REJECTS UNITE!
Greetings Picketers,
We’re here. The vote count should be announced around 10:30 - 11:00 AM. When will classes begin again? The last classes were held on Friday the Thirteenth. I’m not superstitious but it is a wonderful literary allusion to invoke witchcraft spells, supernatural threats and dangerous apparitions. Seems like a good description of this whole bargaining cycle.
Ignored all summer. Beaten up for three weeks, then a last minute Forced Vote that lost us two more weeks. We and our students separated for five weeks. Our students and their studies separated for five weeks. We and our paychecks separated for five weeks. The threat of a divided Faculty body in the offing.
But their spell didn’t work! Our solidarity never broke. With boosts from a GTA Rally, then a Provincial Rally, then a Sheridan Rally, then a Sheridan Student Rally, and pot luck picket snacks and meals, and Striketoberfest BBQs, breakfasts and lunches, we endured. The public and press seemed to understand our cause was not selfish. And we got to know each other better.
We were speaking up for the plight of contract workers in a precarious work environment. We proudly stood up for a more humane society, where our students would have the security of a steady job, where the wealth in this country and province filled with natural resources that are the envy of the world, would secure a productive and fulfilling life for all its citizens.
The only thing standing between us and the fruits of this great land, is bad management. Worse sometimes, we fall under cynical management that plays with our students’, our children’s semester, their futures. Our students are with us as we saw on Solidarity Monday. The videos are on our blog, address below, and here’s the news coverage which appeared today.
We’re here, five weeks later. Did we manage to stand strong, united, opposing the schemes enacted to drive us apart – to set faculty against faculty, students against faculty? I believe we did. We not only stood strong, our solidarity grew stronger as their cynical plans unfolded. We United REJECTS are the majority, at least the vocal majority. We’ll know the numbers in a few hours. I’ll send them out as soon as I get them – probably simultaneously with the news reports.
Standing proudly with all CAAT Faculty and Students,
Jack
Jack Urowitz,
President, OPSEU Local 244
Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
(905) 845-9430 Extension 2832
Union Office 4065
(905) 845-9430 Extension 2832
Union Office 4065