Duping the Ontario Labour Relations Board
Two years ago today Toronto’s York University was not peaceably closed for holidays. It was ruthlessly shut down. It was besieged by what became the longest strike at any English-speaking university — ever.
The aftermath? Nothing but damage. Not merely in terms of economics. Not only to the reputation and quality of education at York University. Certainly not least to students surviving the strike. Yet more-so, by real poetic justice, crushing burdens have flattened the instigating Local utterly.
Legislated back to work by Ontario’s government, administrated by CUPE National — Local 3903 has been cuffed by governing authority and grounded by our parent union. Have we 3903s learned anything, though? Of course not.
As far as we 3903s are concerned, administration — trusteeship — by CUPE National is entirely illegitimate. It but serves to eliminate democracy from our Local. That’s why, in our letter of opposition addressed to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, while admitting that we must find ways to resolve our internal differences, we declared that,
Trusteeship has done nothing to move us in this direction. Members are eager to finally begin this important process, but we cannot do it until we regain democratic control of our local… Only democratic local control of the union will allow us to move forward in rebuilding our local.
Too ironically, the Ontario Labour Board appears to have totally tumbled for it. The October 28 Decision confirms Local democracy as perhaps the Board’s preeminent concern:
.. individuals.. have raised concerns about.. what some of them have referred to as an erosion of local democracy… Most strikingly in my view, neither the.. letter.. nor the.. response filed by CUPE set out any timetable or plan proposed for the resumption of local self-government through the holding of elections.
Most strikingly, indeed. As if the erosion of our Local democracy were due to CUPE’s failing to timetable fair elections — rather than how the very individuals bemoaning the erosion long since eradicated anything remotely democratic within our Local.
In fact, the precise opposite is true. Quite apart from whatever financial wrongdoing, one of the primary reasons for administration has been to address and resolve ongoing harassment and intimidation in Local 3903. Unless and until our Local culture of harassment and intimidation can be resolved, there is no point holding democratic elections. No elections in Local 3903 can be fair and democratic while dissent — our so-called dissident voices — is so viciously silenced.
CUPE National submitted information to the Board alleging that examples of harassment and intimidation are numerous:
Members and (then) Executive Officers of the local being “stared down” at General Membership Meetings while voting; their cars being surrounded after General Membership Meetings; coupled with verbal abuse, verbal threats; and, in one instance, physical assault at a General Membership Meeting.
But CUPE National doesn’t know the half of it. Not the tenth of it. Nobody that hasn’t experienced the viciousness, that hasn’t been systematically targeted can really know. And CUPE National can have no information from those that have been most viciously silenced. From those 3903s too terrified ever to come forward at meetings — or come out and testify to CUPE National.
CUPE Nationals don’t really know. Board members cannot begin to know. That’s why the Board is not to blame for being duped. For failing to recognize the individuals bemoaning erosion of democracy are just those who eradicated our Local democracy in the first place. For failing to realize the impossibility of fair democratic 3903 elections while our Local culture of harassment and intimidation so proudly and brazenly persists — as it once again will the first moment after administration ceases.
The Board cannot be blamed for failing to appreciate how fervidly, how zealously we 3903s harass and intimidate our own. Nor what undemocratic methods are entailed by our out-of-control ideology — as, for instance, Tyler Shipley so lucidly explained in his “Demanding the Impossible: Struggles for the Future of Post-Secondary Education” (2009). Nor, indeed, the totalitarian orgies we refer to as General Membership Meetings. As I described in “How Undemocratic is CUPE 3903 — The Story Of Val” (2010).
However ironic the OLRB enabling our Local delinquency may seem — it doesn’t even matter. Not really. Because whether administration ends several months sooner or later can make no real difference. End it must. And when it does — watch out. Government cannot stop us. CUPE National cannot control us. When we next strike out it won’t just be our Local democracy getting victimized.
Last modified on 2011-12-11 22:58:59 GMT. 21 comments
How Undemocratic Is CUPE 3903 — The Story Of Val
Nothing vanishes entirely.
These events were subject to legal disputes and settlements — among the terms of which we have been told there were gag orders. Nevertheless, as non-parties, we hope to responsibly outline certain germane, personally heard and eye-witnessed particulars. This tale needs telling not only to expose our radical, anti-democratic 3903 regime but, perhaps most importantly, to ensure these events do not vanish without trace — do not pass seamlessly into darkness.
