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: 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.

In case people were wondering...

... if things had gotten any better.

Last week, the picketers were heard to talk about how much they were looking forward to Thursday - something their new propagandist somehow neglected to mentioned - because they somehow found out that Wednesday was the last day we would have security.

In typical Newspeak fashion, this is how they posted about it.

No, the security staff wasn't "removed" from Artspace (notice they're not even pretending that this is about SAIL anymore).  AUPE may have a bottomless pit of money to pay people stand around our homes all day, but we don't.  The money ran out.  Plain and simple.

That does not mean we don't have security, however.  We just don't have security guards on site.

So have have things been without security guards?

Since then, the picketers have been showing up early, seen around our home by 5:30 am.  They had quite a crowd that first day with the guards gone.  They even brought their kids out again, one of whom almost ran into the street while one of our members tried to drive by.

Then most of them left, leaving only 4 or 5 picketers to hang around for the afternoon.





The let their kids do chalk drawings on the sidewalk and play hopscotch.

You can see in this photo taken in the evening, where they were allowed to play.


















This view is rather more telling.

That's right.  They let their kids play in front of the parking lot entrances.

Which tend to be very busy.

Or, as one member put it...

They used their own children as human shields.

It's not like there was no place else for them to do so.  There was plenty of other sidewalk.

Not that children should be on the picket line at all, to begin with, but they've never had a problem with using their own children as props.  Scores more sympathy points.

I wonder if the kids where there to watch as 4 picketers surrounded and kept a replacement worker trapped for 20 minutes.  The worker was allowed to go only when another worker found out about it and was able to come out as an escort.

Over the next while, it's been a strange mix of them being here and making noise, to disappearing, to only a few being around.  

Mostly, they seem to be performing for their new friend, saysandra, who turns out to not be an impartial investigator at all, but is actively playing it up for AUPE, tweeting about how boring the picket line is, and posting more misinformation.  

This morning, the picketers showed up around 5:20 am, but were gone before 7:30.

Between 5:30 and 6am, they physically assaulted a replacement worker, who was grabbed by their umbrella and spun around.

Update Sept. 9: security video cannot confirm the above incident; while the replacement worker certainly feels that her umbrella was grabbed, it is possible they touched it but it cannot be confirmed that they grabbed it.  The incident still left the replacement worker shaken.

Somehow, I don't think saysandra was there to witness this [added: potential] assault.

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.

A Thank You

Yesterday was Labour Day, and a day when AUPE scheduled another party at our home.  A potluck, this time.  Because, apparently, they still think our home is theirs to use however they wish.

Today, we would like to say Thank You to all those AUPE members who DIDN'T show up.

Thank you for respecting our home and our community.

Thank you for not adding to the stress and anxiety of our members who are already struggling to cope with the damage AUPE's actions have done to their health.

As for those few that did show up, then proudly posted their picture online...

Every single adult in this photo (and the person behind the camera) should be ashamed of themselves.

Especially the care workers; the people who claim to care so much about our user members, but have done nothing but abuse, harass and harm them for months.

And especially those who brought their kids.  To bring your own child to take part in the invasion of our home and add to the damage already done is disgusting.

That you are all so happy and proud of yourselves speaks a great deal of how utterly detached from simple human kindness and respect you are.  The picketers have spent months yelling out "shame" and demanding respect.  Nope.  You do not deserve any respect, and you are the ones who should be ashamed.

During a conversation with an Artspace member, wondering just how anyone could do the things they do, from harassing the disabled, to bringing their own children to the picket line, this observation was made.

They are a blockade of domestic abusers that have an outlet now.  The kind of people who hurt people weaker than themselves do not limit it to only one facet of life.  People who are okay with abusing the disabled would not care about their own children.

An interesting point, and one that has been made before, here and in conversation, about how much what is being done to us is like domestic abuse - and there are enough members who are survivors of domestic abuse to recognize it for what it is.

I once again say, to those who did NOT show up yesterday, thank you for not being part of this.

