Why are the picketers here?
At all.
It's not like they're accomplishing anything, other than give all unions a bad name. As one person put it,
... all i know is that when we were on strike we were told the cops could arrest us for not continually walking, and for walking anywhere but on a designated area of the sidewalk outside the building we were picketing. this is ludicrous. ... and we complied because we didn't want to get in any trouble.
This, coming from someone who is a strong union supporter, and who loves their own union.
When it comes to what's happening here, there doesn't seem to be any "designated area" at all. They spend most their time in front of the West garden bed, but they'll also be in front of the driveways to the high rise parking (above and below ground), in the street, on the sidewalk across the street, in the curve of the street, where it turns to the side lane, and on the cul de sac at the back of the high rise, which is in front of people's private homes. People who have no connection to Artspace, other than being geographically close. They get to hear people shouting at the replacement workers in the wee hours of the morning, as well as have a bunch of people hanging out in front of their homes.
As for the folks outside, they don't even bother to walk around at all. Usually, we have this - at least in the afternoons.
It's not like the police are doing anything, as in this example, when an officer came for an unrelated manner.
For some reason, AUPE isn't even being held to the same standards of behaviour as other unions, never mind basic human decency.
They're just sitting around, blocking the sidewalk.
If they're not sitting around, they're standing around. They certainly don't walk continually. And were would they be walking? It's not like they're in front of the SAIL office to begin with.
Let's take a look at the purpose of picketing;
The purpose of picketing is to exert pressure on the employer by persuading other people not to do work for, or do business with, the employer.
Well, the first problem with this is that they're not targeting the employer; they are targeting our home, the Artspace co-op. With the SAIL model, most of this doesn't even apply. The closest to meeting the above requirement is when they verbally abuse the replacement workers. Yelling "garbage" and "scab" at the replacement workers isn't persuasion. It's intimidation.
However, a picket line must be peaceful and cannot be used to forcibly prevent people from entering an employer's premises.
We can all see for ourselves how that's not been what's going on. Especially since they've been blocking people from entering and exiting their homes.
Usually, striking or locked-out employees are only entitled to picket where they normally perform the work that's an integral and substantial part of the employer's operation and which is under the control and direction of the employer.
Again, they're not picketing where they normally work. People's private homes don't count, and the office is not where they are picketing.
Other operations of the employer may not normally be picketed. For example, if you operate your business at more than one location, your striking or locked-out employees are only permitted to picket the location for which their union is certified and at which they perform their work for you. They are prohibited from picketing your other locations if they do not normally perform work at those locations.
Once again, this doesn't apply. SAIL has only one location; the office in unit 103. It does not operate their business anywhere else.
As an exception to this general rule, picketing may also be conducted at other sites, with permission from the board, in circumstances where an employer attempts to have "struck work" performed these other sites. In other words, if you move work, normally performed by striking or locked-out employees, to another location in order to continue service or production during the strike/lockout, that location may be subject to picketing.
SAIL is not having "struck work" performed anywhere else; SAIL business is done in the SAIL office. That the employees leave the office to enter people's private homes doesn't change anything; they are providing home care in the same way as other care workers who do home care, and those private homes are not part of the employer's work site.
Think of it this way; AHS funds home care all over the province. Home care workers travel from home to home to provide this care. Let's say that these home care workers decided to go on strike. Who is the employer? AHS (or, in the case of contract workers, the contracting company). Not the people receiving care. So the place to picket would be an AHS office, or the office of the contracting company.
With SAIL, there is only one employer location. The SAIL office.
Similarly, striking or locked-out employees may be entitled to picket the place of business of an "ally" employer.
SAIL does not have any "ally employer." The closest to it would be AHS.
The board will declare another employer to be an ally of the struck employer in circumstances where the ally assists the employer in a lockout or in resisting a lawful strike.
Does not apply.
Ally picketing is restricted to the site at which the ally performs work for the benefit of the employer who is directly involved.
Again, this does not apply, yet they are targeting our private homes.
Finally, where more than one employer carries on business at the same site (referred to as a "common site"), the board generally restricts picketing so that it affects only the employer involved in the labour dispute or the ally of that employer.
Yet their actions are affecting an entire neighbourhood and community.
This restriction is relaxed, so that regulated picketing at a common site can occur and will affect third parties to some degree, in circumstances where the union has no other way of picketing at the workplace of the striking or locked-out employees.
AUPE could have picketed the SAIL office; they chose not to.
So here we have all these examples of how picketing is supposed to be done, none of which is actually happening.
Instead, they keep coming back, day after day, week after week, month after month.
For what?
There's just no point for them to be in front of Artspace at all. We don't have any influence on the labour dispute. Even the volunteer SAIL board members have no control over the funding, so they can't do anything, either.
They are accomplishing nothing out there.
They are in front of our private homes, so there is no persuading of people not to enter the place of business; even with the replacement workers, they're just harassing them.
There are no products of the employer to persuade people not to deal in or handle.
There is no one to convince not to do business with the employer. The closest to is would be to ask the user members to refuse SAIL services, which doesn't work when the services involved are things like getting out of bed, eating or even personal hygiene. As mentioned before, this isn't a coal mine or a factory, where production can be halted, or where people can go shop elsewhere.
So what are they accomplishing?
Well, there are a few things they are accomplishing.
They have alienated a lot of potential supporters.
They have given all AUPE members a bad name.
They are giving all unions a bad name.
AUPE probably cost the SAIL staff their jobs. If SAIL were forced to accept AUPE's demands, which they can't afford, they'd go under, and the staff would lose their jobs. If AUPE succeeds in bankrupting SAIL through frivolous litigation, again, the staff would lose their jobs. There's no win here. For anyone.
All of that doesn't count the damage they've done to people who live here, resulting in everything from increased in medication, to hospitalizations.
Every day they are out there, they make it worse.
For themselves.
It just makes no sense!
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