Paul Moist calls CUPE Local 3903 “dysfunctional”. Fair enough. Brother Moist can’t know the tenth of it — how dysfunctional we really are — but he does have some clues.
It wasn’t always like that, though. Regardless how ideologically out of control — we never had such total meltdown before. Never even came close to getting ourselves legislated and administrated as in 2009.
Regardless how ideologically out of control, we never became completely dysfunctional. Not totally. Something always kept us functioning. More accurately, someone. Specifically, as anyone been around longer than four or five years knows, Val. Our singular 3903 staff rep.
What made Val so singular? Not the way he put people at ease, that’s for sure. Not with that way he had of looking at people one moment too long. Making one feel like he knew precisely who did what onto whom last summer. It wasn’t the little things that made Val singular. It was the important things. The way he stood up, crossed country miles and went to bat for members in distress. The way he knew where everything was, what to do with it, who to take it to. How no door could be shut in one’s face when Val said a word.
With Val on the job it didn’t matter how ideologically out of control we got. It didn’t matter what Machiavellian machinating went on. Local 3903 could not become totally dysfunctional with Val around to save the day — every day. He kept us functioning collectively — and just as often kept us going personally. That’s what made him so singular. How singularly indispensable he was — to us.
But one day Val’s health began to visibly suffer. The man who thrived on stress as an essential nutrient, who daily drove from Hamilton as if driven, went missing on stress leave. Began taking stress days. And due to how infinitely reliable Val had always been? Due to how we all relied on him? It was as if the ground itself had stumbled under our feet — or the stars staggered from their perfect spheres.
Nor was Val talking. Wouldn’t say what trouble there was. Fortunately, secrets were never what 3903s kept best. From drunken boasting, from FaceBook pages, from accessible electronic listservs, enough puzzling pieces fell into general gossip — and too neatly into obvious place. Yet none could regard what emerged as the big picture. It was too small. It was just nasty.
There was no help concluding 3903′s most radical ideologues were conspiring to purge Val from his position. How? Through targeted harassment. Why? Precisely because Val was so singularly indispensable to 3903 functioning. Val’s indispensability meant that Local 3903 could not effectively be subjugated to the most radical agenda without first obtaining complete accord or unconditional obedience from him. But Val would never place obedience to one faction before the whole 3903 functioning. Therefore Val had to go. Val had to be purged from his position. Then, following Val’s purge, our most radical ideologues could either select a partisan staff rep from among their own — names were already being speculated and bandied about — or hire externally someone more dispensable. Someone more easily replaced if disobedient to the radical ideologues’ agenda.
More regular 3903 members were not in the least surprised. This was our radical ideologues’ standard operating procedure, after all. Regular members daring to resist undemocratic, totalitarian initiatives had been endlessly targeted just this way. Harassment, bullying, the atmosphere of persecution and fear. We were not surprised. We were shocked. We were outraged when Val became the target. What if the ideologues actually succeeded hijacking 3903 by purging Val? How could Local 3903 function without him? It couldn’t. It would become a dysfunctional, ideological, totalitarian nightmare.
We heard there were grievances, by Val’s Local, against 3903. We heard there were legal actions taken by Val. We heard perhaps exaggerated horrors how our most radical ideologues were persecuting Val. The more regular membership could not know what was or wasn’t true. But we were all too familiar with our most radical ideologues. Their penchant and zeal for persecuting. There was no ignoring the conspiracy against Val involved particular malice — and entailed unpredictable harm. That’s why so many senior regular members got up in arming to help Val. Because we had been around long enough that, at one time or another, Val had helped each of us. Personally.
It seemed like hundreds committed to helping Val. About thirty — give or take — showed up. But it was enough. That became obvious soon as we walked into the general membership meeting. We were more than enough. Since there were maybe eleven other bodies in that room — even counting the partisan chair and the usual suspects on the podium. We began to feel confident.
If not for our initial confidence? We might sooner have recognized what totalitarian parody of membership-driven democracy was about to ensue. When the first thing that partisan chair did was insert whatever our concerns were as agenda item five. That much, though, we thought we were prepared for. No way would we sit for six hours’ droning on agenda items one through four — just so agenda item five could never be addressed.