Video of the Day: children on the picket line

Security video of picketers with children on the line.  One is seen going into the pee patch, and both are later heard actively participating in the harassment of replacement workers, with the encouragement of the adults.

Part of the second clip is seen from a different angle here.

So Proud of what they are doing.

AUPE is so proud of their Saturday invasion of our street and homes, they tweeted a group photo.

Remember, every single one of those people simply showed up in our neighbourhood for a street party.

At our private homes.

Without our permission.

Again.

Then they had the nerve to claim it was all quiet and peaceful, while our own members were assaulted by the noise and felt trapped in their homes.

A question for all those people in the picture.

How many of you have any idea that this community has members who were harmed by your actions?

How many of you care that your sudden invasion of our community lead to anxiety attacks, increased pain and stress?

How many of you realise that people were medically harmed by the noise levels outside their homes?

How many of you would like it if a sudden crowd of loud, boisterous people - some of whom have harassed, intimidated and threatened you and/or your neighbours, for months - showed up outside your door, screaming, yelling, chanting, singing, playing loud music and having a big ole party, taking pleasure in the pain and discomfort they were causing you and your family?

Because that's what you were doing.

Maybe you thought this was some great party; all rah-rah, solidarity and sticking it to the man.

Well, this is who you invaded.  This is who you targeted.  This is who you hurt.  These are the big bad union busters AUPE claims is trying to take them down.

Congratulations, AUPE and supporters who invaded our homes on Saturday.

You've contributed to AUPE's bullying and abuse of an entire neighbourhood.

You even brought your kids along to take part.

AUPE picketers like to scream out "shame" at us, here in Artspace.

The people who really ought to be ashamed wear the faces you see in the mirror.

AUPE still faking it (updated)

It's been brought to our attention just what AUPE is doing with their camera in the pee patch.  They've been posting long, boring videos of the "peaceful" picket line.

Just out of curiosity, AUPE.  Do you really think people are that stupid?  Of course the picketers would be on their best behaviour in front of your own cameras.  We all know it's staged.

I must admit, the one with the poor kid, seen several times before on the picket line, playing around the pee patch was disheartening.

Funny.  Aside from the photo proudly displayed on the AUPE Facebook page, I don't see the shots of them trespassing, like this one from yesterday.

Or this one from this morning.

I wonder just what is going to be shown about the incident this evening - they certainly had their cameras out, but given the circumstances, it would be very bad for their image to show how they, once again on private property, terrorized a woman and her dog.

The woman in question is a replacement worker, but she wasn't here to work.  She was here to visit.

The picketers have been trying to get her for some time; another one of the people they have targeted for extra abuse.

Here are screen caps of a text conversation between herself and an friend while it was happening (name blurred out for privacy).

These "peaceful" picketers lay in wait for this woman, surrounded her and threatened to smash her windows.  Note the time stamp on the texts.

Artspace members came to take her dog, who was so traumatized that she urinated all over the people who tried to help her.  While the dog was rescued from the hot van, the woman could not leave.

Another member tried to talk to them and, in typical fashion with the picketers, it turned into a shouting match.

We at Artspace, on the other hand, are experiencing something far, far different from the bland image AUPE is trying to portray.

The fact remains, AUPE, that you are picketing our homes.

You are still invading our community.

You are terrorizing our visitors.

You are even abusing people's dogs - and the children of your picketers are brought over and left to play in their urine.

So go ahead, AUPE.  Post your boring, staged videos and pretend that people are too stupid to know better.  Go ahead and try and manipulate the public and try and hide what's really going on.

The truth will always come out.

Update: After talking to other witnesses, we learned another sickening detail.
When someone came to get the dog from the van, the picketers actually commented and laughed about the dog getting sick from the heat in the van.
They took pleasure in the fact that a dog was becoming ill from the heat.
They continued to keep a woman trapped in that same heat.
Their actions could have resulted in serious injury or death, to both an animal and a human.

