Picketing in a pandemic and a Premier premiere

#UMFA2021

My union is now on strike.  This is an emotional and anxious time for all of us.  I just finished my first online picketing meeting and heard from a number of colleagues about  hardship, uncertainty, family situations, and so on that are weighing in peoples minds.  I am fortunate to be single, with no dependents, reasonable mortgage terms, and a strong union representing me.

I have something to say about 

• misleading propaganda (from many sources) and spun information
• what this dispute is all about (it's not just about salaries)
• why I am supporting and will continue to support my union
• what I think about people who are breaking the strike

But I want to check a lot of my information first, so I'll save those for another post.  Today I want to talk about strike activities being undertaken (picketing in a pandemic) and the new head of the Progressive Conservative (PC) party who takes office today.

Picketing in a pandemic

If you go toward the University of Manitoba on University Crescent, Chancellor Matheson Blvd, or Kings Drive, there will be physical picketers, as in a conventional strike.  UMFA members, instead of sitting at home or in offices surrounded by books or some other comfortable surroundings, will be standing, walking, carrying signs, and handing out information, to passing vehicles. They will be slowing access to the University for all employees who are going there (there are a few in-person classes going on, and employees represented by other unions or not represented by unions are more or less obliged to go to work. But what we've learned in the pandemic is that we can do a lot of day-to-day stuff from home. So I' wondering how much traffic there will actually be, especially since one of the entrances/exits to campus (Freedman Crescent) is closed for construction at the moment.  So residents who may pass through the University to get to work or home may be taking other routes anyway.  Stay tuned.

Owing to my bad achilles tendon (and others due to whatever circumstance) will be picketing on line. We're still working out exactly what that means, but in my case it means I'm going to try to blog every day about the strike and about the issues involved.  We're also posting and cross-posting to social media platforms, creating banners, phoning and emailing politicians, and other things that we'll have a better idea about in a couple days.  So for now. watch this log, my tweets, and my Facebook.  Someday, when I learn Instagram, I'll go there too, but that's not a priority for me.

 A Premier premiere

Today, Manitoba's new (and first female) Premier will be sworn in. In fact, in a couple hours.  Some UMFA demonstrators will be there. They may be there already.

Heather Stefanson has been an MLA (member of the legislative assembly) for the Tuxedo riding and recently one the leadership of the PC party (not without challenge, but sources seem to indicate that those challenges won't get very far). I don't know anything about her, except she pledged to kill Bill 16 (the one that was withdrawn by the interim Premier a few weeks ago, that would eliminate local school boards and so on). One can only hope that she will address and redress the previous Premier (Brian Pallister)'s openly hostile positions to education and to unions.  But that remains to be seen.

One thing she's walking into is this collective bargaining process.  Pallister famously tried to interfere with influence the 2016 negotiations, attempting to dictate (as it turns out, illegally) 0% salary increases for all public sector unionized employees.  The administration's continued reluctance to bargain salaries is seen by many (particularly as interpreted by UMFA) as a response to continued pressure from the Province (described as a mandate) to deny or limit salary increases. In other words, to interfere with influence the current negotiations.

 

Minister of Advanced Education Wayne Ewasko claimed there was no such mandate refusing being too busy to meet about the issue, referred us to Finance Minister Scott Fielding. When contacted, Fielding's office said to talk to Advanced Education.  

Knowing weasel words when we hear them (and use them, which we do) we can interpret there being no mandate as there being no written order to the university administration.  It doesn't mean no pressure, or no influence.  The Province needs to stay out of collective bargaining when they are not one of the parties directly involved.

So Ewasko is blaming Fielding, and Fielding is blaming Ewasko. Which sounds to me like there is some kind of pressure being put on the university administration, but no one wants to take responsibility for it.

This is all to say Premier Stefanson has some housecleaning to do.  The decisions she makes in the next few days will show us what she's all about.