“Ninety percent everyone is here to address that,” we said. Words to that effect. “Better make it first priority job one, don’t you think?”
“Oh, yeah,” demanded the partisan chair, ” Just what are you even here to address?” Again, in words to that effect.
“We want you to stop persecuting Val,” we said. And, “Stop oppressing Val.” And “Stop harassing Val.” And some of us simply said “Leave Val alone.”
The partisan chair did not respond. He elected that moment to throw fits at us. Started scream ranting how we were never to mention Val. How our lawyers had said never to mention Val. How illegal it therefore was for us to ever even mention Val.
That’s how it went forty-five minutes subsequent the appointed start time. That chair absolutely refusing to let the meeting start. Ranting, raving, threatening dire personal repercussions against anyone daring to mention Val. And yet more odd? All partisans of that raving chair seemed to have vanished. They left their partisan chair ranting alone. How come? Were they too mortified by his public displaying to remain associated with it? Hardly. They were eye-witnessed in the hallway just outside. Madly gabbling on their cellphones. Giving street directions. Repeatedly providing instructions how to locate and arrive at the meeting.
Some of us left then. But most stayed. Still believing we could help Val. We still had our commanding majority — didn’t we?
No. We didn’t. Not after those forty-five minutes that chair ranted away. Not after all the calls for partisan reinforcements had been placed.
Forty-five minutes subsequent appointed starting time? Sufficient partisan reinforcements had arrived. We were reduced to minority. And the ring-leading, most radical of ideologues rose to the podium, silenced that raving chair and took charge of the meeting. It was so well done, the way he took over. So diplomatic. So brilliant tactically. Magnanimous, even. As if to spare us further humiliation from collapsing chairs. And, indeed, with his majority at beck to call, he could afford to be magnanimous. All conclusions were foregone but his.
It was resolved that Val would never more be mentioned. It was further resolved the minutes would be subjected to revision — as if Val had never been mentioned in the first place.
How undemocratic is CUPE Local 3903? Utterly. It has been hijacked into some dark totalitarian sub-space underneath our relatively free and democratic Canadian society. What makes it totalitarian is not the radical agenda of the hijackers. Nor is it how unpopular the hijackers’ agenda is. Since their radical agenda sometimes proves popular indeed in 3903. What makes 3903 totalitarian is how utterly undemocratically the hijackers’ agenda has and shall continue to be implemented. Unless, of course, CUPE National were actually to do something about it in the course of 3903 Administration.
It can’t be true that everything has to come down to money. But even only in financial terms — the totalitarian hijacking of 3903 instigated serial disasters from very first moments. Long prior our spectacular meltdown, the speculation had been that — between 3903′s legal costs and settlement costs in the Val affair — three to five hundred thousand dollars were depleted from our strike fund. We cannot know. We cannot officially mention Val. Even unofficially, reference to Val has become taboo. Finding out would require third-party forensic auditing. Forensic auditing such as taking place this minute right now. Is there enough CUPE National concern to open those books? Nothing could offer greater hope for sanity and democracy in 3903 than resolution, however belated, regarding Val. Because he alone stood best for us.
We believe Val’s story has to be told. Both for sake of human dignity and the possibility of restoring some democracy in 3903. We have sought, short of sacrificing the tale altogether, to avoid every specific reference that could compromise anyone’s identity in particulars. If you do recognize those involved? Then your familiarity with these events may well exceed ours. We encourage you to help us correct any inadvertent falsehood you can perceive in our account.
Last modified on 2011-08-16 13:27:24 GMT. 5 comments
Meltdown!
CUPE Local 3903 used to be alright. We used to win imperative battles – like for tuition indexation. We believed our collective agreement best in the sector.
Lately though? We can’t win free of the dumpster we dove in.
Distracted by ideological fixations, we reject even noticing how tuition indexation got lost. Got replaced by graduate financial assistance. While the attrition from difference between GFA and tuition indexation has, over a decade, dissolved real tuition indexation into a very fine myth. Turned tuition indexation to less than mist.
Similarly, by rejecting bargaining, by so proudly hailing the impossibilities of our own demands, we lost even the tiny tokenisms entailed by conversions and SRCs. Whatever hopes our unit 2s once had have become entirely vain.
