Mobbed

It look a long time to get the following videos.  The phone the original file was on disappeared, as did the clips that were shared on Facebook.

The original long file was split into 5 shorter clips for upload to Facebook.  These shorter clips were finally found, just a few days ago.  There is a bit of time overlap in some of them.

First, some context.

This took place on August 6, 2014.

The person in the vehicle used to be a SAIL employee.  After the strike started, she quit working for SAIL and left the union.

She still comes to provide Self Managed Care for non-SAIL users in Artspace.  This is a program where individuals can independently hire caregivers to provide the care they need.  Typically, it's because they need more care than SAIL is able to support, or simply by personal choice.  This is all part of AHS's different home care services that help people maintain independence and not be forced to live in institutions.

Which means that she is not a replacement worker, nor is she a union member.  There is no valid reason for her to be targeted by her former co-workers.

That hasn't stopped them from targeting her repeatedly.





Not only is there no valid reason for them to be blocking her, this is happening completely off site.

Here's an image from Google maps to show where things are.

Artspace Co-op consists of the high rise, where the SAIL office is, and the townhouses across the street.

The cluster of arrows shows where AUPE usually "pickets".  Not a very accurate word for what they are doing.  It's more like "hang out," or "sit around", "wander", "loiter" or "trespass" - again and again and again.

Those aren't the only areas they hang out.  Sometimes, they'll sit on the guardrail on the outer edge of the curve to the side lane.  Other times, they'll wander farther down the street on the townhouse side.  Especially when they want to scope out some of the units and watch people's windows. Or, when it suites their fancy, they target people.  Other times, they'll wander around to the end of 94th St.  





Along with her former co-workers, we have the picket captain, Jaime Urbina, and the familiar face of Deb Arcand.





After months of harassment, when the picketers were finally approached to lay off of her, they apparently offered a "compromise."  They'd leave her alone, so long as she stayed inside and didn't go out on her employer's balcony.

And then they question why people in Artspace say they feel like hostages?

To this day, if she is seen on her employers balcony, they target her, either by calling out or whipping out the recording devices.



Part 4 is notable, because this is when AUPE VP, Karen Weier is first seen.

Yes, an AUPE VP took part in the mobbing of a person no longer connect to the labour dispute, on an off-site location.




An amazing amount of abusive behaviour has been allowed at Artspace, all because it was somehow justified and excused as being part of a "labour dispute."

This event, however, blows all those excuses away.

The person being targeted is no longer involved in the labour dispute, and hadn't been for some months.

The person targeted is not a union member, and again, had not been for some months.

The person is not a replacement worker with SAIL, but someone who is working for an independent employer who is an Artspace member, therefore her job has no connection to the labour dispute.

All of this takes place well off-site, on a public street.

Oh, and if you've watched all the videos, you'll have caught the part where she mentions how long she's been mobbed.

They did this for almost 1 1/2 hours.

Video of the Day; the disruption continues

Still going through the old videos methodically, by date, and have finally reached May 12; five days into the strike.

There is some video already up for that day on our Youtube channel.

This video is another longer one; almost half an hour.  There are several camera views of events that took place starting around 4:20pm, until about 5:40pm.






Some interesting things to note is that they are targeting the security guards more, again, though there's still a lot of abuse aimed at the replacement workers, too.

How any of this was supposed to persuade anyone to their "side," we just can't figure out.

There's one face that is notable among the picketers.

This is a screencap from the AUPE website.  Jason Heistad.

Another Executive member of AUPE, not only at Artspace, but actively participating in the verbal abuse and harassment.

Just a reminder that all of what you are seeing here is happening at our private homes.  Even the replacement worker vehicle is being blocked in the driveway of our above ground, private, Artspace parking lot.

When they block the security vehicle on the street, it's in front of the driveways in and out of the private, Artspace underground parking.

SAIL Inc., the employer, has the one unit for an office at the opposite end of the high rise from where this is happening.  There are a few parking spots near that unit's private entrance for SAIL staff.  It is only because there was no safe way for security to escort the replacement workers directly to SAIL's private entrance that they had to go through Artspace parking and use the high rise back door.

So all this noise and yelling and disturbance is not directed at the employer at all, nor is it anywhere near the place of employment.

This was all going on outside our private homes.

Even by this time, only 5 days into the strike, there were letters, incident reports and statements going in to the SAIL and Artspace boards, documenting the negative effects all this was having on people's health.

Meanwhile, this is still before things started to get really loud and disruptive!  No bull horns, yet.

Video of the day: targeting the security guards

More videos have been uploaded.  There are getting to be so many of them, we have started to organise them by dates and creating dedicated posts back dated to when the events recorded actually happened.  In the process, some date errors were caught (two posts with incidents reported in June were accidentally posted in May), so please to go into the archives listed on the right and revisit the early days of the strike.  These back dated posts are being put up in chronological order.

Here is one of the more recent uploads, going back to May 11.  There are quite a lot of videos from that day now.

Also, higher quality image settings, making for larger files, so they might take a bit longer to load.





This took place 4 days into the strike, and is comparatively quiet - except that this is happening shortly after 6:30 in the morning, and right under people's homes.  A lot of the units at that end of the high rise are adapted units, too.

The primary purpose of blocking vehicles is to give picketers a chance to present their case and persuade those they are blocking to not do business with the employer.  Instead, there's Zimmerman, spewing nothing but insults and contempt towards the security guards, with a passing verbal barf of disgust aimed at the "scabs" in the vehicle.

From the labour code:

84(1)  Subject to subsection (2), during a strike or lockout that is permitted under this Act anyone may, at the striking or locked‑out employees’ place of employment and not elsewhere, in connection with any labour relations dispute or difference and without acts that are otherwise unlawful, peacefully engage in picketing to persuade or endeavour to persuade anyone not to

(a) enter the employer’s place of business, operations or employment,

(b) deal in or handle the products of the employer, or

(c) do business with the employer.

