Union Democracy Should Not Be An Oxymoron

Yet for the Labourers' International Union of North America, (LIUNA) that quickly seems to be emerging as the reality. I have written previously about some of the problems besetting that organization, not the least of which appears to be a decidedly dictatorial penchant on the part of its executive.

The latest evidence of this lack of respect for its membership is reflected in a story carried in today's Star, detailing how LIUNA has denied thousands of workers the right to elect leaders in one of its biggest locals for 15 years. According to Joe Mancinelli, Canadian manager and a vice-president of the union, the problem resides with the Ontario Federation of Health Care Workers Local 1110, which, even after 15 years, still has what is known as provisional status.

Mancinelli, who has supervised Local 1110 and appointed most of the top officials over the years, says the local has problems of instability and poor management, accusing its long-time former business manager Paula Randazzo of “ineffective, sloppy management” and lack of servicing to members.

Hmm ... I suspect such accusations could be hurled at LIUNA executive members themselves, given their sometimes heavy-handed practices in Local 183.

Why A Budget Omnibus Bill?

It's the best way to hide your real purpose, which, according to Thomas Walkom, is this:

It is aimed at eliminating regulations — particularly environmental regulations — that interfere in profit-making. It is aimed at reducing wages (which is why the Conservatives take swipes at unions whenever possible). It is aimed at scaling back any social programs — from Old Age Security to Employment Insurance — that help keep wages up.

The revolutionaries dream of a day when the elderly, energized by the reductions in their pensions, will be vying for jobs at Walmart.

But it is a stealthy revolution. The country must remain complacent. Otherwise, we might object.

You can read his full analysis here.

McGuinty Continues His Campaign To Subvert Democracy

Conservative MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) said it proves McGuinty “will stop at absolutely nothing to make sure he brings this back into what he perceives is balance, which is a majority government for him.

You can read the full details of this crime against the will of the Ontario electorate here.

The Absurdity Continues

I feel just a tad guilty writing this post today, given that world events are of their usual dire nature, the slaughter of protesting Syrian students by a brutal and repressive regime not the least of them. Nonetheless, I will deal briefly with a more parochial issue, the brutal and repressive regime operating out of the Toronto mayor's office.

As I am sure the details of the confrontation between Rob Ford and Star reporter Daniel Dale are now well-known, I won't rehash them here. The mentality of the mayor, however, got me thinking about my 30-year teaching career, and I realized that Ford reminds me very much of some of the students I encountered during that career.

While the vast majority were good kids, there were always those who believed the rules weren't made for them, that the normal standards of decorum didn't apply, and that respect for institutional traditions was for others to follow; they laboured under the delusion of having a special dispensation from them. Needless to say, these tended to be kids for whom academic success was elusive.

The problem these students posed for the classroom dynamic were significant. Their presence tended to contribute to a lowering of the tone of discussion and in the behaviour of their fellow students. Oftentimes, their parents were enablers, attempting to bully teachers into accepting their rather warped view of reality. In short, they were the kind of people who attempted to exert a disproportionate influence over the classroom which is, among other things, a microcosm of society.

So in many ways, Rob Ford is like those errant students of yesteryear - he defines reality and the rules by his own worldview; like a wanton child, he is having a tantrum as he threatens to end the public's right to information about the goings-on at City Hall unless a reporter he takes exception to isn't removed from the City Hall beat; he is enabled by a family member, brother Doug; to conclude, the mayor is a disruptive influence on the rest of the citizenry.

It is sad that today when I opened The Star I was confronted on the front page by what should be a trivial matter, while important issues such as Dalton McGuinty's political machinations and Harper's move to limit democratic debate on the omnibus budget bill are pushed to the inner pages. Like those pesky students of my earlier life, Rob Ford is disrupting our larger classroom once again.

Rob Ford Issues Fatwa Against Star Reporter Daniel Dale

Now this is reaching absurdist proportions, even for the political circus that Toronto has become under its buffoon/mayor, Rob Ford.

The Hysterical Hyperbole of The Globe's Neil Reynolds

The other day I wrote a post about the right-wing propaganda machine going into high gear as a result of the McGuinty compromise with the NDP that will result in a two-point increase in income tax for those making over $500,000 per year. Never one to miss a good rally, The Globe's Neil Reynolds has predictably joined what will soon doubtless be a juggernaut of publicly-expressed fear and outrage on the part of the 'beleaguered' wealthy.

Entitled Ontario’s taxing march to socialism, (evokes rather inflammatory imagery, doesn't it?) Reynold's article laments this 'consumption of wealth' implying that it will soon continue voraciously, resulting in a decline in everyone's savings. He predicts that nothing good can come from any move that seeks to redress inequality, dismissing it as simply a manifestation of 'hatred of the rich.'

The vacuous screed continues as he suggests the following: As a matter of statistical fact, high-income earners are poorer, in many cases, than average-income earners (with, say, $100,000 in taxable income). He ends it by conjuring up a parade of taxpayers, the least-burdened ones standing erect while the high earners carry Sisyphean boulders equal to 60 per cent of their incomes.

It is a burden, I suspect, that many in our society would be more than happy to bear.

Freedom of Information: Turkey, Mexico and India, Yes - Canada, Not So Much

The Harper obsession with secrecy and control is well-known and the source of much international attention. However, it seems we now have new reason to be both embarrassed and outraged. According to the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), our country also lags behind other less developed nations in meeting freedom of information requests:

The Associated Press ... filed requests for information on terrorism charges and convictions in 105 countries that have freedom of information laws. Turkey supplied the information in a week, India in a month, Mexico in two months. Canada asked for a 200-day extension.

Canada was also ranked 40th out of 89 countries in world’s first Global Right to Information Rating, published last year by Access Info Europe and the Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy.

One cannot help but wonder what further enhancements to democracy Harper Inc. has planned for the coming years.

POSTSCRIPT: It took a freedom of information request by Canada's real 'newspaper of record', the Toronto Star, to uncover this inconvenient truth about how the public responded to Harper's decision to raise the age of entitlement for Old Age Security benefits. One imagines the bureaucratic that opened the lid has been severely disciplined by his/her political master.