Far Ranging Effects of AUPE Picketing

Note: this is a portion of an incident report submitted by a member who has nothing to do with SAIL and does not live in the highrise, but is still affected by the strike.

On the second day [May 8, 2014], my husband was feeling well enough to go into the office.  As some may already know, my husband has been dealing with a lot of health problems and incredible amounts of pain.  While most of the pain is due to a back injury, he also has old knee injuries that have become problems.  On many days, he is in so much pain, he doesn’t even make it downstairs (we have a work station set up in the master bedroom so he can work from home and be able to lie down when the pain becomes too intense to continue sitting upright).  He often needs to walk with a cane, though with physiotherapy and a cortisone treatment, his condition has improved somewhat.

[personal information redacted]

...[May 9, 2014], as we began to walk to the van, we found the strikers had blocked a red vehicle from leaving the parking lot.  This meant that our own vehicle was blocked as well.  Rather than put himself into a stressful situation, my husband went to take the bus.  As he left, I took some video of the strikers blocking the vehicle, which was blocking our vehicle.  On seeing me record, the strikers yelled out to me in a mocking manner.  I informed them that, because of their actions, my husband, who walked with a cane, was unable to get to work (I was rather upset, knowing how painful getting to work would be for him, and also did not wish to engage the strikers) and had to walk to the bus.  They mocked me with comments about how they were not stopping him.

(Update: Oct. 8, video added)

That day, my husband asked me to bring him home early so that he could avoid the stress of going through the strikers.  The incident left him dealing with an increased amount of pain throughout the day, and on through the weekend.  It should be noted that, while he does have painkillers he can take, these have a negative effect on his ability to think and focus.  If he takes enough painkillers to control the pain, he cannot work.

In another incident, I was returning to my parking spot.  While still on the street, I was approached by a woman.  I could hear her somewhat through the window and repeatedly shook my head no, but she would not stop.  I finally rolled the window down slightly.  She began talking to me about a petition they wanted me to sign (there were others around her).  I again told them that I was informed and told them no, repeatedly.  Though they remained polite, they did not back off, talking more about the petition and asking me to talk to the board.  I told them that I fully intended to do so.  Only then did they finally move away and let me through.  As I left my vehicle to walk towards the townhouses, strikers again tried to talk to me.  As they had repeatedly ignored my telling them “no”, I simply – and angrily – said “don’t” and kept on walking.

Also on the Friday, we found the strikers had gone from aggressive to aggressively polite (at least in the morning).  When I had to drive my daughter to work, they did try to block us again.  My daughter tried to record for me, as my dashboard holder was beginning to fail (she was unfamiliar with my phone and was not able to get a recording).  On seeing her, the strikers began to mock us.  One woman in particular, whom I will call howling woman (HW) began to mock us louder than everyone else, dancing around for the camera, waving and howling (I believe the howling was supposed to be laughter of some kind).  When I had to walk to the high rise later, I tried to record as I walked (that recording was too shaky and all that could be heard was my own breathing, so I deleted it) and she again began howling at me as I walked by.  As I returned, the strikers were leaving.  I had gone down the ramp and was walking towards our unit as HW was getting into a vehicle beside the townhouse parking spots.  Seeing me, she stuck her own phone out the window to record me, again howling.  While I have no objections to being recorded while on the street, etc., at this point she was recording down into the private areas of the townhouses.