Y'know, I just don't think treating people with contempt and insult is a particularly effective method of persuasion.  

Someone needs to dig out their copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People and give it a read, 'cause this ain't gonna do it.

Anti-Bullying hypocrisy

If you've taken the time to check out the videos, you'll have seen the level of bullying, harassment, intimidation, etc. that AUPE picketers have engaged in on the picket line.

Just a few examples...






More available for viewing on our Youtube channel.

Meanwhile...

... AUPE has a campaign against bullying, harassment and mobbing.

The hypocrisy is truly remarkable.

Property damage

*sigh*

You know, with all the attention this blog has started to get thanks to AUPE's going after our supporters, I was all prepared to write a post today about how things in the last while have NOT been as bad as before.  Aside from the political rallies and hoo-rah visits and photo opps with AUPE executives, things have actually improved.

Yes, they are still picketing our private homes, but they aren't blocking people's cars anymore.

Yes, they still target some people more than others for verbal harassment, but it's not as excessive as it was.

Yes, some of our members have to use the back door to the high rise to get in and out of their homes to avoid the picketers, but that has more to do with the residual effects of previous behaviour than current actions.

I was actually going to defend the picketers, because as bad as they can still get, we don't want them to be accused of doing things they aren't anymore.  I was even going to give them some credit for their improvements.

Then a member sent in some images.

First, some background.

Trespassing has long been an issue, even taking the 4 ft easement into account.  We've put private property signs all over the place.  Some of them came down due to weather damage, and yesterday, a few of them got replaced.

Another issue we've found disturbing is that a couple of the picketers keep bringing their kids to the picket line.  One in particular has two little ones she'd let run around all over the place, including down the hill and into where the below-street-level townhouse doors are.

Now we have this.  These are screen captures from some video we don't have a copy of, yet.

Yup.

Today, while the picketers were here, they allowed the kids to not only run around up and down the hill and into the townhouse area (because of the 4 ft easement rule, the picketers can't go down there, which means the kids are completely unsupervised, as well as being allowed to trespass on private property), but allowed them to wreck one of the replaced private property signs.

Video of the Day: The view from inside

Here is another video of what it was like for the replacement workers, inside the security vehicle, taken on May 9, the third day of the strike.



We have all been really impressed with the replacement workers.  They put up with this abuse, day after day, with grace and aplomb.  While on the job, they maintained an excellent attitude, and our user members got to know what good care was really like.

One thing the picketers have managed to do is demonstrate that they, themselves, are contemptuous bullies.  Learning that many of them are care workers at places like seniors' residences and care facilities is rather horrifying.  I can't imagine having someone like this being my own care giver, or providing care for a family member.

Video of the Day: such caring people...

Still slowly catching up on videos.

It's a curious thing, looking at them.  Many times - especially when there was media attention due to their illegal Canada Day block party at our home - AUPE would be asked about the verbal harassment and abuse Artspace members said they were suffering.  The typical response would be something along the lines of, "no, we're peaceful, it's Artspace members who have been abusive," and "prove it."

Meanwhile, for months, there were video cameras everywhere, and signs all around the high rise stating that their activities were being recorded and that said recordings could end up on Youtube.

Which means that they behaved the way they did, knowing their actions were being recorded (and often doing their own recording), knowing these would eventually go public, and then did stuff like this, anyway...




This video, taken on July 8, shows how even when the picketers were being relatively "peaceful," they still engaged in verbal harassment.  In this case, we have one of SAIL's striking "care" givers (later joined by another) verbally attacking a SAIL user-member.

What is bizarre is hearing such anger and hatred aimed at someone she would have provided SAIL services to.

Publicly, the picketing SAIL staff mouth platitudes about how much the care for "our residents" and how they just want things to be back the way there were.

Really?

How?

How can these "care" givers act like this towards someone they used to provide services to, then think that they'd be able to come back to work at some point and everything would be hunky dory, as if none of this ever happened?

This particular user member endured such verbal harassment, sometimes much worse than this, for months.  More so than others.  Why they targeted her for extra abuse, I have no idea.

Of course, there is also the fact that user members wouldn't want things to be back the way there were.  Quality of care had been deteriorating for some time, and once the replacement workers came in, our user members started seeing what good quality care was actually like.

"The way it was," would be a significant step downwards for our user members.

Can you imagine having these "care" givers taking care of you?

After seeing such visceral hatred from a "care" giver outside your home for months, would you be willing to allow that person into your home?  Imagine they were the person who had to help you take a shower?  Or even just put on a pair of pressure socks?  Would you trust someone like that to give you your medications?

I know I sure wouldn't!

The key thing about the SAIL model of care is that it is consumer driven and self-directed.  SAIL user members are living independently in their own homes.  They have control over who can come into those homes.  While SAIL hires the staff that provides the care, the user member tells those providers how their care needs are to be met.

That's all part of independent living.

With institutionalised care, people who need care are not living in their own homes, but are in assigned units, sometimes shared with others.  They have no control over who comes and goes out of their units or when.  They have no say in who provides their care, or how that care is given.

AUPE still refuses to acknowledge that SAIL Inc and Artspace Inc are separate entities - otherwise, they can't justify their picketing of private homes.  Even the striking SAIL staff, judging by the Newspeak interviews they've done for AUPE, seem to have no clue.  How can someone say they've worked for SAIL for years, and still not understand what a co-op is, or the difference between the co-op and their employer, SAIL?

AUPE would have Artspace user members lose their autonomy; lose their ability to determine who enters their private home, who provides their care and how.

