAIL is run by volunteers. They do the best they can, but they're not business professionals, and have had to rely on the advice of others. Sometimes, that advice has not been good advice, but that's the sort of thing that gets learned in hindsight. Again, SAIL has been open about all of this.
SAIL's finances have to be gone over with a fine tooth comb by AHS before they will agree to grant any contracts. That has been true in the past, and is true now. SAIL's finances have been okay'd by the government.
A Certified Accountant has gone over the numbers, and is satisfied.
Meanwhile, SAIL does have finalized numbers for AHS funding for the next 2 years. With fewer user members using SAIL services, among other things, the overall amount of funding has gone down.
The union knows this, because SAIL has been transparent during negotiations.
There is no way SAIL could meet the mediator's recommendations and remain solvent.
This is not a difficult concept to grasp.
Knowing this, AUPE is now turning to another tactic. Rather than address the current reality - that SAIL has less funding in total than before the strike began and no way to meet the demands they will not compromise from - they are trying to dig up the past and use it to accuse SAIL of fraud.
They're not even trying to be subtle about it. It's pretty blatant.
So we got this piece of theatre on Saturday, where AUPE sent out some of their big-wigs (and little-wigs. And no-wigs at all) where they spent most of the day trying to turn Artspace members against SAIL, by questioning the finances. (They all would have been paid for it, too; it must have been a very expensive day for AUPE! Well... for their members who are paying for it through their union dues, that is.)
Again, it's a handy thing for them to do, since by-laws prevent anyone from discussing such things in public with people who are not members of Artspace, user members of SAIL, etc. So they could stand there and throw out all the baseless accusations they wanted (funny, I thought there were privacy regulations that prevented them from talking about such things away from the negotiating table, too).
So we had the shouting and the noise, the provocation, incitement, intimidation, harassment (including the people trying to move in while all this was going on), the threats and defamation.
Notice how they do it, too. One guy calls out some accusation, another diligently answers; someone calls out a question at a member on a balcony, someone else "answers" instead.
So very choreographed.
So very obvious.
Just another way for the union to try and frame public perception - or, in this case, try and turn Artspace members against each other.
It all comes across as so very desperate.
Of course, people started sharing video clips on Facebook or whatever, and commenting. The Lorna targeted in the video? She doesn't live here, but my goodness, they do have a problem with her!
I like how this commenter; a user member in Artspace, put it:
"Lorna, you must really scare this guy because you aren't even part of SAIL (or Artspace). ...and all these costs he's talking about....what about all the wages we pay out for these striking staff members who don't or won't do the jobs they are being paid to do....pay should really reflect the service given! Especially when they are some of the top paid "homecare Aides " in the city.....Maybe if the union actually compared them to the people who are doing the same jobs rather than the ones in nursing homes/hospitals and care facility's they'd get the real picture instead of the lies we've been hearing for months.... oh and we are supposed to believe these workers give a damn about us...listen to the mouths on them, and that's in public, can you imagine what we hear when there are no cameras, etc. I thank God for the replacement workers.......for the first time in over a year and a half, I am actually getting the services I am supposed to get and done properly . What a concept....and I can actually ask or question something without backlash or retributions. Keep it up Lorna, you obviously scare them!!!! lol"
While all this is going on, and we're all trying to figure out not only how people can behave this way (seriously; how do they live with themselves?), but those who try to defend or justify these actions, something finally occurred to me, and the above comment really hit it home.
When employees go on strike, there is this basic assumption that the strikers are the good guys, fighting against an oppressive employer, who is always considered the bad guys.
It just doesn't seem to occur to people that sometimes, it's the other way around.
Sometimes, it's the folks on the picket line that are in the wrong and the employer is the one in the right.
That just doesn't sit well with the world view many people have.
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