Peaceful, is it?

AUPE has been insisting that their picketers here at Artspace have been peaceful.  

AUPE claims that it's been the picketers that are the victims, and Artspace members are the abusers.

AUPE dismisses problems on the picket line as being old, as if that somehow makes it okay.

AUPE does not acknowledge that incidents continue.

Including today.

This was sent in by Jody, the woman in the security video montage seen being mobbed and harassed.

Bringing my 5 year old son Chance home from surgery today...he was crying, in pain, and confused. And as a mother I was incapable of changing it.

Needless to say it was a long drive home...the only place he wanted to be. Chance loves the comfort of his home you see. The couch were he cuddles in to settle and recover.

And as I look over to the tiny teardrop rolling down his innocent cheek, as he fades back into sedation. I feel the strength of a thousand protective lionesses.

Earlier as we attempted to enter our driveway, I am antagonized yet again by AUPE picketers. The same girl that dances in front of my vehicle, displaying her sly taunting smile. As though she has something on me. As though I have done something wrong.

Well let it be known...I am a childhood sexual abuse survivor...I have been beaten, raped, abused in unmentionable ways. I have the spirit of a warrior and like those lioness I will protect and defend what's close to my heart. I am not easily broken.

From the beginning this strike has created unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach...because it feels so familiar and something I have refused to tolerate in my life one second more..ABUSE.
When I witnessed Dave Malka physically assault my neighbor twice.... When the strikers psychologically abused my son yelling to him "your mommy is bad, very bad". When my picture has been plastered all over the internet stating I'm antiunion. When I was threatened to be sent to jail for refusing literature. When they antagonize and yell to my balcony " when are you taking Chance to T-ball Jody?" Because they have violated our privacy by reading his schedule through the window while holding our car up for half an hour.

Over and over and over... ABUSE. Abuse in its many forms...physical, psychological and emotional.

And so here I am...attempting to care for my little boy. To bring him home to our "safe place" to be nurtured and heal. Nothing out of the ordinary... A privilege most reading this take for granted.

And when I tell them to "Fuck off" I'm told I'm not nice. Conclusion accurate dear Watson.

This question repeats in my mind..."How AUPE have you benefited your cause?"

I am strong beyond measure. Carry on with your antics...dance while slyly smiling. Pretend you are fighting through something monumental. My journey far exceeds anything you may ever perceive. Your abuse is insignificant in the overall picture in so many of our lives...and one day this will all end.

Until then hear me roar...I will not be passively silent!

Artspace Strong.

Street Theatre

It took a while, but some security footage of has been divided up into shorter segments.

These go back to a particularly active day of picketing, August 2nd, where a whole crowd was brought in, with a bunch of them engaging in some of the most transparent piece of street theatre around.  They spent hours making all sorts of accusations about SAIL and... well, you'll just have to see for yourself.

Go ahead and try your hand at Abuser Tactics Bingo, while you're at it.

You might want to grab a beverage and a snack and settle in.

Maybe something with a high alcohol content.

Another open letter to all the picketers – especially the parents

Children

From the beginning of this union unrest, the strikers had their plan for their activities as if we were in a business area. Foul language, bullying, accusations, yelling, noise, and stating horrible things. In a normal strike, businesses are picketed in front of, and people could choose to go to that business or not. Parents with children could avoid the area.

You are not in a business area.

You are at our home.

We are not a seniors’ complex; there generally aren't kids there – usually only as visitor for a short period and then they go home. Or the parents choose not to bring them on their visits.

We are not an assisted living facility. Again, you don’t see much kids around.

This is our home. We have seniors, people with disabilities, people without disabilities and guess what? WE HAVE KIDS HERE. We have families here. At several points we have had up to four generations of a family here. An intentional community. And we choose to have children here.

But you continue to picket with your awful bag of union tactics. As adults we don’t understand why you are so abusive, yell, bully, insult, taunt… So if as adults we can’t make sense of the abuse, what about the kids? And our children can’t choose to go somewhere else.

