Union-made chaos

>> How legal strikers use illegal tactics

by PHILIP PREVILLE

Imagine being engulfed by road rage while your car is stuck in an early morning traffic jam. You're already at the boiling point when you realize that it's a picket line--a few hundred slogan-chanting, picket-waving blue-collar workers--standing between you and your office coffee mug.

That's what happened to one Montreal commuter last Friday morning at the corner of Jeanne-Mance and René-Lévesque. His trip was stopped short by yet another rotating strike courtesy of the federal government's blue-collar workers, who blockaded the Revenue Canada building and brought traffic to a halt.

The furious commuter got out of his car and began yelling obscenities and threats at the picketers. They yelled back; he charged at them. Police intervened and arrested him, and a picture of him--all red-faced and acrimonious--appeared on page three of Saturday's Gazette.

The man stands as a symbol of frustration for all those whose routines and errands have been disrupted by striking union members. And there's much more union-sponsored disruption in the making. In addition to the federal blue-collar workers, Montreal's municipal blue-collar employees are without a contract, which prompted them to walk off the job during the mini-ice storm in early February--more than 150 car accidents occurred that morning.

Bell Canada's operators and technicians also began work slowdowns this week. And Quebec's provincial employees--everyone from civil servants to teachers to nurses--have been without a contract since last June. "We finally started negotiating about six weeks ago, but the two sides are very, very far apart at this stage," says Louis Fournier of the Fédération des Travailleurs du Québec (FTQ). While the FTQ currently has no plans to strike, says Fournier, "things could get heated in late summer and through the fall."

Bending the rules

Unions have also become extremely adept at planning and executing their job actions--especially the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which represents the federal blue-collar workers (the strikers responsible for half-day shutdowns of the old customs building and the Guy-Favreau complex two weeks ago, and Dorval airport two weeks before that). The last time they went on strike, in 1991, they all walked off the job together; two weeks later, the government legislated them back to work. This year, they are staging top-secret rotating strikes involving only a few hundred workers at a time--making it difficult for the federal government to react.

For another, they have been blockading the buildings. "Technically, in the strictly legal sense, we're not allowed to block the entrances to the buildings," admits the PSAC's Robert Morissette. But they do it anyway, he says, because they know police will not intervene without negotiating first.

The MUC Police's riot squad has been on hand at most of the PSAC strikes, but no picketers have been arrested to date. "Our philosophy is to be as tolerant as possible," says Richard Carlyle, head of the MUC's tactical division. "Everyone has the right to demonstrate, so we will not open a picket line by force unless we have to. If building management wants us to clear the entrances, they have to sign a paper to that effect. Usually we end up brokering a discussion between the two sides and coming to an agreement, but the building remains closed for a few hours."

Strikers have also been plastering the buildings with stickers--also technically illegal. But Carlyle says his hands are tied. "The stickers count as public mischief--but because it's a misdemeanour, we have to actually witness the person putting them up. In a strike situation with a few hundred people, it's impossible to tell who did what."

Public sympathy? Who cares?

"We're definitely walking a fine line," admits the PSAC's Morissette. "But we have to make our presence felt or it won't have any effect on the negotiations. When we show up, management remembers our visit."

What about public sympathy? Like the irate commuter, most bystanders, when suddenly caught in the middle of someone else's contract dispute, blame the union for ruining their morning. They don't care how reasonable the union's demands are--and in many cases, unions make little effort to tell people what their demands are.

Morissette says he doesn't care about them either. "It's not public sympathy that will win this negotiation for us," he says. From his perspective, while people don't care about the union's demands, they don't care who wins the settlement either--they just want the blockades to stop. "If people call the government to complain, that puts pressure on them to negotiate with us."