Strangest of all, somehow the striking SAIL staff can verbally abuse a user member, and still think that they are somehow the victims of injustice; still think that they can just come back to work some day, and everyone will forget that not too long ago, they stood on the street outside our homes, swearing and verbally abusing the very people they claim to care so much about.

A true example of Doublethink, if ever there was one.

Familiar Faces: Desiree Schell

There is one face that has been here from the beginning.

She was along side Grace, as she threatened a self-managed care worker for something she was not responsible for, and rather than put a stop to the threatening behaviour, Desiree manipulated blame to someone who was not involved at all.

When an AUPE Soprano's wannabe was being aggressive and intimidating towards one of the security people, she stepped in to lay blame on the person who was the target, rather than the instigator.

She was among those having a grand old time harassing one of our members for the crime of being a union member (not AUPE) and living in Artspace at the same time - and for daring to stand up for neighbours after they were physically assaulted.









Of course, she was right there with The Urinator himself, including when he was using the bull horn.

When Malka finally got thrown off the picket line for his Bad Cop routine (though that hasn't stopped him from coming back, despite repeated assurances to us that he wouldn't), she got put into the role of Good Cop.  In this role, she actually had the temerity to tell one of our members that she didn't know what Malka was doing (re: the use of the air raid siren and bull horn, etc.), but that when she found out about it, she put a stop to it right away.  This despite the fact that we have video of her standing next to him while he was using the bull horn.

So who is this person that is now apparently in charge of the picket line?

Her name is Desiree Schell and, unlike other picketers, she's rather more "famous", if that's the word that can be used.  She's the host of a radio call in show and podcast called Skeptically Speaking and, like Malka, is an AUPE organizer.

There's a youtube video of her speaking at an anti-religion event.  I tried watching it, but I couldn't make it past the boring and self-aggrandizing intro.

I found this little bit from the above linked interview telling;

Kylie Sturgess: How do you define the term skeptic? Do you consider yourself a skeptic?
Desiree Schell: To me, skepticism means basing decisions on evidence rather than emotion whenever possible. It means being aware of and trying to compensate for my own cognitive biases. It means trying to think critically, even after I’ve made my mind up on a particular topic. And it absolutely means being willing to listen if someone disagrees with me and [being willing] to change my position if their evidence is sound. 

Just so you know, this is what the term "skeptic" means.

skep·tic noun \ˈskep-tik\
: a person who questions or doubts something (such as a claim or statement) : a person who often questions or doubts things

Full Definition of SKEPTIC
1: an adherent or advocate of skepticism 2: a person disposed to skepticism especially regarding religion or religious principles

And skepticism means;

skep·ti·cism noun \ˈskep-tə-ˌsi-zəm\
: an attitude of doubting the truth of something (such as a claim or statement)

Full Definition of SKEPTICISM
1: an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object
2 a : the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain
   b : the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism characteristic of skeptics 3: doubt concerning basic religious principles (as immortality, providence, and revelation)

It takes a special kind of arrogance to redefine a word, then use that definition to define oneself and somehow expect the rest of the world to go along with it.  Especially when one's own definition contradicts the true definition.  If you've made up your mind about something, you cannot, by definition, be skeptical about it.

In my personal experience, people who insist on defining themselves as "skeptics" do so for two reasons; 1) they consider themselves intellectually and morally superior to the hoi polloi and 2) as a way to cast others as being closed minded or bigoted, when they are the closed minded bigots, themselves.

I have yet to find someone who defines themselves as a skeptic that is truly skeptical.

As an aside, I am curious to know how someone who claims to make decisions based on evidence and lack of emotion can be a smoker.

As for lack of emotion or trying to keep emotions out of things, I will quote one of our members who, I think, said it better than I would have;

...emotions are the key to empathy, and empathy is the key to getting shit done.  Telling people to keep emotion out of it is the defence of people who don't know what they are talking about.  The only reason people say that is to undermine others, to "feminise" them, and to imply that they are weaker for caring.

So how does the skeptical speaker handle things on the picket line?

Well, aside from being a really obvious manipulator who has been caught in many falsehoods, she has also revealed herself to be a truly disgusting human being.

Yesterday, this incident was witnessed and reported.

One of our members; a SAIL user member in a wheelchair who has difficulties speaking, was coming off of DATS. The creepers had their kids out again today, but instead of using them as human shields in the driveways, they were using them as human shields in front of the loading zone at the front entrance of the high rise.

This member went to Desiree to talk to her about the mess they were making.

Desiree responded by talking to her as if she were retarded (that word was used very specifically in describing Desiree's manner).  Then, as this member crossed the street, Desiree laughed and made fun of her.

The irony of this is that the woman Desiree was talking to as if she were mentally challenged is, in fact, quite brilliant.  However, like so many bigots, because of her disability, Desiree seemed to assume that being slow of speech means being slow of mind.

She's not the first to do this, of course, but that, too, is irrelevant.  She is the organizer of this group of "care" workers who treat the disabled with contempt, including those who claim to just "love our residents."

Several of our members with speech challenges have been targeted for this sort of discriminatory and bigoted behaviour, from taunting and harassment, to mockery and crude imitations of their speech mannerisms.

Every single one of the members they have mocked are exceptionally intelligent and accomplished people.  Not a single picketer that has ever shown up as part of AUPE's siege of Artspace can hold a candle to any one of these members, never mind all of them together.

This particular member's towering intellect is, however, irrelevant to the fact that Desiree treated her with such a level of contempt.  It wouldn't matter if she really were mentally disabled.  She should not have been treated this way.

The former organiser, David Malka, may be reviled for his abusive, threatening, aggressive, harassing and intimidating behaviour, but not even he stooped as low as Desiree Schell.

Video of the Day: that's what's called "extortion"

Word through the grapevine is that AUPE intends to "turn up the heat" if things don't go their way by the end of September.

What does that mean?

