Monday 25 August 2014

Co-opting (Updated)

After this blog was started, one of the things we quickly noticed was AUPE repeatedly co-opting things from here into their own messages.

We expose their bullying of Artspace members, friends and family, and suddenly they claim that we have bullied the picketers.

We expose the aggressive behaviour of the picketers, and they try to claim Artspace members have been the violent ones.

We expose their displays of racism and they play up their own use of the race and gender cards to try and make Artspace members as being the racist ones.

We hold a vigil to commemorate our standing up to 100 days of their siege of our homes, and the next day they hold an illegal block party and political rally on our street, complete with new signage on the 100 day theme.

We declare ourselves "Artspace Strong" and suddenly there are new signs among the picketers, declaring themselves "strong."

And so on.



Some of their signs combine both.

The one above has me curious.

"100 Days Fight for What's Right!"

Really?  Demanding wages so high they'll bankrupt your employer is "right?"  We've been hearing from several sources in the health care industry talk about how they have university degrees, a decade or more of experience, years of training upgrades, and work 12 hour shifts in hospitals, and they don't get paid what our striking care workers are demanding.  How is that "right"?

Especially after the SAIL board and user members fought to hard for the care staff to keep their jobs when the Redford government tried to privatize the contracts.

Is it "right" to go out on the picket line and yell out about some of the more intimate personal care user members need, and how it's so embarrassing to care for the "fat cripples", that you deserve more money?

Is it "right" to yell out that they don't "deserve" your care"

Is it "right" to yell out that they don't deserve to live here and should be out on the street"

Is it "right" to say that you don't care if the user members end up in long term care?

Is it "right" to verbally harass, threaten, abuse, intimidate, provoke, insult and degrade the people who gave you, then fought for, your jobs?

And why is it a "fight"?  Who are you fighting?  SAIL, who has no choice because of the constraints of funding?  What use is that?  AHS?  No, no one is taking the battle to AHS.

Why are you even here?  Why are you fighting Artspace members, most of home have nothing to do with SAIL, and none of whom control the funding?

Who are you fighting, and why?

"We are strong and united."

Strong against whom?  The SAIL board?  They can't do anything more than they've already offered.  The user members?  Artspace members in general?  Our friends?  Our neighbours?

And who are you united with?  AUPE?  The union that made suggestions that would have left you with either the same pay, or less, depending on the shift?  The union that doesn't care if SAIL goes bankrupt and loses you your jobs?  The union that convinced you that it was a good idea to become aggressive and abusive on the picket line, destroying all trust user members once had in you?  Or was that just your real selves, finally revealed?  The union that is so willing to sacrifice you and your jobs for their own agenda?  Is that who you are "united" with?



Here's another sign that doesn't make much sense.

What's the way forward?  Well, since you guys rejected every offer SAIL made, destroyed all trust from the user members to the point that they don't want you in their homes anymore, then voted to accept a mediator's recommendation that would bankrupt your employer, it's not SAIL that can say anything more.  If you're waiting for an answer and asking the wrong people, you'll be waiting a very long time.

Try looking in a mirror.  You'll probably have better luck there.  Lord knows, AUPE sure isn't going to help you out with that one.  They're the ones that wrecked it all.

I admit to not going to the AUPE website often, since it's pretty much all propaganda, but they do post the picketer schedules on there, so what the hey - not that they follow it very well.  While Saturday had them back at the siege, taunting someone in the high rise loud enough to be heard by almost the entire block, no one showed up on Sunday.

It was on their website that I noticed another way they co-opted something from this blog; they added a count-up widget.  We've got one up at the top left, showing how many days we've been under siege, beginning on the day SAIL staff walked off the job on May 7.

They, however, are once again trying to re-write history.  Their counter - which is even down to the second (I wonder how someone figure that one out?) - is since the lock out started.  If someone didn't know any better, they would think that's when the labour dispute started.  From our perspective, the strike has never ended, lock-out or no.

The siege began on May 7, and it was the care staff who walked away.

It does leave us wondering.

According to their counter, today (Monday) is day 98.  That means day 100 for AUPE is on Wendesday, the 27th.

UPDATE August 27, 2014: So AUPE decided to re-write history again.  Wish we got a screen cap of the previous counter, which would have put today as day 100 for them.  Instead, they changed the starting date.  It doesn't match ours, but that may be the difference as to whether it counts the immediate date as well, or each full day completed.
They forgot to change the text, however.  Which means they are now falsely claiming that they have been locked out since May 7.  Here's a screen cap of what is there today.


What will they do to commemorate their own milestone?

Will they once again invade our homes with another illegal block party?

More free Fat Franks for the invaders and their supporters?

Maybe bring out some more politicians to partake in the abuse of our entire community?

Or will they pay more people to come out and harass and abuse our neighbourhood?

What will AUPE do to punish Artspace members this time?

After all; like their sign says:




What all this is really about is AUPE power.






No comments:

Post a Comment