And kids are watching.

Our kids.

Our neighbours' kids.

Our kids were also approached to be given AUPE literature and lured to the AUPE van by the promise of ice cream. So our parents pulled their children inside. We encouraged them to play outside when the strikers were gone. But during your 10:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. break – you really weren't gone. We know one person was left back in a car with tinted windows to continue to document and this made our kids feel creepy. So this summer for our kids hasn't been a very good one. Great summer weather but intimidation always looming.

Children.

On the picket line.

Participating on the picket line.

Surrounding a vehicle while at the back of the vehicle (you remember where the exhaust comes out?) a parent holds the hands of two preschool children to participate in surrounding and detaining the car. They don’t have a choice in being there or not.

I called Child Abuse Hot-line. They said it is not abuse. I spoke with a police officer who said parents can choose to have their children involved on picket lines, demonstrations, rallies and so forth. The police will not intervene to protect your children. No one will. We tried. 

So if you bring your child(ren) to the picket line, in an environment that seems to be getting more and more hostile, we cannot in any way ensure that your children are safe. They are witnessing foul language, bullying, accusations, yelling, and hearing horrible things said about other people.

Parents: you are responsible for keeping your kids safe. 

You chose to bring them on the picket line. 

You will be held responsible for their actions (such damaging Co-op property – especially when you encourage them to do so – such as picking flowers from our garden/causing damage.) 

You are choosing to bring children to the picket line – knowing full well of the risks. 

You are responsible if they fall down and get hurt. 

You are responsible for them hearing and seeing what happens on a picket line – the good, the bad, the ugly. 

You are responsible for any psychological damage due to what your children see and hear and are forced to  participate in. 

You are responsible if they have hearing loss, stress, misbehaviour at home and so forth. Consequences of your actions as parents.

Your choice.

Photo Op

Today started off with the usual AUPE picketer behaviour; blocking the security vehicle from coming in for an inordinate length of time; first just a few of them shortly after 7 am, then a larger group of them past 9am.  Mostly AUPE imports; only 2 of the striking care staff were seen at all today.  Their blocking the security vehicle has led to at least one member recently being for to miss DATS four times.

For those who don't know about how DATS works, trips have to be prearranged well in advance.  Many of our members need to book DATS to get to medical appointments.  If they miss their pick up, it can be days before new arrangements can be made.  This is not a minor inconvenience, but actions that have potentially drastic consequences.  

There was the usual 4 hour lunch break.  Then, this afternoon, there was a sudden influx of AUPE members in for a photo shoot.  None of them were the actual striking care staff.  They were pointing at the banners and making Charlie's Angels poses for the camera.  I figure we can expect a new, slick, expensive media campaign from the AUPE Goliath, once again trying to portray themselves as David; innocent victims of Big Bad Artspace.  Or will they blame SAIL?  They don't seem to be able to tell the difference between the two.

Towards the end of their day, a child was once again seen on the picket line.  He's been here before.  Poor kid looks bored out of his skull, hanging out with the Hive Cluster.

I am not alone in wondering just what they think they are accomplishing by doing this stuff.  Besides alienating people that would actually have supported them, had they behaved like decent human beings from the beginning, that is.  How utterly pointless, that they resort to harassing people who have nothing to do with what they are picketing for, and even those that do have no say or control.  They waste hour after hour of their lives, picketing our homes, aiming their barbs at people who could have been allies.

It's rather sad and pathetic, really.  

What's up?

Things have been quiet on the blog for the past few days, though not quiet at Artspace, where AUPE continues to picket our home.

Sadly, we grieve the sudden loss of a long time member.  On being asked to leave out of respect for his widow (one of several members they have targeted for extra abuse), friends and former neighbours, they refused.  They were blocking the security vehicle with replacement workers when they were told. It seems they felt moving away from blocking the vehicle was enough.  And they call SAIL board members heartless?

