Democracy of Hypocrisy

On Monday night, city council voted in favor of closing all nine of the city run day care facilities. In a debate that lasted well past 11:30 it came down to the vote, and with 3 councilors abstaining from the vote due to a conflict of interest, the motion passed. 118 workers will now either be bumped into other positions within the city or lose their jobs outright. Just what Windsor needs, more unemployed. The speakers were passionate, most were there objecting to the proposal and pleaded their case to what was obviously deaf ears.

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The Windsor Star seems unable to change. In what has become almost a daily ritual, stories will be printed that pertain to the blue collar workers, particularly those in union jobs and the woes that these workers face as the economy continues to tank. In a twist of irony, they also print stories misleading the people telling them that the economy in Windsor is turning around. What a slap in the face that is, I mean come on. Not only that, they have the nerve to print a story about the Toyota recall, but low and behold, commenting on that story is turned off. I find myself asking why that is but the answer is pretty clear. It doesn't involve union workers thus negating a chance for the Star to once again push their anti union vitriol through readers comments.

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I have finally gotten around to writing a new post and it's about time. Let's just say that the economy has got me down and I've been feeling some self loathing and a general feeling of "whatever". But it is a new year and I feel that what I have been seeing happening in Windsor and in the world in general,it is time to get my thoughts out there. But where to begin? Why right here at home of course.

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The people living in West Windsor, specifically the Indian Rd area have had enough, and took their frustrations to city council on Monday, only to be denied. They are tired of the abandoned houses, the rodents, and the plummeting property values. With hopes of having their voices heard, city council was quick to reject them and tell them to come back in two weeks.

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Tisk tisk Spanky, this doesn't look good at all.

What have you guys gotten yourself into now lol.The white elephant known as Ceaser's Windsor is having a bit of trouble with their new $81 million power plant. See, the thing is, it isn't fully operational, far from it, and it may never be! The good ole citizens of Ontario should be mad as hell for paying for this boondoggle but I haven't really heard much from anyone. Must be the love we still have for the Dalton Liberals, but then again, the polls are showing his support shrivelling up so who knows.

Some highlights of the article

The OLG also says the energy centre was supposed to cost $40 million. Built into the parking garage of Caesars Windsor, the powerhouse provides heating, cooling and backup power to the expanded gaming facility.

Well, in theory that is what it is supposed to do, but in reality...

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The past two weeks have been rather interesting, not only in my city, but across Canada. What makes it interesting is the hysteria and almost comical nature surrounding the h1n1 vaccination program, or lack thereof. Just reading the news online has led me to wonder how they could screw something like this up, especially after hyping it up and saying they were on it and they had enough vaccines for everyone in Canada. Well since the program started last week, there has been nothing but line ups, and of course the shortage of the damn vaccine itself. Yup, people are drudging out in the cold weather to wait in line for hours to get a shot. A lineup that could potentially increase their chances of catching the very virus they are there to supposedly protect against. The government has dropped the ball big time, and had this been a "real" pandemic many, many people could die.

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Canadians are bullish on giving government officials permission to restrict personal freedoms in a flu pandemic, with half of those surveyed agreeing that violation of a quarantine order would be tantamount to manslaughter.

Once again Canadians are willing bend over and take it up the you know what. Disturbing...with the flu season just around the corner (and already showing up in some parts) people are scared shitless, what with the constant media barrages of the coming epidemic. I am guilty of it now to, making mention of this nonsense but I must vent because its pissing me off. Every day, the swine flu or as it is known technically H1N1 is in the headlines. We hear about the deaths, of how it is going to hit us hard and we need to get vaccinated to fight it off. And if those measures include mandatory vaccinations or quarantines etc, then so be it. Of course that is how these people surveyed think, that it is totally ok for the government to do what they wish in order to protect the rest of us. Perhaps I am wrong but in my opinion, thats bullshit. Forcing health workers to show up for work when their may be an epidemic or pandemic happening seems a tad off to me. If people refuse to go to work for safety reasons, I think that is a pretty valid reason, yes? If you refuse the shot, does that mean you should be treated like a criminal?According to those polled, absolutely.

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I participated in the annual Labour Day parade, marching from the CAW Local hall to the Fogolar Furlan Club;a good 45 minute walk or so. With the many different unions and other participants, it was a decent turnout, but could have been better. This year especially was an important day due to the hit that workers in Canada have endured throughout the year. The false idea that it is the workers to blame for this mess was a recurring theme, as well as the recent city strike,which culminated in the Windsor District Labour Council president Gary Parent( who retires tomorrow) telling Mayor Eddie Francis to go to hell.

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Once again the people of Windsor are told that more consulting must be done in order for the stimulus projects to see the light of day. Consulting, consulting, consulting, it is the word that flows out of the mayors mouth almost daily. Windsor has earmarked $133 million for so called shovel ready projects waiting to get underway but none of these projects have gone to tender and no construction jobs have been created. In a city hard hit by job loss and unemployment, one would think that getting the shovels in the ground would be a top priority, but it is status quo at city hall with the mayor and council playing games.