Well, the last time they promised that, it was before the SAIL board had a chance to look at the mediator's recommendation.

Which is when they started going this.




For this entire labour dispute, AUPE has targeted the entire Artspace community, and even included some of our neighbours.  They have openly demanded that Artspace members turn on their board members - both the Artspace board and the SAIL board, even to the point of saying we should evict them. Which does more to show how ignorant they are of how co-ops work than make their point, but they've never been particularly interested in educating themselves.  Much easier to just make things up as they go along, I suppose.

The above video was taken on July 23.  That same day, AUPE's "Avocatzo" left this comment here on the blog.

Well, as expected, your SAIL board produced bogus, imaginary financial numbers today in order to "justify" an egregiously bad faith bargaining position. Maybe even to justify some form of fraud that has been masked by seven years of Mickey Mouse unaudited statements. An independent, objective mediator will soon issue a report agreeing with the Union position. And SAIL will reject it because they are in bad faith. And so, if you think that the Sunday Tea Party that you have been enduring over the last few weeks has been annoying, wait till you experience the full wrath of the working class. Karma is a bitch, baby. By the way, why don't you ask Chris and Roxanne why none of their numbers make any sense? 

Aside from the tiresome false and defamatory accusations against SAIL, whose board members have always been very open to questions from all Artspace members, we got threatened with "the full wrath of the working class..."  

How Marxist of him.  A rather petulant and ignorant threat to make against a community that completely overturns notions of class distinction; where all membership is equal, regardless of age, ability, income, race, gender, and so on.  It took AUPE to introduce classicism, racism and sexism into our community.

Then they did this.

Funny.  Avocatzo has stopped trying to post comments on the blog.  I wonder it's because his comments demonstrate that it is AUPE that is operating on bad faith, and not SAIL?  

So, according to AUPE's "avocat" (French for lawyer - and avocado - in case you're wondering), what AUPE has done to the Artspace community, to punish us all for SAIL not capitulating to their demands, is just a "Sunday Tea Party."  That we have yet to "experience the full wrath of the working class."

Which is, of course, extortion.

Video of the Day: an inside view

We've had people ask about what it's like for the replacement workers, inside the security vehicle while being yelled at and taunted by the picketers outside.

Turns out we have some footage.

Here's one of them.

This is another video from May 9, the third day of the strike.  It was actually a bit calmer on this day than on the first day of the strike, and they had not yet taken to holding up the replacement vehicle for ridiculous lengths of time (we've got at least one example of the security vehicle being blocked for about an hour and twenty minutes).

Answering Questions

The following is from a Facebook conversation. The questions asked are too much to address on someones wall, but they are legitimate questions, and ones we have asked ourselves.

Here they are, divided into three topics.

Jason wrote: "So I'm curious there have been accusation bandied about about "abuse". So if people were "held hostage in their homes" or "abused" or "tormented" then why have no charges been laid? Why are there no convictions?? Where is law enforcement on all this?? 

Jason, we've been asking ourselves that, too!  EPS has liaison officers who come here regularly.  They've had meetings with us.  Members have phoned the police, either 911 or the non-emergency number, as warranted.

The result?

Pretty much nothing. 

Many members have complained that, on calling the non-emergency number, their complaints were treated dismissively.  Several of our admins have personally called the police with complaints.  For my own experience, when talking on the phone, I've had several officers express shock over what I was describing going on, and telling me that, even as part of a labour dispute, the picketers were not allowed to disrupt the neighbourhood like that.

Eventually, someone from EPS would show up and...

Nothing.

Sometimes, it took so long for them to show up, what was going on was either over, or the activities we'd called about were done.  Other times, such as when the picketers showed up on a Sunday evening and blared loud music, screamed and yelled, a squad car showed up, the music was turned down... 

... then the music got turned back up again, the noise continued, and the squad car left.

In other infractions, they fall under by-law enforcement.  Things like trespassing, illegal parking and the like.  Again, by the time the by-law enforcement shows up, it's usually over.

Sometimes, the liaison officer would talk to the picket captain and things would change, a bit.  But the harassment, abuse, intimidation and people feeling trapped in their homes as a hostile crowd hovered near the doors, would continue.

Why?

I'll address that next.

I mean one would have to imagine that if these individuals were suffering at the hands of striking workers that somehow there would be lawsuits, somehow there would be criminal charges, ongoing investigations of criminal activity wouldn't there?? 

In one of the meetings with the liaison officers, they were asked bluntly; are there two sets of laws; one for picketers, one for everyone else?

The answer was "yes."

The reason for this is that this all falls under the umbrella of "labour dispute."  Because of case law, what it basically comes down to is that activities that would get anyone else arrested, fined, or made to stop in some way, are allowed during strikes.  

Even when activities constituted criminal harassment, nothing was done by the police, because picketers in a labour dispute are allowed to criminally harass people, and their victims are supposed to just ignore it and not let it bother them.

We've also been told that, unless there's blood, they won't bother showing up.  

When there was a physical assault, two officers came by and saw the video.  They laughed it off and nothing was done.  

For other things, such as the video showing a striking SAIL employing threatening someone on a balcony, nothing was done because, even though the threat was obvious, the actual words used fell into a grey area.  That was another example where an officer, on seeing the video, laughed it off, adding in a tasteless and inappropriate joke.

Artspace members have lost a lot of faith in EPS and the justice system.

There should not be two laws, one for union picketers and one for their victims.

A lot of what's going on here is very much like domestic abuse.  I do not use that as an example lightly; many people living here know domestic abuse first hand.  We recognise it for what it is.

