The township was forced to modify the trespass order on February 22 when CUPE pointed out it would compromise public safety by banning unionized emergency staff like paramedics from the public spaces. The trespass order now bans all CUPE members, “excepting members of any CUPE Local that is in the process of providing emergency services.”
Well, that was a really well thought out move and totally not dumb as hell, huh?
They even got some pinkertons involved. Wow.
So an under examined problem in rural northern Ontario, in several townships, is the qualified mayors are retiring because yahoos educated on politics by fringe Facebook groups are mass harassing them. So they leave and these yahoos who think the mayor is a king end up running unopposed and get into these positions.
Then they get in power, they learn they can’t just make up laws, get frustrated by their own political impotence and try to take it out on whoever they can.
I know of one town where the mayor decided not to run again because a group online were calling clients of his business to tell them he was unlicensed, except his business didn’t require any licensing.
No idea if this mayor is one of those people, but he certainly sounds like them.
The mayor’s letter was signed by all but one town council member, who tendered his resignation on February 20 making them the second councilor to resign within a year.
This is part of the problem, you know the mayor is going to do whatever he can to fill that council seat with another power hungry jackass.
The union members have their own safety concerns. CUPE reported two striking workers were hit by a pickup truck crossing the picket line on February 14.
To clarify, this was actually two separate incidents with two different pickup trucks, on the same day, hitting two strikers.
Weeks earlier, two township staff were charged with stalking union members. The town’s director of infrastructure services has been charged with “criminal harassment and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle after allegedly accelerating at a stop sign, nearly hitting the locked-out workers.” The town’s executive assistant in finance also faces charges of criminal harassment and assault with a weapon. Both will appear in court next month.
In November, Bender told the picketing workers they were “getting closer and closer to you being pretty hungry” and that they should 'start looking" for other jobs.
What a bunch of assholes.
70% of the township’s citizens signed a petition calling for an investigation into the town’s finances from Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
It’s rare you can get 70% of a town to agree on anything at all.
Something, something, free association?
If our community did that, it would also cover school bus drivers, highway workers, and others who have no employment relationship with the community, yet have legitimate need to access those locations.
If they want to pursue a lockout, there already ways to do so.