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...and with good reason, the government is screwing them out of vacation and stat holiday pay. Why? Because they don't have to pay them according to the Employment Standards Act, even though it has been past practise to do so. Basically the government has broken it's own contract with these student workers. The students signed a contract before starting employment at the parks that they would receive vacation and holiday pay, as they have done so in the past, but the government recently "discovered" that they do not qualify for them as the Crown is exempt from provisions under the Act.

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The city of Windsor and CUPE locals 543 and 82 have settled an historic 101 day strike. Details of the settlement include a 6.3% (edit, it is now being reported as 5.7%) wage increase over four years of the contract, with 1.5, 1.8, and 2% annually, a $2,000 signing bonus, and all possible disciplinary actions against transgressions the strikers have done during the strike will be dropped. However, this settlement comes at a cost to Windsor taxpayers of $17.2 million over 4 years. Post retirement benefits for new hires, the sticking point of the strike have been dropped. It is unclear whether the unfair labour practises suit against the city will continue.

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CUPE locals 543 and 82 rejected the city's counter offer on Thursday, an offer that many were hoping would end this 14 week strike. In what has been a day filled with drama, CUPE flat out said "NO" to the mayor and to city council. It all started with the city asking CUPE leadership to take the offer to its members and let them vote on it.

The vote occurred Thursday morning, but not before city managers showed up to hand out back to work protocols to the workers, who in disgust, threw the papers in the air. Rumours abound that CUPE leadership was instilling fear into the membership by stating that the city was not going to include a back to work protocol and that members may lose their jobs or face disciplinary actions upon settling the strike for any actions the mayor deemed worthy of dismissal or discipline.

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Windsor is stuck in a trend that no one would ever want to be in and that trend is the unemployment rate, which now sits at 14.4%. This once booming town now holds the distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in Canada. There were more than 25,000 local residents out of Work in the Windsor area at the beginning of the summer, however with the Chrysler Windsor Assembly Plant reopening at the end of June, 3500 workers are now back on the job and with news that the midnight shift will remain at least until next summer, it may mean that the local economy may now begin to recover. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

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The strike by the municipal workers in Windsor that is. 12 weeks now without garbage collection, parking tickets, daycare etc. I've been able to go about my life without being affected by this to be honest. I don't have a habit of strolling through back alleyways to see the mountains of garbage that are piled up, but I see them in pictures nonetheless in the local news rag and on the many blogs I happen to come across. There doesn't seem to be any talks scheduled that I know of and so we continue to live in a garbage town.

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Unions at Canwest Global Communications (TSX:CGS) newspapers say they are being asked to enter concession talks with the company, which faces a major restructuring effort as it tries to deal with a crushing $3.9 billion debt load.

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With the buzzing of the Lycoming engines, Red Bull Air Race day was upon the city of Windsor. I awoke today to the sounds of a CF-18 roaring down the river front and rushed out the door to catch a glimpse of this awesome fighter jet doing a flyby over the riverfront, only to see it fly off into the distance never to return.../sad. But the glimpse I did catch was cool enough and with that I made up my mind that I would be headed down to the river front to watch the spectacular air races that were to take place. My father and I hopped into my car and headed downtown in an effort to find a parking pace, a futile effort at first glance but we eventually found a spot within a 5 minute walk from the river front down Caron avenue.

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I attended the CUPE rally today which started out front of the University of Windsor and ended at city hall square. I must say that I was very impressed with the turnout. CUPE members from out of town arrived in bus loads; as well other locals from the Windsor area stood by their union brothers and sisters as we marched to city hall down Riverside drive. Chants of "hey hey, ho ho, Eddie has got to go" and other songs were plentiful as we walked past the red bull air racers practising in their sweet planes. The 9 week old strike has no end in site and it was awesome that the different locals came out to show support.

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The citizens of Windsor made good on their promise to clean up the Ford Test Track today. As organizers and crews converged on the park, so did pro union citizens, many from different unions that are not on strike; I being one of them. Mike Morency, the organizer of this event, had some words to speak to the people before the clean up was to commence. They were planning to cut the grass, however, the police informed them that they would not be allowed due to safety reasons and for fear of confrontation. Mr. Morency was called out on only doing this for publicity as speculation arises that he wishes to run for city council in the election next year. A question which he quickly shrugged aside. Mr. Morency says that he supports the union and had only planned on cleaning this one park, yet on his facebook group it has come to light that they are planning to clean more city parks. Over all, there were no physical fights, just angry words exchanged between both sides and when I finally left, a small crowd of people were left, along with the police.

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In your seemingly heart felt gesture to organize and clean up the parks of the city, you are also performing work that is done by workers who are on strike.I don't know what has happened to this town; historically, we have been a union city and people seemed to care about one another back in the day. Nowadays, we have the ME generation, those only concerned about themselves, the same people whose fathers, mothers, uncles, grand fathers etc worked in one of the automotive plants or other unionized trade shops in town. But something has changed, suddenly we unionized workers are the enemy and are the endless targets for people to blame. With the strike by the city workers going into its seventh week, the anger and frustration has made many organize an event for Saturday to "take back our parks". Ordinary citizens of Windsor are heading out to the city's baseball diamonds, the soccer pitches and other parks to cut the grass that has grown as some would say, waist high. They will be picking up the garbage and making sure that things will be safe for the kids.