Abuse, intimidation and harassment can come in many forms, and I can speak from personal experience when I say that psychological abuse can be far more damaging than physical abuse.  I have experienced both.  Canadian criminal law recognises that, when it comes to abusive behaviour and criminal harassment, actions that would normally be legal and acceptable can be contributing factors of abuse.  For example, saying hi to someone by name would not normally be abusive.  Having a group of people who should know nothing about you, who behave in physically aggressive manners, shouting hi at you every time you leave your home, becomes abuse and harassment.  Especially when they have been told explicitly not to communicate with you in any way.  These are not friendly or polite greetings.  These are abusers demonstrating that they know things about you that they should not know; it's a form of intimidation and it is harassment.  Depending on how far it goes, it crosses over to psychological abuse and can be threatening, such as when they know personal details about your own life, the names of family members and where they live, birthdays or, most disturbing, the scheduled activities of your children.

A thing to keep in mind; while only a few of our members use the services of SAIL, there are other members who have disabilities, but either get self-managed care, or do not need outside care.  

Not all disabilities are visible.  Not all disabilities are physical in nature.  Not all who have health problems are disabled.  Our members fall all over the spectrum, from able bodied without any health problems, to having invisible disabilities, to having obvious physical disabilities, to everything in between.  Even among this blog's admins, we fall all over the spectrum.

Each of us are affected by AUPE's actions differently.  For many, the noise levels cause physical pain and mental anguish.  For others, it prevents them from medically required rest, which causes their condition to deteriorate.  Some have had to increase their pain medications, due to the stress.  Others have anxiety attacks, panic attacks or their PTSD is triggered.  

These are medically verifiable harms caused by the actions of AUPE picketers.  Worse, they are caused by the striking "care" staff, who have personal knowledge of the circumstances of user members - the people they, on the one hand, claim to care so much about, but on the other, say do not deserve their care, and complain about how terrible it is to care for the "fat, ugly cripples" - and AUPE imports who claim to be health care workers elsewhere.  

They should know exactly the effects their actions can potentially cause people who have vulnerable health.  They should know exactly the sort of psychological damage their actions are doing.

Yet they do it, anyways.  Gleefully, even.

In any other circumstance, there would be cause for police action.

But because its done by union members on a picket line - a picket line that itself should be illegal - the police look the other way.  Apparently, so does the labour board.  So do politicians (those that aren't actively condoning the actions).  

The police openly admit that they have never encountered a situation like ours, where a labour dispute has taken on an entire community and neighbourhood, who have nothing to do with the dispute.  

As for law suits, we are a community filled with people who are low income, living on AISH, retired and living on pensions, disabled, are single parents, etc.  Lawyers cost money that we don't have.  Legal action costs money that we don't have.  

On top of that, what lawyer is willing to take on the biggest and most powerful union in the province, which has a bottomless pit of union dues financing them, etc.?

We are a bunch of individuals affected by a huge organisation with significant resources, can act with apparent impunity, and all the money they need to fight any attempts to hold them accountable for the damage they are doing.

As for the arbitrator looking at larger institutional models, again not once in my 16yrs have I witnessed an arbitrator completely ignore local circumstances and finances in favor of a Union, I'm sorry but I'm finding that line very difficult to believe because I've never met an arbitrator that irresponsible in the entire time I've been involved in Labour Relations, full stop."

You know what?  We pretty much agree with you.  It makes no sense, and yes, it's difficult to believe.

Yet that's what's happened.

Why?  How?

We'd like to know that, too.

There are a lot of things we'd like to know.  After all, even though we have nothing to do with the labour dispute, the negotiations, etc. we, as a community, are targeted by AUPE's actions.

Jason has also asked;

"On top of that who are you speaking on behalf of?? Every resident of Artspace?? The majority of Artspace residents?? Like who??"

With over 100 adults living here, plus our neighbours who have been affected, it's impossible to speak for everyone.

Who are we speaking for?

Individual Artspace members who have no other voice.  We speak for the victims of AUPE's abuse.  We speak for ourselves, our friends, our families, our neighbours who have been harmed by AUPE's actions against our community.

How many?  I couldn't even give a number.  It keeps changing, as more and more grow frustrated over what is happening to us; many of whom fear for their own safety if they speak out.

This blog was created out of that frustration; because every place we turned to for help just turned their backs on us.

This blog was created to expose what AUPE has been doing to our community, the damage they are causing, and how they are allowed to act with apparent impunity.

This blog is our voice.

Familiar Faces: David Malka

Of all the people that have been the most abusive towards Artspace members, one has caused the most damage of all.  Not just damage to our members.  It was his behaviour, more than anyone else, that destroyed almost all support that the striking SAIL staff would have gotten from Artspace members.

The Artspace community is filled with people who fought hard for their rights.  Many members of the community are union members, staunch union supporters, or at least generally supportive of unions.

All that potential support was destroyed very quickly, and much of it can be laid at the feet of one man; the picket captain for the first month and a half, David Malka.

Right from day one, he established himself as being particularly in-your-face aggressive.  In the above photo, he's the one pushing the 4 ft easement rule already, as picketers disrupt DATS.

At first, he was known as the Red Hat Guy, due to his ever present red toque on cooler days, like in this screen cap, from video three days into the strike, where he is moving to block a security guard's ability to record activities.

It wasn't long before people came up with other names for him, like Creeper and Captain McCreepypants, due to his stalker-ish behaviour.

He spent many days sitting in a chair facing the main doors of the high rise, watching people in the lobby, with his ever-present camera, taking photos or video, while at the same time complaining if people, including security, took photos or video of him.  

 He frequently trespassed, as in this photo.

[Update with video: Oct. 25]



 He constantly had either his phone or a camera out, recording into private spaces, such as in the above photo, where he staked out the back of the high rise, watching, waiting and recording.

No one seemed to be exempt from his harassment.

He also became known as the Bullhorn guy, as day after day, he took positions around the high rise, babbling and ranting, calling people by name and verbally harassing them.




Sometimes he would threaten them.





