No. 8 - Where is labour?
Ottawa has now been under siege for about a week. The residents in the downtown are miserable. Police have publicly announced they’re standing down and the mayor doesn’t seem to know what to do. The convoy drivers have faced nearly no direct confrontation to their actions. No wonder the video and images make it look like they’re having a giant party.
Confrontation is necessary in these sorts of situations. But when everyone is worn down, tired and afraid, organizing a confrontation can feel like an impossible task. It needs to fall to people who have institutional power — the ones who can pay for fines if they’re the ones arrested, or the ones who have access to lawyers, members and supports.
With activism, there is always an element of “if you build it, they will come.” Of course, you don’t want to plan to do anything with just hoping that people will show up, but in a situation like this, it’s a necessary philosophy. Otherwise, people look around one another hoping someone else will take the first step.
In a city that is as highly unionized as Ottawa, I’ve been scratching my head wondering where is labour. I wrote a thread about it which you can find here and it finishes off my thoughts about this pretty well.
The Quebec convoy has rolled into our time at the same time as snow. I’ll be out tomorrow to see what’s happening.
Two more things:
This affair should convince anyone who is still unsure about who heavy truck traffic needs to be banned from city cores. Check out how much of downtown Ottawa can legally be overrun by transport trucks. Incredible.
And here is my latest for Passage: It’s time to Abolish Long-term Care: https://readpassage.com/its-time-to-abolish-long-term-care-in-canada/
Thank you for this.
My question though, is where has labour been throughout the entire pandemic?
As you’ve documented, thousands of people have gotten sick at work over the past two years. Hundreds have died. Many of these workers were in unions, and… nothing. Nurses, teachers, caregivers, meat packers, etc. continue to be put in harms way and besides the one day wildcat nurses strike in AB that amounted to a hill of beans, there has been no meaningful response from their unions.
It’s baffling.
If they won’t act to keep their members from dying, what hope is there for them to act to quell the spread of clown-fascism?
Have unions been weakened to the point that they can’t do some of the most basic union things? If so, now what?
Your take on this is so delusional and disappointing. Unsubscribing.