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Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/Mediator+leaves+town+sight+city+strike/1588833/story.html

Negotiations between the city of Windsor and the outside workers broke off Tuesday leaving no end in sight for the strike which has dragged on for five weeks now. The mediator, who was brought in on Monday has left town and the residents of Windsor are showing increased frustration and a total lack of decency by continuing to dump garbage and other household junk along the streets and fields of the city. There are no new talks scheduled and Mayor "Fast" Eddie Francis said the city will contemplate new plans to deal with the mounting refuse but couldn't offer a time frame of when those plans would be available.

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Windsor's outside municipal workers went on strike Wednesday morning after negotiations failed. The heart of the issue seems to be how the city wants to eliminate benefits for new hires and of course the supposed wage increase for current workers that the city claims is on the table. The city negotiating team so far does not seem willing to bargain fairly and they are only interested in concessions, which CUPE local 82 will not bargain concessions.

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Tonight, here in Windsor, Elizabeth May paid a visit to talk about the green future of technology and the economy. The Green Corridor class at the University of Windsor invited May to speak. I was originally not sure if I was going to attend because my grandmother had passed away this morning and I only found out about that a few hours before May's lecture was to begin. But I did end up attending and overall it was an interesting lecture. She even made some funny jokes, mostly about Stephen Harper of course but sometimes partisanship can be entertaining!

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Violence erupted in downtown Windsor Sunday as angry Jewish and Palestinian protesters clashed on Riverside Drive. Some shoving occurred with some punches being thrown and some even used flag poles as weapons. If that weren't enough, children even started swearing and uttering death threats. This ridiculousness started because CUPE Ontario held a meeting here in Windsor to debate a controversial resolution to boycott some Israeli universities because of the conflict in Gaza.

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CTV.ca News Staff

Canadians who have pursued post-secondary studies now owe the federal government $13 billion in outstanding loans, according to new figures from the Canadian Federation of Students.

The CFS says Canada Student Loan debt increases by $1.2 million per day and will cross the $13 billion mark on Wednesday.

A debt clock featured on the CFS webpage shows the Canada Student Loan debt inching toward the $13 billion mark in real time.

CFS national chairperson Katherine Giroux-Bougard told CTV.ca Wednesday said the government must do more to help stem the growing levels of Canadian student debt.

"What the priority of the government should be is really to make post-secondary education affordable," she said.

Being saddled with such debt, she said, leaves Canadian students making choices they shouldn't have to make.

Studies have shown that "student loan applications reduce the ability of new graduates to start families, work in public service careers, invest in other assets, volunteer, or even just take a lower paying job in their own field to get a foot in the door," Giroux-Bougard said.

"So, it changes peoples' life choices and career choices," she added.

Her organization advocates having the federal government provide more money to the students through the Canada Social Transfer, rather than the Canada Student Loans Program. This would allow the government to work with the provinces to reduce university tuition fees and claw back overall student debt, she said.

The CFS says the $13-billion figure does not include $5 billion students owe to provinces, nor does it include any debt they owe to banks, credit companies and their parents.

According to the Human Resources and Social Development Canada website, the federal government's Canada Student Loans Program has offered $28.1 billion in loans to more than 3.8 million students since the program was founded in 1964.

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I really feel bad that I haven't been able to blog about my usual cynicism of Canadian politics but what is going on here at the U has taken most of my energy. Day 8 of the strike and it is starting to get ugly.

On September 23, Dr. Wildeman, president of the University of Windsor decided to bargain in bad faith by reporting to the media the University's latest offer to the striking faculty. A full page ad was taken in the Windsor Star and stated that this strike is about money. (emphases on the period)The ad can also be viewed here

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Negotiations have not continued since WUFA went on strike last week, no talks are scheduled this week. I would like to hear from students. Post your opinions, for or against this strike. Vent your frustrations and have faith that anything you say will not be deleted here and no one will be "banned".

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Negotiations broke down well beyond the 12:01 strike deadline set by the faculty, leaving WUFA no choice but to declare a strike. By 2 am, it was clear that they were getting nowhere with the University administration so negotiations were called off. Faculty, including professors, part time professors, and librarians will set up picket lines by 7:30 am Wednesday morning and continue to picket into the evening. This is the first strike in 26 years;the last one lasting just 6 days and some are saying that it is leaving students in the crossfire. Some 16,000 students are left in limbo but Brian Brown, president of WUFA, hopes that students will continue their support of the union.

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Negotiations continue to fail at the University of Windsor as the Faculty (WUFA) prepare for a possible strike 12:01 Wednesday. As mentioned earlier in my No Maquiladora U post, the University wants to pay sessional workers well below the standard and to increase the workload. Both issues are the main issues for WUFA. Their contract expired on June 30th and have been negotiating with the help of a provincial mediator.

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A satirical look at the real and potential corporatization of the university of Windsor, and the tragic decisions made by a small number of misguided administrators who want to turn the campus into "Maquiladora U."

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