Now You're Just Talkin' Trash.

This was a tough read today:

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Eleven weeks into a strike by his own city’s workers, Windsor’s mayor has become a media darling in Toronto, where civic employees walked off the job Monday.

“I’m getting tons and tons of calls,” Eddie Francis said Wednesday between juggling calls from television news anchors, radio talk show hosts and newspaper reporters.

What everyone wants to know is how Windsor has managed to survive so long through a bitter strike while Toronto is already drowning in garbage and stinking waste mere days into its municipal work stoppage.

If Windsorites hadn’t listened to the pleadings of the mayor and council and taken charge of the garbage situation “clearly, it would have been a very different situation,” said Francis, who tells Torontonians that three-quarters of Windsor’s garbage stream is being handled by residents themselves.

Pardon my french...but EXCUSE THE FUCK OUT OF ME?
No no no, if people hadn't gone on Kijiji and hired some guys a buck fifty a bag to take their trash away, things would have been a VERY different situation.
If people hadn't gone and given their garbage to folks living in...oh say - TECUMSEH...(has the Toronto media contacted THEM about their garbage scenario?) - things would have been a very different situation.
Are we really giving Eddie Francis credit for this strike being handled well? Is it because we were good little zombies and listened to the wise words of our leader?
No- we cleaned shit up because we had no other choice - because we were drowning in it - and we have some pride.
I got rid of my garbage because I was FORCED to.
FORCED.
Not because I was crossing a picket line.
Smack dab in the middle of not only the highest unemployment rate in Canada - but also summer festival season...we have a stubborn strike going on.
This is not being handled well, I'm sorry if I offend - but it's a disaster.
I'm not BASHING anyone...but all this patting on the back for how well it's being handled is sickening.

But of course, it gets better.

Not having garbage pile up in the streets, he (Mayor Francis) added, removed an “element of pressure” on the part of the strikers and strengthened the city’s position at the bargaining table.

The get-tough message Francis is delivering to Hogtown is infuriating leaders of CUPE, the union representing striking municipal workers in both cities.

"Get tough"? These are people's jobs.
This is a city which needs every bit of help it can get. He could have deferred this - to Fall. Fought it out then. Waited until times were better. We've had this same contract for years now - what's a little bit longer?
This is no time to "get tough" - not in Windsor.
Times are tough enough.
But he's a media darling.
So what? He's an expert at pro-longing strikes?
Toronto is a zillion times bigger than Windsor. It's a wee bit of a different situation.

I'm not going to vilify anyone...but - I think this is getting childish.

Francis said Wednesday that Ryan (from CUPE) challenged him in his office on how the city would respond when the garbage began piling up along the curbs and the union went door-to-door seeking political pressure on the employer.

“Clearly, CUPE’s strategy hinged on garbage piling up in neighbourhoods and then council would cave,” said Francis. “The public sent a message to council … to stand our ground. The message was: ‘We’ll take care of the garbage and you take care of our tax dollars,’” he said.

No. We weren't sending any message to the mayor or city council.
We did what we had to do because fruit flies were forming in our garbage, maggots were crawling through our rotting food - and rats, skunks and racoons are fattening up and starting to not really give a shit if it's night or day.
And why should they?
The eatins are good.

We sent our garbage away because we were FORCED TO.
Because we had no other choice.
That above statement...it just feels like we're being used as a pawn in a little game here.

Maybe he should take a walk down a west end street and take a whiff. There are some people who don't have the luxury of being able to whisk away their bags to friends in Tecumseh - or go online and hire some people to take their trash away.
On my way to work each day, I have to pass by piles of garbage, mounds of it - piles of 30 bags or more - and hope that no critters come scrambling out.

Again - as far as negotiating and taking sides - I'm going to say I'm staying neutral because I don't know HALF the shit going on...I only know what I see...and seriously - how much of that can anyone trust.
I'm a third party outsider...

But I will say this: I am sick of all the CUPE bashing.
Sick of it.
I am sick of how this city smells and looks.
And I'm really disgusted by someone taking a few pats on the back and becoming a "media darling" for how well this strike is being handled.
"Thank GOD we listened to the Mayor."
Do they REALLY think the majority of people think that?

Because I don't.