Voices against bad policy

It’s time for an update on the federal government’s garbage 3-day-in-office policy, in respect of which I remain an opinionated spectator. I had volunteered to help my former union but the only response I got was the general mailbox advising they had forwarded my message to the President’s office. This was unhelpful since my original email had already cc’ed the President’s office. Nonetheless, I sent them the link to my ideas, and I continue to think unions should start quantifying the costs to employees of pointless commuting, for use later on in the fight.

But I have since heard from current members that the union is actually quite busy and full of fire, which is encouraging. A recent well-attended webinar explained to members the union’s actions and arguments and it sounds like they’re working various angles, including legal and public relations. Some ideas, I am delighted to report, trend toward malicious compliance.

It also sounds like the union has found precedents from other jurisdictions where the onus is on the employer to justify the requirement for in-office time, separately for each employee. This type of substantive equality approach should obviously be favoured by a Liberal government headed by the First Child of the Constitution Act, 1982, at least if constitutional principles are more important than appeasing real estate developers who feel entitled to profit always and loss never. (I am not holding my breath for Trudeau et al to suddenly start matching their practice to their rhetoric.)

One important point made repeatedly by union presenters is that members can’t just sit back while others do this work: power comes from collective action. Employees have to participate en masse to get the employer to take things seriously. Solidarity is the way to protect individuals and achieve change.

There’s a nice touch at the end of the webinar where union presenters do a live demonstration of how to make a protest phone call. I think this helps demystify the process for members, who might then feel confident enough to do the same, although unfortunately no one answered the phone. It seems if you call Anita Anand you have to sit through a full minute and a half of bilingual messaging before being permitted to leave a voice mail. They deter you at every step, these people who are paid handsomely to listen to their constituents.

A different current union member sent me a link to an excellent piece in the Ottawa Citizen by Brigitte Pellerin, who is also sarcastic about sandwiches and in favour of pushing back to zero days in office a week in response to government/employer overreach/disrespect.

I welcome more union members to share information so I can continue my opinionated spectating. I would especially appreciate links to the employer-onus policies in other jurisdictions.

I also invite members, if they think the idea of quantifying unnecessary commute costs is a good one, to repeat it to other members and their unions. One voice alone isn’t enough in this fight.