Sent by an Artspace member on May 11, 2014
Re: strike in front of private home - SAIL/AUPE - Artspace
On the fifth day of this strike action, I felt the need to communicate to you how this has affected my living in my home, Artspace. I am a member in the co-op and I have lived in the highrise since it opened in November 1990. I appreciate that unions (AUPE in this situation) have the right to strike and that individuals taking action are doing so for a variety of reasons and desired outcomes.
However, I feel it is a unique situation with a union striking, with all their loud noises, name calling, insults, verbal propagandas and so farth, at MY front door of my home. I suggested that they are 'professional, paid bullies.'
As you know, our home consists of around [numbers of adults and children left out for privacy]. It is a home with diversity; in age, in gender, in race, in income, in abilities. These people are some of the best people anywhere. I am proud of our home and the unique nature of being a co-operative.
A person's home should be their sanctuary. Our home is supposed to be 'our safe place to land' after working, volunteering, going to school or just living the day-to-day business of life. As members, we have chosen the co-operative lifestyle (values) for a reason. Everything about the strike imposes/intrudes/disallows our home to continue to be enjoyed as any citizen should ahve the right but even further as a co-operative housing home.
Everything about LIVING is affected by the strike action. My sleep is affected. I feel agitated that I cannot go outside without the threat of being talked to or videotaped. The tension is palpable. Today, I was videotaped by a striker with his cell phone as I stood on my own [#] floor balcony. I cannot even enjoy the spring weather on my balcony. When the noise starts, (someone brings their car down the street and honks excessively as the crowd of strikers cheers) I have to close my windows. Again, I cannot enjoy the beautiful spring day after the long winter we have had. Even for a walk outside I feel vulnerable and I am not prepared to take the name calling and threats that I have seen others endure. I am being deprived of some basic home activities due to the action.
Another anomaly with having a strike at a residence, the Canada Postal Service will not cross any picket line. No mail. For 87 units (homes) for SAIL and for our co-op office. Apparently our mail is rerouted but no one I have talked to has found the location. One resident is waiting for her Driver's Licence and is very distressed about it being lost or stolen before she can find the place. We will also need to find alternative mail box sites to mail outgoing mail.
Update: The mail was being held at a new distribution centre that no one knew the location of. It was found on Google maps and that information, with a photo, was put up. However, the photo predated the new facilities that now exist, showing instead an old, skeevy looking building with boarded up windows.
Though the building turned out to be new, the area itself remains questionable. It is also inaccessible to members who do not have their own transportation, as it is too far to walk, even for the able-bodied, and there is no viable public transportation.
Around mid June or so (no one is quite sure when) the mail started to be delivered again. I believe there was a change in route and the mail went from being delivered at around 2 or 3pm to between 11am and noon. The picketers leave from 10am - 2pm. I happened to talk to the mail carrier while signing for a delivery and he expressed curiosity about not seeing the picketers anymore. I told him about their 4 hour lunch break. He then revealed that he had been bothered by them during previous attempts to deliver the mail, and expressed pleasure that the picketers were not around.
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