The Urinator was back.  This makes the second time that I know of that, after being told by the Edmonton Police that he would not return, he has been back at Artspace.  The police came and they were highly unimpressed.  Despite the fact that he's not supposed to be here, he blocked the vehicle of one of our members; someone he openly targets both here and on his personal Facebook page. She lives here, but he tries to make her out as a nurse who works here, crossing the picket line, turning her into an open target for online bullying and retaliatory behaviour.  That her young son is often with her doesn't stop him from trying to terrorise her.  But then, it's always been open season on children from them.  Considering they have no problem dragging their own kids to sit around for hours, watching their mothers and other picketers verbally assault and harass an entire neighbourhood, even encouraging them to partake, I suppose we can't expect anything different.

At one point, some AUPE bigwigs showed up to read some of the banners Artspace members have put on their balconies and in their windows.  One of them, on reading a sign that said "Human Rights Before Union Rights" was heard to claim that SAIL is oppressing immigrant women.  Funny, we've got quite a few immigrant women who are members of Artspace, and they seem quite capable of finding themselves jobs without AUPE there to tell them how incapable they are without them.  Let's not forget how those poor, oppressed care staff have been able to do things like leave for Jamaica for 2 months, or Ghana for 3 months, and still have jobs to come back to.  So oppressive, that SAIL user members and their supporters fought to save their jobs last year, even then knowing that AUPE wanted them to strike.  Meanwhile, when the Big Wigs weren't busy inadvertently degrading the very people they're supposedly supporting, one of them took the time to try and threaten and intimidate a couple of Artspace members who happened by.  Classy, that.



One of the things that keeps coming up, in one form or another, from Artspace members is the question of, why are they (our striking care staff) biting the hand that feeds them?

They know full will SAIL has no control over funding.

They know Artspace has no control in any of this.

They were told by AUPE, back in January, that if they went on strike and that if it were prolonged, SAIL would run out of money, go bankrupt, and they would lose their jobs.  They voted to go on strike, anyhow.

In essence, they knowingly voted for the destruction of their own jobs.

Why? It is so incredibly stupid, it boggles the mind. It's obvious AUPE is using them against their real target; AHS. Yet they have been willing participants in abuse, bullying, and tormenting our community. They have full engaged in an action they know will likely result in their losing their jobs, while alienating the very people who would have supported them. It makes no sense. How utterly detached from reality does one have to be, to do something like that?

No matter what happens, the one group that lost everything the day the strike started, in such a violent and aggressive manner, is the very care staff that AUPE claims to be supporting.

No one will ever trust them again.  No one wants them in our homes again.

And now that SAIL user members have been able to experience what good care is actually like, no one wants to go back to poor quality care again, either.

You keep using that word...

Something AUPE and the picketers keep saying, is that all they want is "respect" and "dignity."  That's all they really want.  It's not about the money.  Or the benefits.  That's just that...

"You animals... you pieces of shit.  How do you live with yourself?"
(picketer yelling at replacement workers)

... well...

"I see you moving in there.  Garbage isn't supposed to move.  You're garbage."
(picketer yelling at replacement workers inside a security vehicle.)

I guess the only acceptable way to shower them with "dignity" and "respect" is to pay them more than SAIL can afford.

Because that makes so much sense.

*derp*

"We cook for them.  We clean for them.  Just let them go into long term care."
(Striking care staff on the picket line, talking about user members.)

"I'm gonna take you out."

(Striking care worker at a non-striking care worker. Image screen captured from Breakfast TV clip of security footage.)

After all the picketers have done to Artspace members - the people they supposedly care so much about - how on Earth do they believe anyone can possibly respect them?

re·spect
noun
noun: respect
1. a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
synonyms: esteem, regard, high opinion, admiration, reverence, deference, honor

"Show your children what you are.  Mummy's bad.  Mummy's really bad."

(Shouted at an Artspace member and her pre-schooler while mobbing her vehicle.  Image screen captured from Breakfast TV clip of security footage.)

dig·ni·ty
noun
noun: dignity
the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.