We just can’t win. But we utterly refuse ever blaming ourselves. Our most impossible demand yet is to keep blaming our employer – York University. To maintain that bargaining with York University is akin to bargaining with the devil. Since – of course – whenever bargaining with the devil, we just can’t win.
Alas, our self-narrative is getting too old and too thin even for us to believe. Regardless how diabolic, it wasn’t YorkU legislated us back to work. It was a liberal government did that. A liberal government we forced to legislate by attacking the socio-economic fabrics of society.
How did we force the government to legislate us? How are we supposed to have attacked society at large? Wholly deliberately. By contravening our strike mandate and intentionally not bargaining when striking out. By seeking to demolish YorkU rather than to improve working conditions for our membership. By exploiting the undergraduate student underclass as hostages – to create a 50,000 student-body hostage situation which our demands made impossible to resolve other than by legislating.
It certainly does seem incredible:
Who gave the radicals in 3903 mandate to ask the impossible and refuse to bargain realistically? Nobody. Our strike vote was to enable 3903 to realistically bargain better for our membership. But instead our loco local goes crusading against ideological “neo-liberalism” that doesn’t even exist.
Regardless how shocking, though. There’s no surprise. It isn’t so hard to understand. Far as our 3903 ideologues were concerned, striking wasn’t about what YorkU brought to the table. It was about kneecapping YorkU under the table. Kneecapping YorkU for tactical advantage. To have and to hold not only students but the entire York Community hostage long enough to produce the most absolute, worst possible consequence. To York students, to faculty, to staff — even to our own membership. So that YorkU would either be demolished — or capitulate utterly to our impossible demands. So that the government itself would be forced to cede control. So that our ideological agenda could finally rule.
Now, since losing — we deny it all. We now believe ourselves victims of unprovoked legislative assault. And we’ll persist denying our agenda until next we strike out. But. Nevertheless. One need not have purchased t-shirts or personally unfurled banners to demand the impossible. One need not personally been present at general meetings when we rallied and railed against neo-liberalism anywhere. No need to have been there and done all that. Our denials are transparent as the record is clear. The record how proudly we hailed striking out against neo-liberalism everywhere. The record why our demands had to be so impossible.
Eric Newstadt for one example, in the very first paragraph of “The Neoliberal University: Looking at the York Strike”, wrote:
.. the tenor of the action was and remains pitched firmly at rolling back the “neoliberal university”…
Only much later did Tyler Shipley — who most officially spoke for us local 3903s — so vehemently object to Tyler McCreary even suggesting our “leading members gleamed with revolutionary ardour.” Yet Shipley, in “Demanding the Impossible: Struggles for the Future of Post-Secondary Education”, went on to declaim how YorkU “has embodied the troubling neoliberal shift,” how “the neoliberal university replicates itself in ever more nefarious forms” and how we must all become “more militant” challenging “the neoliberal status quo.”
And how are we more militants supposed to challenge the entire “neo-liberal“ status quo? Shipley doesn’t leave us hanging in the dark. He can’t. Because Shipley doesn’t just gleam revolutionary ardour. He blazes the whole-hogging militant trail for us:
.. ‘demand the impossible’ and leave university administrators no choice but to demand, in turn, adequate funding from the province… Demanding more than what is currently ‘possible’ is simply insisting that the state alter the circumstances that define that ‘possibility’…
Thus, Tyler Shipley makes the record how we struck out not just clear — but indelible. We were never out there to better membership working conditions — which we believed were best in our sector anyway. Contrary to our strike mandate, contrary to any principle of democratic governance, we were out to force YorkU’s hand to in turn force the hands of government. And it worked. We totally forced all hands — against us.
Our ideologues’ broadest strategy, as we knew and mostly approved, was to prolong deadlock until YorkU got capitulated or busted. Nothing was to be resolved by negotiation. Our bargaining team was either explicitly forbidden to bargain — or, in any event, was to have no real authority when it did. And we 3903s knew all about it. We mostly approved it. We enforced and reenforced it. We just couldn’t admit it. Not only because, for our deathlock to work — we had to deny it existed. Not only that. It wasn’t just tactical or strategic professing utmost best-faith on our part — and how YorkU was acting in faith worse than death. It was more than that. It was ideological. It was emotional. We were not looking to take prisoners when clashing with the neo-liberal university, when striking all-out against neo-liberalism everywhere. We struck to win — and already had all the hostages we needed.
