Letters: sent to Rachel Notley

One of the things we get asked often is whether Artspace members have written to this or that politician or person in authority.

The short answer is: we have.

Quite a lot of people, including supporters who do not live in Artspace, have written.

Here is one letter we have permission to post.  It was written on June 17 and sent to Rachel Notley.

The sender has never received a response.

To Whom It May Concern,
[personal information withheld by request]
As you may know there is a very bitter AUPE strike taking place in front of Artspace. Attached is a history of the strike.

I was at Artspace this afternoon when I witnessed and heard a most unsettling event between David M. Malka, who is a very, very vocal person on the AUPE picket line at Artspace, and an 86 year old person who lives at Artspace. The name of this person is[name] and she was the former Executive Director for Grant Notley, who was of course Rachel Notley's father.

During this encounter, David Malka was being interviewed by some people who work for Edmonton Transit. I believe it was about a matter to do with threats Mr. Malka is making about forbidding DATS buses to stop at Artspace.

[name] was outside sitting in the sun, watching the proceedings along with three other women, including me. Mr. Malka began filming us. One of [name]'s friends told Mr. Malka she did not want to be videotaped or have her photo taken. She kept insisting on this. [name] repeated to Mr. Malka that no one wanted to be filmed.

I escorted the woman who was asking not to be filmed, (as she pushed her walker) to the end of the block, while shielding her face so Mr. Malka could not film her. He takes photos and films everything at Artspace.

When I went back to Artspace Mr. Malka was calling out to [name] "[name], Grant Notley would be so ashamed of you." I escorted [name] into the apartment. She was feeling unwell, as was I, after this unsettling encounter.

I watch Mr. Malka insult residents day in and day out. I watch him and hear him screaming on his bull horn and megaphone. The police are called to Artspace on a regular basis. The President of SAIL has a huge binder of complaints against SAIL picketers from people who live at Artspace, many, many of them from people who do not even use the services of SAIL. In a post on the AUPE Facebook page communications officer Mark Wells has acknowledged that the AUPE have read hate literature to the replacement workers (see poem attached "Ode to a Scab").

Where does the NDP stand on the strike at Artspace? Will Rachel do anything to help the users of SAIL and the others who live at Artspace and the surrounding community? Will Rachel do anything to stop the harassment against [name]... a woman who speaks so highly of Rachel's father?

I am a card carrying NDP member and send the party hundreds of dollars every year. I am very disappointed that the NDP has been silent on this issue.

I do hope someone gets back to me on this matter as soon as possible. [personal information withheld]

Politicians, of course, don't want to get involved in labour disputes - unless it's to walk the picket lines and make speeches.  Has anyone ever heard of a politician come forward in support of the employer?  I sure haven't.

In our case, there is little politicians can do directly.  They can't tell either side what to do.  Where politicians can get involved is at another level.

SAIL is funded by AHS, and that funding pays for the care workers.  They may want to pay more and provide a benefits package, but there's only so much money, and no other source of income.  This is why SAIL can't meet the excessive demands from AUPE.

People have said that AUPE should be picketing AHS, not SAIL.  I don't know that that will fix anything, either.  AHS has their own limits on how much money goes where.  

Which means that, ultimately, it becomes a political issue since the money AHS gets is from the provincial budget.

Which doesn't help us at all, right now.

AHS can't arbitrarily increase funding, SAIL doesn't have the money to meet AUPE demands, and we're stuck with AUPE picketers outside our home over something none of us have any control over.