"Why should I care about your son?"

(AUPE employee shouting at a father who just brought his son home from the hospital and came over to ask them to stop using the air raid siren.  Image screen captured from Breakfast TV clip of security footage.)

Nope.

Not going to happen.

That boat sailed a long, long time ago.

The picketers are already getting more "respect" than they deserve.  They have shown no dignity, and clearly don't even know what the word even means.

Artspace Humour and a message to strikers

With all that's been going on with the picketers invading our homes, (remember; Artspace is made up of private homes that happens to have an in-house care company.  The strikers have never picketed SAIL, only Artspace) having a sense of humour is important.

The picketers try to sing now and again.  Not very well.  Not everyone can be a virtuoso, but the caterwauling is just another part of the noise pollution we have to put up with, like this morning, with chanting, attempts to sing and howling along with passing sirens.  One member described them as sounding like a bunch of drunks, saying if he hadn't known it was the picketers, that's what he would have been phoning the police over.

All before 10am.

Oh, and they brought children to the picket line again,

They are also back to camping out under the tree on private property, preventing people from using the set of stairs next to them, as they verbally abuse anyone who walks by.  

One of the songs they try to sing is "solidarity" to the tune of Glory Glory Hallelujah. One of our SAIL user members, with a great sense of humour, wrote this song in response, to the same tune.



Lyrics:
Go somewhere and find, and find another job.
Go somewhere and find, and find another job.
Go somewhere and find, and find another job
'cause SAIL users doesn't want you anymore more.
(repeat)

The irony of this is that many of the striking SAIL employees HAVE found other jobs - working the picket line brings in some extra, tax free cash. 

Striking SAIL employees would rather work for SAIL, though, because the job is so much easier than anything else they qualify for.  With so much unscheduled down time, they can sleep, cook meals for their families to bring home (the office is a converted apartment unit, with a full kitchen), all while getting paid almost $20 an hour.

After their behaviour on the picket line, though, user members don't want them back. They now know these people can't be trusted, and fear for their safety if they ever tried to come back to the job.

As this user member says, go find another job, because SAIL users don't want you anymore.

(Don't forget to visit the Artspace Under Siege YouTube Channel for video and audio of what Artspace members, and our neighbours, have had to endure.)

Updated: Children on the picket... camp?

Since Canada day, this has pretty much been what the strikers are doing.

Sitting in the shade - on private property (which now has a sign saying so beside it), chillin'.

And getting paid $80 a day to do it (or $400 a week).  Plus $40 per dependent.

Tax free.

Considering some of the striking staff were casual workers, with only a few shifts a month, they'd be making more money doing this, than if they were on the job.

Somehow, I don't think the AUPE paid picketers are getting strike pay; I figure they're getting a full salary.

Plus benefits.

They're not really picketing anymore.  They just sit there, for the most part, every now and then yelling insults and verbal abuse at people across the street, including the people living the neighbouring townhouses.

The only time they really move around is when the security van with the replacement vehicles arrives.  Then they shamble over and begin yelling taunts and verbal abuse at the replacement workers, or anyone else they happen to spot.

On the morning of July 4, they blocked the replacement worker vehicle from coming in for an hour.

This is something can can cause direct harm to those who are supposed to be getting care, but aren't, because the replacement workers are trapped in a vehicle in the driveway.

What was more concerning, however, was what happened in the afternoon.

As usual, they left for their 3 or 4 hour lunch break.  When they returned, they set up their chairs under the tree, blocking the sidewalk, and blocking the stairs, with a number of them sitting on the concrete curb under the tree, as they didn't all have chairs.

One of the picketers brought her two small children, again.

Bringing children onto the picket line is something a number of members have expressed concern over, for several reasons, ranging from the children being taught to engage in bullying behaviour, to safety concerns.