The noise and harassment went on and on.

When he was seen urinating on the sidewalk, he gained the moniker, The Urinator.





He became most well known for his use of the air raid siren.





The sheer volume of footage we have of this guy is rather staggering.

In time, we learned his name was David Malka, but he was still more often known as the Creeper or The Urinator.

Just a few things he's known for;

• Creeping around Artspace, taking photos and video of people's private spaces.
• Getting right into people's faces and being loud and aggressive.
• Seemingly endless hours of babbling and rambling on the bull horn.
• Calling people out by name and revealing that he knew details about their personal lives.
• Targeting individuals for abuse and harassment.
• Watching people, sometimes taking notes, as they tried to go about their lives, like clean out their vehicle, crossing the street, going onto their balcony, or moving in.
• Following a man with a brain injury and PTSD as he was walking his dog, well away from Artspace, making false accusations and threatening him - that particular incident resulted in a medical event.  He then accused this man of following him.
• Following a woman as she wheeled to her job, all the way to her place of work, a couple of times.  A third time, he rigged his phone onto his backpack to record, then walked ahead of her to her place of work, then turned around and accused her of following him.
• Went after a woman with her two young girls and tried to record them, even after she repeatedly told him he did not have permission to record her children.
• When people stepped in to try and protect her and her children, he physically assaulted two of them.
• Using his personal Facebook page to continue harassing Artspace members.

Even after he was finally removed from the picket line and the police assured us he would not be back, he continued targeting the Artspace community.  He's been back here several times; he was even seen here just yesterday, taking part in a photo op.

He went after a family at a movie theatre and, while volunteering at the Folk Festival, he targeted Artspace members and made no bones about the fact that he was watching them; he also revealed his bigotry towards people with disabilities.

It's difficult to express just how much damage he has done to so many Artspace members.  There was the physical harm caused by his excessive noise, but also the psychological damage caused by his abusive behaviour.

It wasn't unusual for him to be doing these things in the presence of AUPE executives as they visited the picket line.  They clearly had no problems with what he was doing.

Because, as AUPE openly admitted, this was normal.

It's quite disturbing to think that this sort of abusive behaviour, targeting vulnerable people, is standard operating procedure for AUPE, not only here at Artspace, but at the homes of seniors and care centres.

In one of the videos above, David Malka talks about being at Waterford.

It's not the only place he's been.

Here he can be seen behind Guy Smith at Hardisty.

(Screen capture from one of AUPE's videos.)

Here he is again, this time behind Karen Weiers at the Edmonton Extendicare demonstration.

(Screen capture from one of AUPE's videos.)

We have no idea how many other communities and facilities AUPE has targeted that he's been at, nor what role he's played.  We can only know for sure that, as an AUPE organiser, he was the picket captain here at Artspace for about 1 1/2 months, and continues to be involved as he comes here to join in the siege against Artspace, and continues to post comments targeting SAIL and Artspace, and Artspace members on his Facebook page.

I think one of the most disturbing things about David Malka is the sheer pleasure he obviously took in causing hurt to people.

Having David Malka in charge here in Artspace was one of AUPE's biggest mistakes.  His actions have caused incredible levels of harm, not only to the health and well being of Artspace members, but to the people's views of AUPE.

Video of the Day: extended views

AUPE had long denied there was ever anything untoward going on here at Artspace and demanded proof to the contrary.

When a montage of security footage was shown to them by a City TV reporter, they said nothing.  Officially, they later took the attitude of some moral high ground, refusing to stoop to the level of responding.  In other areas, however, they dismissed the footage because it was "old."  As if that changed anything?

Part of that footage involved a striking SAIL employee yelling up at one of her former co-workers, blaming her for identifying her by name, then threatening her over it.

That was only a small amount of footage of this event.

The originally released footage was from a camera on a tripod inside the high rise, so things were not heard very clearly.

It turns out there was another camera, outside, and while it faced in another direction, everything is heard clearly.

Both views are included in this extended footage, with details added.

Video of the Day: the level of harassment

This video was particularly difficult to process.

Taken in the morning of June 13, it starts with AUPE organiser, David Malka, talking to an as-yet unidentified man about their plans for Artspace on Father's Day, including bringing out bagpipes, setting up a stage, and plans to vandalise our garden bed and turn it into a sort of fishing pond for kids.

Because that's the sort of thing they think is okay to teach kids, I guess.

It's later on, however, that things start getting stomach churning.



One of our members, who is both on the SAIL board and a SAIL user member, is spotted on her balcony.  David Malka, the man beside him, then later joined by Deb Arcand, verbally harass her.  They call her heartless, insult her looks, and even accuse her of physically abusing care workers.

These are the people who are saying all they want for the SAIL staff that walked off the job is "dignity" and "respect" (which, apparently, can only be shown through money).

They're so casual about it, too.

For them to be able to do this, they are the ones who have to be both heartless and soulless.

Normal, sane people don't do crap like this.

Video of the Day: the screaming banshees.

Today's video of the day took place almost immediately after the video featured yesterday.

This one involved SAIL staffers, Wiltah and Marga, yelling and shrieking as they verbally harass one of their former co-workers, who is coming to work to provide Self Managed Care for a non-SAIL using member.



The creepy part starts at around 2:30, when AUPE negotiator, Kevin Davediuk, starts yelling out to her, "thanks for giving us your address."

So he's basically saying, "we know where you live" in an obvious attempt at intimidation.

From AUPE's negotiator.

Aimed at someone whom he should have nothing to do with at all.

She's not a union member.

It turns out it's actually quite easy to leave a union.  All you have to do is fill out some paperwork and send it in.

So what he's also doing is confirming that not only did AUPE receive the form, but that he knows about it,

...and her private information that was on it.

...and is using that information to try and intimidate her.

