Effects of the strike - incident report

An incident report from one of our members.

Subject: Documentation June 9 - after mediation failed

Monday, June 9 was spent mostly listening to the ‘red hat guy’ who found his bull horn and brought it to the picket line. Between 1 pm and 4:45 he went around the building announcing that the ‘strike protocols would end at 4:45 p.m.’ Along the way he harassed the replacement staff outside their door, accused them of not having the appropriate credentials, gave a countdown to 4:45 every 5-10 minutes. At approximately 4:15 he called out ‘to the lady on the fourth floor’ that she (a senior 87 years old) better leave her apartment before the protocols end. I believe she will be sending in her account of this. The ‘red hat guy’ also was telling people they better put out their Canadian flag. Not sure on why. He also said something about ‘Normandy’ and given the recent events of remembrance around the ‘storming of Normandy’ this again appeared to be another threat.

I had tried several times on this day to contact a police officer who was supposed to be assigned to this particular strike. It was determined he was not at work today.

I spoke briefly to con. J___ A___ who basically said they have the right to strike and as far as it being ‘peaceful’ , he indicated the police would only come if there ‘was blood’. He advised me that the security people would be responsible for calling police if warranted. He was hesitant in giving me his phone number and would not provide the contact numbers for the other officer assigned to our file 

Others have reported calling the Police including the above mentioned lady who received a different advice (to document and get a court order for the protest to stop).

After almost 4 hours of constant noise, he and the other picketers left at 4:45 p.m.

One of the things Artspace has done to try and help members is distribute free earplugs.  A supply is kept in the high rise lobby and replenished as needed.