These two children were very young, about preschooler age.  Too young to understand that the adults they were with, were camped out on private property.  Too young to know that the hill and lower sidewalks they were playing on were places they weren't allowed to be on.  (From the chalk drawings they left behind, they were not only allowed to play on the hill, but the entire length of the townhouse row, including the lower sidewalk and up onto the stairs to second level entries.)

Certainly, they were too young to be seeing the sort of abusive behaviour these "adults" are engaging in, but then that behaviour is the sort no one should be seeing.

At least one member reported being verbally abused for pointing out that they were on private property, and that children shouldn't be on a picket line.  

Several members expressed concern about the children being trapped on location for several hours, in this heat, and with no bathrooms nearby (given how well provided for the picketers are with food, drink and junk food, we're just sort of assuming they were kept fed and hydrated).

The children cannot be blamed for the mistakes of the adults they were with.


What caused increasing alarm among members, however, was seeing them there all afternoon.


These two little kids would have been stuck out there for at least 3 1/2 hours, in temperatures that soared to 26C (78F). 

That is horrifying.


Updated:  In conversation about this, a member made this observation.

Picketers have felt free to bring their own children to the picket line, allowing them to play on the sidewalks and Artspace property, yet children who actually LIVE in Artspace have not been able to play freely around their home, out of fear of the picketers.

This member has a great point.

It used to be that the children of Artspace freely ran and played with each other, between the high rise and townhouses, under the benevolent eye of parents and neighbours.

Now, they can't even go out on their balconies.

Even within their homes, they can't escape the picketers, as the noise disturbs their sleep patterns and invades the peace and quiet of their homes.

One member's overview

A member gave permission for this portion of their documentation to be used.

AUPE declared and begin to lead a legal strike on May 7, 2014 and began picketing outside our homes.  Since that time this beautiful, kind cooperative community has experienced:

• AUPE organized picketers (including only a small number of our SAIL employees) delaying the transport vehicles carrying replacement workers by as long as 1 hour causing intentional disruption to the services.

• AUPE organized picketers formed their picket line in front of the Artspace Housing Cooperative which is the private home of the 30 SAIL service users, and 58 other families in the Artspace Housing Cooperative who having nothing to do with SAIL. Children going to school, people going to work as well as going in and out of the building with normal activities of daily living being heckled and traumatized by the picketers who gather at 05:30 in the morning and do not leave until the late evening.

• AUPE picketers intentionally making derogatory and morally repugnant remarks about the SAIL service users who can clearly hear the remarks from the windows of their homes. The service users now feel that they will never be in a position of being able to accept care from the striking employees again.

• On Thursday, May 15 AUPE gave 19 hours notice that the SAIL employees would return to work on Friday, May 16 at 07:00. There was no employee schedule in place to know what shifts would be covered for the long weekend and therefore SAIL had no choice but to refuse to permit the employees to return to work. AUPE intentionally created a completely unsafe and untenable situation which SAIL was forced to rectify by choosing to pay the SAIL employees not to return to work.

• Reciting offense poetry in a very loud voice that implies our replacements workers should kill their selves. (Ode to Scabs)

• Offering and giving ice cream to the children living in our neighbourhood without parent’s consent.

• AUPE organized picketers following replacement workers to their vehicles at an off-site location and posting pictures and messages on their cars.

• One of Artspace’s resident who serves on the SAIL board works downtown at the [place of employment] and rides her motorized wheelchair to work. One of the AUPE paid Employees (D___ M___) on the picket line has taken to following her to her place of employment. He has even gone so far as to catch up and pass her on the street and walk in front of her with a camera attached to his back to take pictures of her. He then turns to her and asks if she is following him. This is very upsetting for this Board member and she is concerned about what else this individual is capable of doing. The [place of employment] have been supportive of her and have put in place measures to watch out for him and have him removed from the building if he attempts to come in.

This is not a normal strike against an employer who makes widgets and everyone goes home at the end of the day. The services that have been withdrawn by our employees are essential and required so that the lives of those living there are not placed at risk.