Remember; this is the guy SAIL is supposed to negotiate a collective agreement with.

A collective agreement for the women that are screaming like banshees as they harass a former co-worker, and the other former co-workers looking on.

This?

This is an example of why SAIL users didn't want the staff back, and why a lock-out was filed for.

Imagine, for a moment, that you need home care.  Imagine being a wheelchair user who needs help transferring between bed and chair.  Or needing help taking a shower.  Or eat a meal.  Or even just needing a few minutes help putting on pressure socks, or rubbing lotion on your feet as part of diabetic care.

Now imagine that these women are the ones who might be providing that care.

That's the stuff of nightmares.

Video of the Day: dangerous actions

One of the things AUPE and their picketers do a lot is accuse Artspace members of abusing the picketers and trying to harm them.  Typically, someone in Artspace would describe how the picketers have been harassing, intimidating, threatening, etc. our members, and some spokesperson from AUPE would go, "oh, no, no, no!  We're just the most peaceful people ever!  It's the people in Artspace that have been [fill in the blank] our poor, hapless picketers!  We're not bullies, Artspace members are!"

And the drones would diligently nod their heads, repeat the lies, but make no effort to verify the truth.

Yeah.

Here we have more proof to the contrary.



This video was taken early on June 12, 2014.  The location is at the Northeast side of the high rise.  As described in this post, this is on Artspace private property.  The property line extends into the paved lane.

The video is just over 14 minutes long, but I do not know when they actually started to block the car, so we don't currently know just how much longer the person had been blocked.

The man in the car is an Artspace board member.  He's also the Artspace board representative to the SAIL board, so while he's not on the SAIL board, he's had the misfortune of having to attend the farcical negotiation process with AUPE.

The three women in front are among the few SAIL staff that bother to show up on the picket line, and one of them - the one on the far left - is not one of the regulars. She has another job elsewhere.

The man at the driver's side window is someone we've seen pretty consistently out here, and he is pretty much universally held in disgust for his actions on the picket line, but we had no idea who he was or what connection he had to anything.

Thanks to David Eggen, now we know his name is Jaime Urbina, and what he is.

Young Activist Committee?

So, this guy is some sort of mentor for youth?

Wow.

[Update: Oct. 25 - according to AUPE's documents for their annual convention, this committee is aimed at members aged 30 and under.]

Watch the video right to the end, where you can see him deliberately running in front of a moving vehicle, going out of his way to try and get himself hit.  The picketers, of course, blame the driver, not the idiot jumping in front of a moving vehicle.

He's also with David Eggen and Deb Arcand, posing for a photo on David Malka's Facebook page.

After the fiasco last month, David Eggen apparently went into damage control and tried to claim various things to excuse what he did, but the reality is (as can be seen on his endorsement page), he's quite thoroughly in bed with several people who have been key players in the siege against Artspace members.

Which brings me to the other guy at the car, David Malka.  He was the picket line captain for almost 2 months, and one of the most aggressive and abusive people there.  This is the guy who earned the nicknames Captain McCreepypants, Creeper and The Urinator.  Though no longer on the picket line, he continues to harass Artspace members and creep on them, including while volunteering at the Folk Festival, movie theatres and his personal Facebook page, along with AUPE's fake lawyer, William Rigutto, aka Avocatzo.

What's particularly of note is the guy in the blue shirt who wanders in and out of the video and takes part in the verbal abuse of our board member, which explains why I used the term "farcical" to describe the negotiation process.

That's Kevin Davediuk, the AUPE negotiator, oft quoted by the media.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The AUPE negotiator - the guy SAIL is supposed to be able to work out a collective agreement with - is here at Artspace, taking part in trespassing, excessive blocking and verbal harassment of an Artspace board member and board representative to SAIL.

Let's try and put this into a  first person perspective.

Imagine you have to privately talk to some people to work out a deal of some kind.

The other side is demanding things you can't give them, refuses to compromise, and no deal is reached.

So one of the people you've been talking to shows up at your home, in your driveway, along with a bunch of other aggressive people, traps you in your vehicle, watches while you are verbally harassed and abused for more than 15 minutes, and even takes part in the abuse.

Question:

Do you think this is someone you can go back to the table with and have a civil discussion?

Do you think you'd be able to work out any kind of deal with this person?

Do you think this is a person who could ever negotiate in good faith?

Yet this is the person that SAIL is supposed to negotiate a collective agreement with.




Updated with more video, Oct. 25.

Video of the Day: the Air Raid Siren

Clips of the air raid siren being used were seen in the security video montage, previously.

Here is the extended version.





This took place in the morning of June 11, after the strike/lockout had been going on for more than a month, with the full approval of AUPE.

Aside from the use of the siren, the secondary argument involving the woman with the long red hair is quite the thing.  Towards the end, she even suggests that, to get rid of AUPE picketing our home and doing stuff like this, we should evict the SAIL board.

Wow.

There has been confusion about just how often the air raid siren had been used.  Still working on that.  Part of the problem is that people seem to have mistaken one of the sound effects on the bull horn for the air raid siren.

Which goes to show how disruptive the use of the bull horn was, too.

Shoveling it.

Fascinating to watch AUPE's drones, playing to their tune, trying to defame and cast blame for what's going on here on everyone but the ones truly responsible; themselves.

Today, the "quiet" picket line was loud enough to disturb people half way down the street.  Artspace members who have been traumatised all these months get to hear their abusers laughing and chattering outside.  Anyone who has survived an abuse situation - especially psychological abuse - knows how damaging just knowing they are out there can be.

It's not really any better, no matter how good of a light they try to play on it.

Looks like saysandra is another of their Newspeak propagandists.  She's been posting about us on her twitter a fair bit.

Yeah, because interfering with the vital care for disabled people and the elderly is SO much fun, we need to dance!