If it hadn’t been so tragic? It would have been hilarious. Us so earnestly pretending to negotiate at the table — while doing our utmost to kneecap YorkU under the table. While YorkU and third-party mediators got so nauseated — they refused even seating the same table with us any more. So that each time Shipley, our media bro, repeated how anti-bargaining YorkU was? In a manner of inspired hypocrisy, it sounded almost true. And it surely prolonged our deathlock, with time crossing more firmly to our side each passing day. Until those final moments when all our time instantly ran out.
We knew precisely what we did. But we have made ourselves forget. To better blame others. Anyone but ourselves. As if the full disproportionate scale of our damaging were forgivable merely by how cute and clever we were. As if we ought maybe have been winked and nudged at — not slapped down so hard. Never left to cringe, feeling all exploited and oppressed. Nevermind what exploiting oppressors we turned on our own students. Never mind. That part is easily ignored while truly, honestly believing we struck out for student’s own good. That alienating our students from their means of production, from their production of meaning and using them for hostage pawns made perfect sense. Since it was for their own good. Because we 3903s didn’t want students paying for future education — ruining the education students already paid for was totally justified. But look: us 3903 ideologues are not knowingly evil. All we are is ideologically out of control.
Even so. Our innocent yet radical democratic revolutionary self-narrative is doddering. Considering how we are also getting administrated now? It’s getting downright delusional. Like, how is everything still not our fault? Yet according to our Ad-Hocs Against Administration — that’s exactly how it isn’t. We can’t be faulted because, although we’ve made some mistakes — the mistakes we made were all innocent. We are just the most radically-democratic membership-driven local. We are committed to radical democracy, to social justice — and CUPE National must stop interfering with that.
Once more: inspired hypocrisy. Right? There was nothing innocent, honest or democratic in our mistakes. There wasn’t anything mistaken in the first place. Everything we did? Totally on purpose. We can’t be a membership-driven local — if only because, in our local, the membership is too ideologically driven. Too driven by totalitarian ideologues. That’s why we in 3903 have got the most thoroughly anti-democratic tradition. However we define it as “radical democracy“? It is more that same old anti-democratic vanguardism. Crowd control. The sort of totalitarian, anti-democratic practice emergent whenever ideology gets entirely out of control. Whether under early Maoism or later in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Whether under Leninism or Stalinism. Under German National Socialism. Earlier in the Iranian Cultural Revolution — or this instant in Iran today. And the real beauty? How procedurally easy the totalitarian is in 3903. Merely by playing musical Chairs, for one 3903 practice. Since whenever there’s partisan Chairs? No more need to scream at, to silence those introducing unsolicited agenda items. No more is required than holding items down for unfriendly faces to leave GMMs — while enough friendlier faces from partisan crowds get called in.
And if the Chair isn’t partisan enough with one’s own crowd? Obviously. Harass the stuffing from non-partisan Chairs. Harass, terrorize and, if still necessary, impeach. Purge. It would just so not be equitable — restricting harassing to silencing only ranks and files. But how long can we go on this way before our violence ceases remaining covert?
Truth? We are very cute and very clever. And it isn’t that we can’t bargain realistically or conduct ourselves more democratically and less dysfunctionally. It’s that we’re too ideologically out of control to want to get more real or more genuinely democratic. The question now is whether, after all the calamities we caused ourselves and others, after our total 2009 meltdown, are we prepared to start realizing why and how wrong we went. And the answer, of course, is most unlikely. If we would learn from our mistakes we wouldn’t be so ideologically out of control in the first place.
Last modified on 2012-01-18 05:18:57 GMT. 5 comments
Legislated & Administrated
All in one year. 2009.
First we got legislated by the Ontario Government. Back to work. And now, appallingly toppled at the authoritarian knee of CUPE National, us local 3903s are getting severely administrated.
They say we’ve been bad. Real bad. Not just fiscally misappropriate. Far worse. Referring to us as dysfunctional, they brazenly accuse us of instigating “a climate of fear, harassment and bullying” against our own membership. As if we were the corrupt exploiters. As if we were the oppressors. As if. Is this how they propose to lead “an already embattled labour movement in the throes of a capitalist crisis“? Dare they so utterly ignore how staunch and stalwart we 3903s confront — forefront — against the “neoliberal logic of the university“?