Effects on our children - and not just in Artspace (updated)

A member sent this just recently, but the incidents described took place throughout the strike.  Some of the children affected do not live in Artspace.

Update: video added below

Co-op kids – community kids

There has been talk with co-op members who have seen issues with children being exposed to the striking behaviour.

I have a video of the van being surrounded and yelled at with the school but on the other side dropping off a child to the inner city complex. I also have one of our co-op kids running home and then leaving again with mom. Both being very aware of the strikers and trying to get away before confronted. The incident of D___ yelling at J___ when he tried to ask for quiet because his son had just come home from hospital. D___ yelled (and swore) at him he didn’t care about his kid. Also, the strikers surrounded J__ L___’s vehicle while her 4 year old son was in the car and yelled at him – the kid – about how bad his mommy was (she’s a nurse and should be supporting the union. (Cops were called on that one).

So it is not to say ANY parent is bad or kids in need of care – just the opposite, they are trying to protect the kids – certainly the strikers do not stop their behaviour is being watched by kids (all the bullying behaviour they are taught in school NOT to do and it is happening daily.)

The union is using tactics we teach are kids are wrong – so learning that at school and then coming home to watch a child looking at strikers and yelling ‘garbage’ how is it we are supposed to tell them that adults know how to behave appropriately. School is now out for the summer. But in June at 3:00 p.m. the security van would leave or try to leave with one staff and the strikers surrounded the van and did their taunting, yelling and so forth – right at the same time the Yellow School Bus dropped off a small child living in the Innercity Housing Complex.

On at least two occasions, strikers approached co-op kids. One incident was to try to get a child (a minor) to sign a petition to get SAIL back to the bargaining table.

On another occasion children were offered ice cream without their parent’s permission or any concern over lactose intolerance or other allergies. Or how creepy it is to be offered ice cream by a stranger.

On another occasion, a family of five was coming to the co-op to visit family. One striker started to talk to the parents and the kids were distracted by a promise of ice cream at the truck (divide and conquer). The three children went to the other side of the truck and due to the doors being opened, the kids were out of their parents eye sight. Again, we try to teach our kids about stranger danger and not accepting items from people not approved by a parent. The parents were totally distracted by the one striker. And some pretty disgusting melted frozen mess was given to the kids.

Now that summer is here, parents are frustrated, because they can’t let their kids play outside. Kids feel uncomfortable riding their bikes and are anxious in their own home.

If AUPE had any integrity or professionalism they would have a standard protocol that all activities cease when children are near the striking action. Actually the protocol I would really like to see is that all unions agree not to picket/have strike action at a persons home – or as in our case, 87 homes in common buildings.

Updated: A member asked me to include this.

On one of the AUPE member's FB page, there is a pic of his beautiful little girl. After reading about how dispicable the picketers have been towards parents with their children present, I have been tempted to write the following on his FB page.

"[_____}. What a beautiful little girl you have!  I hope you are treating her well. Wouldn't want to have to call Social Services on you!"

Notice that I said I've only been tempted to do so. I have way more class than any AUPE member!!

 Some background on this: one of the picketers was heard to threaten a mom with calling Children's Services on her - in front of her daughter.  Will post about that when more details and permission is aquired.

AUPE picketers, traumatizing infants: impact statement

Artspace members range from infants to people in their 80's.  All are affected.

One member family has a baby that was 3 months old when the strike started.  This is how the picketers have affected their home. (Submitted June 14)

...
The actions of AUPE members/striking SAIL staff is giving our family a real hard time when the mom and new born desperately need rest after the delivery.  Starting from early morning into late afternoon AUPE members and striking SAIL staff are making all kinds of noises right below our bedroom.  My wife can not have a good rest during the day, and she still needs to feed the baby at night.  My son is also suffering sleeplessness because of the noises made by AUPE members/striking SAIL staff.
...

AUPE picketers know full well the range of people who live at Artspace.  They know they are disturbing all of us.  They know they are causing harm to the vulnerable.

Yet still, they do it.