[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Checkmate? It happened just as I said it did. I generally referred to keyboard warriors in a preceding post but you are the one who actually called yourself one. I didn’t call you one directly until you referred to yourself as one because I assumed you identified as one.

You were responding directly to my post; the implication was quite clear that you included me amongst the keyboard warriors you were referencing. Which is fine, the shoe fits.

I already gave you an example of something very practical and impactful that you can do and also gave some reasoning for why it will be helpful. I’ll go into a little bit more detail below.

So if you really want this to happen you’d be best served by starting a public petition stating that the signees will support unions in their fight by committing to not buy products from any businesses that fire employees for supporting this fight and to vote out the UCP if they don’t fix both this problem and the labour code they gutted.

Sorry, I'm not going to start that petition. But I'd happily sign it. I care deeply about a lot of progressive causes. Unions don't really make my list. I'm sure I take everything they've done for me for granted and I'm sorry.

What has for me been incredibly frustrating while reading these posts is the lack of understanding of the longterm financial burden to unions that is being asked for and then hearing them be blamed for not doing enough by people whose historical lack of support for Unions is a big part of the reason why Unions don’t have more resources at their disposal to do what those folks want Unions to do for them now.

By lack of support I don’t mean having to be a Union member. It’s voting for and supporting parties that intentionally make it harder for Unions to do what they are supposed to be able to do and generally not being supportive of workers when they are in labour disputes where it is clear they aren’t being treated fairly by their employers.

It’s great that people finally seem to be starting to understand some of the benefits they can provide to the general public but you have to understand that after decades of few being supportive, members wrongfully being called lazy/entitled, or unions wrongfully being accused of only helping bad employees, there’s going to be some hesitation from unions to believe the public won’t leave them hanging high and dry to rebuild after this fight. Which is frankly probably something the UCP is hoping for.

This is an odd time to grind your axe about our past collective failures. I'd imagine 90% of the people vowing support right now have been voting orange since at least 2015. Sorry so many of our neighbours suck, I guess? I'm also sorry I haven't personally taken up the union cause all these years...Is that what you need to hear?

Unions definitely have a big PR problem. Most of it is probably unfair. I won't even try to suggest that any of the oft-repeated criticisms you mention are true or justified in any way...but I will say that nothing I've seen or heard in the last few days has done anything to disabuse me of those notions. Personally, I'm ambivalent about my own experience working within a union, but I'm still generally supportive overall. But this week's messaging hasn't really moved the needle for me in that regard. I just don't want to see any of our rights trampled, even if it doesn't apply to me personally (yet).

That’s why it would be helpful to see the public actually take steps to show unions they will support them longterm by demonstrating in some way an actual commitment to refusing to support any unreasonably anti-union businesses and governments. Better legislation will give unions the ability to grow and waste less money on frivolous court challenges while doing so. Businesses fearing public backlash for anti-union tactics will inevitably lead to less money being spent by unions dealing with that nonsense. Both help workers get the help of a Union if they want that, but the added stability also puts unions in a better position to support and represent their members with less resources being spent, which gives them more resources to potentially put into what you’re asking them to do now.

I say this in general terms but talk is cheap. Put yourselves in the shoes of unions for a moment. Would you trust the voting public of Alberta to not vote in another anti-union government without them doing anything of substance to convince you first?

If you and the majority of the public can do enough to convince Unions across the province that you’ve got their backs I’ll drive you up to the legislature building in Edmonton to give your speech because I’d love to hear it. I’ll even bring you a megaphone.

All good ideas. You guys gotta figure out a better PR game. Chastising new and existing supporters for the broader failures of the past ain't it.

I definitely would not trust us to not elect another despicable government. That's why we need to act ASAP.

Convincing each other is a two way street. Lots of us still have your backs. But I think the movement lost a lot of steam yesterday afternoon and it will continue to wane with each day that passes. Blame the rest of us if it makes you feel better, I guess?