As if. How constantly they tailed, how reliably they trailed whenever we charged into the teeth — the fangs — of neoliberalism. Only now — when we’re provisionally laid low by the neoliberal oppressor — do they stick their administrating knife in. Stick their knives into our backs from behind. As if we were the corrupt oppressors. As if we were the exploiters. But they had better look in some mirrors lately. Because we won’t be taking their back-stabbing administrating lying down. They have more surprising things coming if they think we will.
What can we do about it, though? Don’t even ask. More surprising things. And better believe we won’t lie down for it. Don’t bother asking what we will do. Consider what we have already done.
Click to better see
For one first thing, we constituted the “Ad Hoc Committee Against Administration” which, on October 29, 2009, began issuing “the REAL 3903 NEWS” via underground bulletins to all 3903s. Calling our membership out to arms against administration.
And our Hocs Against Administration didn’t just issue bulletins. Our Hocs also convened pseudo General Membership Meetings, Special General Membership Meetings, passed motions, issued challenges and pronouncements on behalf our local — and played the usual creative mis-scheduling shell-games. Mis-scheduling such as, but not necessarily limited to declaring, in their Novermber 2, 2009 underground bulletin:
The Ad-Hoc Committee would also like to invite Lynn McDougall to attend the upcoming SGMM, in which we are proposing that she be allotted equal time to discuss her own point of view. We regret the conflict with her scheduled information meeting, however the conflict cannot be avoided…
Essentially? Our Hocs carried on as if Lynn McDougall’s administrating us were irrelevant. While simultaneously demanding she justify her administrating. While simultaneously interfering her scheduling in some if not just any event. It nearly turned into an absurd game of sorts. A high-profile game of I can’t see you so you can’t see me. But their almost-game couldn’t last — and our Hocs couldn’t possibly win. Since Ms. McDougall couldn’t see our Hocs far better than our Hocs couldn’t see her. And thus, on November 15, 2009, by the CUPE National authority vested in her, merely by mentioning how they hadn’t existed from their start — and how bastardly illegitimate their starting had been — Ms. McDougall wiped our Hocs right out of pretending to exist:
The Ad-Hoc Committee, although quite probably made up of members, is not a CUPE Local 3903 sanctioned committee. The meetings that they refer to as ‘Special General Membership Meetings’ and ‘General Membership Meetings’ are, in fact, not CUPE Local 3903 meetings as prescribed in the Constitution or intended by your by-laws. CUPE Local 3903 is not, and will not be, bound by any motions, directives or recommendations passed by the Ad-Hoc Committee, as only a CUPE Local 3903 sanctioned Special or General Membership Meeting would have that authority. Their use of the CUPE Local 3903 logo and references, as well as the security breach regarding the email lists have been forwarded for legal opinion.
Alas, Ms. McDougall had failed to see too well. Our Ad-Hoc Committee, as such, had long since wiped themselves out already. Leaving Ms. McDougall to redundantly wipe at what no longer wasn’t quite there. Ever since it had been advertised by email on November 11, 2009 to the 3903 membership at large that,
At the November 4th SGMM, the 3903 Ad-Hoc Committee Against Administration was reconstituted as the 3903 Democratic Membership Committee. This committee, which is open to all members of CUPE 3903, will work at maintaining and renewing the democratic functioning of our local. We recognize the severity of the issues that have led to Administration, and want to work together toward membership-driven solutions to these problems, as well as all other current and future concerns.
So what? What’s in a name? In this instance, at this moment — plenty. Because it wasn’t just our former Hocs getting wiped out — and transformed. Everything 3903 was getting re-branded at once. No longer were we 3903s battling the capitalist crisis. No longer did we struggle against the casualization of labour. Forget how we denounced and sought to demolish the neoliberal university. Disregard how ideologically we kept demanding the impossible — and how utterly we refused to settle for anything realistically, remotely possible. How sector, society, world-wide the ideological impossibilities we kept demanding were:
.. I submit that the only way – short of a major Left turn in the prevailing social order – to address diminishing funding for universities is to ‘demand the impossible’ and leave university administrators no choice but to demand, in turn, adequate funding from the province. After all, that which is ‘possible’ for students and workers is determined by the extent to which a given university is supported by the state. Demanding more than what is currently ‘possible’ is simply insisting that the state alter the circumstances that define that ‘possibility’ until the people who use these institutions are satisfied..