Oh, wait... it's "something to do."  So... they're bored of hassling people?  Well, they can always leave if they're bored.  They won't get paid if they do that, though.

Of course, we have pictures, too.  Like this one of the woman with the pony tail.

Except here, she's trespassing in someones parking spot, smoking.

I do believe the police had quite a chat with the picketers after getting this photo, as it was also the last day they set their tripod up in our pee patch.

Yeah, because inconveniencing more than 100 people by disrupting essential services is all part of wonderful an unwritten code.

Or, as one member put it, maybe it means the garbage truck drivers don't want to deal with people who think it's fun to harass people and traumatise the vulnerable.

Oh, and BTW...

Crossing a Picket Line

Non-striking employees and their union(s) may be reluctant to cross a picket line. There are no provisions in the Labour Relations Code that allow non-striking employees to refuse to cross a picket line. Unionized employees who refuse to cross the picket line may be participating in an illegal strike. See: [ Illegal Strikes & Lockouts, Chapter 30(e)]. Both unionized and non-unionized employees who refuse to cross the picket line may be subject to employer discipline.

She also posted this photo.

Holy smokes!  It's a better photo than the other one that went up, and now it looks even more like vomit.

What an insult to German cooking.

Oh, wait.  She only "claims" it's German.  Because the cook is Filipino.

Right.  The cook being Filipino has something to do with it.

Or...

... uh ...

Whatever.

The twitter feed that's supposedly run by the picketing SAIL staff, meanwhile, had this photo of the Labour Day potluck that they held at our home.

Love how they are using our raised bed garden as an extension of their table.  They treat that thing like they own it.

Y'know, if you're doing to demand respect, maybe you should at least show some respect for what belongs to other people.

Just sayin'

Then there's this one, posted this morning.

It was time stamped 4:42am.

That's right.  It seems that someone was out here, already picketing our home, at 4 friggin' 42 in the morning.

What the heck for?

Then they tried to slag our replacement workers.

There's one sliiiiight problem with this.

The high rise doesn't have a back lawn (and the back of the townhouses is gated for security).

There is an empty lot, there.  It's private property, but the owners are, I believe, a company and are not in Edmonton.  

Which means it is generally untended, overgrown and often used by the homeless in the community, who set up camps under the trees and in the tall grass.  Other people have used it to deal or use drugs, and sometimes as a toilet.  Sadly, it has also been the site of a vicious assault not too long ago.  Not a good area.

Yesterday, someone (probably from the City) came by with a tractor and mowed it severely short.

That's where this picture was taken.

So for them to insinuate that 1) this was part of our "back lawn" is dishonest and then 2) disparage the replacement workers by suggesting the gloves came from them is pretty obnoxious and petty.  They even claimed to have witnessed "used gloves being thrown in a recycling bin, unbagged."

Yeah, they're shovelling it hard.

Posted right under the photo above, it makes it sound like they saw replacement workers tossing used gloves improperly - you know, those gloves that apparently SAIL doesn't provide in the first place.  Of course, they don't actually say what kind of gloves and who disposed of them.  In fact, I would like to know just what recycling bin they are talking about.  We have a big bin inside the garbage room, which they might be able to see if the door were open.

And since they had three people staked out in the back of the high rise, watching people's doors, windows and balconies, with one of them having a camera, it's possible that they were able to look down the hallway and see someone putting gloves in the bin.

However, if that were the bin they are talking about, they would also know that it's currently too full for anyone to have been able to add anything more to it.

Any other bins would be indoors, which they can't see.

So what are they talking about?

There's one fact they will never be able to get away from.

The replacement workers have been doing a MUCH better job than the picketing SAIL staff had been doing for at least 10 years.  These are a fantastic bunch of people, who not only put up with abuse, harassment and stalking, but still manage to have a fantastic attitude while providing superior care.

And to think... if the SAIL staff hadn't decided to walk off the job, many of our user members would not have realized just how bad their care had been.

Plus, now that they've seen the true colours of the picketing SAIL staff, they appreciate care workers who truly do care, are good at their jobs, and appreciate having such easy work, that much more.

Oh, and yeah.  As mentioned above...

At one point, they had three people watching the back of the high rise today.  They had camp chairs set up on the sidewalk at the end of the cul de sac on 94th, and one of them had a camera.

Just imagine looking out your window, right now, and seeing three creepers sitting there, watching you, and taking pictures or video.

That's what we at Artspace still have to live with, at this oh-so-quiet picket line.  That and they still verbally harass certain individuals as they go by, while sucking up to others.

And to think... AUPE is paying them to do this.

Union dues, hard at work!

Meanwhile, the picketers were heard to talk about how they're looking forward to tomorrow.

It seems they have something planned for us.

Because, remember, Kids!

It's FUN to terrorise a community.  Especially if you can get paid to do it, too!

Dearest AUPE: A letter

This was sent in to us to post:

Dearest AUPE

You continuously scold me for not following the “rules”! You tell me that you will hold me up longer because I’m not “playing by the rules”. You accuse me of doing something illegal (she knows who she is) that I don’t (I have video footage, every time she sees me she repeats it).

Riddle me this AUPE. Where does it say in your “RULES” that it is okay to drop the “N bomb” 4 or 5 times?

Where is it written that children are encouraged to participate in the chant “hey ho scabs have got to go”? Or call someone garbage repeatedly?

Where is it written in your “rules” that you are allowed to shout accusations (in front of everyone including my children) when you have no idea who I am or what I do?

These kids have no idea what or why they are doing this but you have encouraged it! Is this proper parenting? You all ought to be ASHAMED of yourselves! I’ll bet, all that you have taught them will surely be carried into the playgrounds!

Signed
Sick and disgusted by the foul foul mouths that Union fees pay for

The letter refers to these events, early in the strike.