The Examiner did two stories on the situation. Here is the first one.
Best of Luck, AUPE: I think you're going to need it.
For several months now, the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE) has been involved in a labour dispute with the Support for Artspace Independent Living housing coop (SAIL).
Basically, AUPE has made demands of SAIL that the SAIL board says would bankrupt the coop within a year. So SAIL locked out the AUPE-organized healthcare workers. Then things got ugly. At which point AUPE's tactic should have been to keep the matter as quiet as possible.
Instead, they've elected to do the opposite. AUPE has filed a $500,000 defamation lawsuit against Edmonton-area blogger Kathleen Smith -- otherwise known as Kikki of KikkiPlanet. The union declares that allegations made by Smith, Ontario conservative politician Jason Tucker, and Jane Doe (a blogger believed to be living at Artspace whose identity is as yet unknown) are defamatory. The three allege numerous onerous acts by AUPE protesters, many of which seem to be strongly supported by the evidence currently available to the general public.
This piece includes the extended video taken the morning Malka (with a k, not a t) used the air raid siren.
There are some errors in the piece, aside from the spelling of Malka's name. It's that same topic that so many have troubles with.
SAIL is not a housing co-op. It is a company. A subsidiary.
It is SAIL that would be rendered insolvent by AUPE's demands, not the co-op. The co-op's finances are completely separate from SAIL. SAIL's only source of revenue is AHS. SAIL pays rent to Artspace for office space; a converted 2 bedroom unit. That's the only financial connection between the two.
I rather like the author's closing statement.
While none of the defendants have filed their defense yet, one thing seems clear, at least to this author: if justice is done in this case AUPE will lose, and lose big. Unless the descriptions of the incidents in the video evidence significantly differs from actual events, AUPE deserves to lose.There is still an attempt to give AUPE the benefit of the doubt. A potential out.
The video evidence is what it is, though.
Then they did a second piece, this time coming at the story from a different angle.
How Does Anything Go Back to Normal at Artspace?
The video with this story features someone we at Artspace have come to know very well through her antics on the picket line. She features in many videos.
It's the closing statements that cut to the heart of the issue.
How does that person go back to work at Artspace and expect everything to go back to normal? She is an able-bodied woman who has just used violent language in the course of a verbal confrontation with a disabled person. There are issues of vulnerability at play which make it impossible for this to go away with a simple apology. Whoever this AUPE picketer is, saying "sorry" is not going to make that go away.
In AUPE's defense -- however meagre it may be -- a stop was eventually put to these verbal confrontations. But not until many complaints were lodged by Artspace residents and staff.
The question -- discouraged by lawsuits as it may be -- seems obvious: with all the things that have transpired between AUPE picketers, with AUPE brass present, and Artspace residents, how do any of these people go back to work? This isn't a question that only applies to the subject of this YouTube video. It applies to every single AUPE member who stood by and watched as these things took place. How is this a situation that ever goes back to normal?
The answer seems obvious: it doesn't. Not ever. Not so long as AUPE and its members are involved.
No wonder AUPE has moved to silence such questions.
This video goes back to July 8, but the behaviour of the picketing SAIL staff had raised those questions right from day one.
It was these actions that lead to SAIL user members to lose all trust they may have had with the picketing SAIL staff.
It's why, when they decided to "suspend" the strike and come back to work on short notice, user members objected.
It's why they got locked out, so there would be no chance of them trying to do this again.
There is simply no way for this sort of damage to be repaired.
User members must feel safe around the people who care for them.
It is their basic human right to feel safe in their homes, and decide who can or can't come in to provide care.
This piece would get a media win for one thing alone: the author is the first person in the media to tackle that obvious problem.
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