Come on. Seriously. Just forget how, in the context of our local 3903 strike, we weren’t striking for our local membership. How we struck out for entirely other possible worlds. For worlds where, we could only imagine, possibilities were fabulously different from here. Totally out of this world — no matter who got hurt in this one. Just forget all that — as, of this moment, have we.
At this moment we’re not about that. As of this moment we never were. Now we are nothing but a membership-driven local. Simply and democratically looking out for the realistic well being of our own membership. We could never have considered trampling our membership’s democratic privileges — regardless how we feared democratic privileges would interfere our more ideological or personal ambitions. We would never have harassed, intimidated and silenced opposition. We would never have jacked up the process while paying lip-services to it. There’s no way — since it was precisely the membership’s democratic privileges to which we were most committed. Always. As a membership-driven local, that’s who we are. That’s what we do. What we’re all about. Democracy.
Of course it isn’t true. Never was. Whenever democratic processes proved inconvenient to more ideological or personal ambitions? We trampled them gleefully. One would have had to experience some of our past General Membership Meetings to appreciate how true our democratic commitment never was. For a single example, at one outrageous GMM several years back, the Chair illegally halted the meeting from starting at appointed time. While members of the particular faction to which the Chair was more partial rushed from the meeting room. While they cell-phoned to summon additional friends and factional cohorts. Until the Chair’s preferred faction swelled sufficiently to outvote their opposition.
Of course Paul Moist was correct to mention a climate of fear, harassment and bullying. Just don’t expect we’ll recognize it. Right now there’s no commodity greater than our newly discovered democratic commitment. Hence, our commitment to democracy can’t be newly discovered.
What does any of this actually mean? Like, to our getting administrated? Simple, really. While Ms. McDougall kept reacting to demolish the legitimacy of our radical former Hocs — everything 3903, former Hocs included, had got re-branded as nothing but democratic. And since we 3903s now identify as always having been nothing if not democratic — this casts dim and failing lights upon Ms. McDougall’s efforts. For whatever problems and issues our local may suffer — these are nevertheless ours by all democratic means. On this as on all else — we stand together. In the past, in the present, into the future — we must always shoulder together. Whatever our victories, problems, defeats — democracy must be upheld. To advocate otherwise would not be legitimate. It wouldn’t even be civilized. It would make one an enemy of democracy. Which — democracy — has become our 3903 most cherished and principled ideal.
By re-branding ourselves as ideally democratic, we also re-brand Ms. McDougall’s administrating un-democratic. Autocratic. Maybe even dictatorial. Unless, of course, she is prepared to more democratically have us administrate ourselves. Hey — we’re, like, willing to let her have equal time to express her point of view. But — sorry about that scheduling conflict, couldn’t be helped — she never showed. We’re all aghast how undemocratic she is. Hence the language in the November 11, 2009 “Real CUPE 3903 News” emailed to the membership at large:
What does administration mean? According to Lynn, she is empowered to act as the Executive, but also as more than the executive. This means.. Lynn McDougall now has final say on any decisions related to the local… She insisted that things will be done as democratically as possible because she is not a dictator; however she said there would not be elections for any open positions and all decisions would be up to her.
Thus has the question for us 3903s become not whether our getting administrated is in-itself justified — but whether how we get administrated is sufficiently democratic to suit our convenient ideal. Certainly this constitutes rationalization — like drunk drivers resenting criminal charges due to not recognizing their actions as criminal. But when rationalizations become sufficiently shared? They can become values, ideals, ideologies, cultural principles. They can become insurmountable.
Ms. McDougall must now choose whether to dispense her administrating authority more democratically with 3903 ideologues guising as democratic idealists. Or whether not to dispense authority and become a permanent target for the righteous resentment and indignation of — that’s right — 3903 ideologues guising as democratic idealists.
Either way? It’s difficult to imagine how this administration can accomplish anything beyond cosmetics in addressing our deeper, more burning dysfunctions. The dysfunctions which warranted us 3903s getting administrated in the first place.
That’s why there’s no point even asking what we will do about getting administrated. We’ve already done it.
Last modified on 2011-09-18 04:17:59 GMT. 1 comment
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