The dust settles, and the machine moves again.

I found myself in the company of two of the strongest people in the world this past Friday evening. The three of us were spanning time in their cozy east-end apartment, flipping channels on the television, when we discovered that, in precisely one hour's time, the transit workers were to walk off the job, having rejected the collective bargaining agreement offered by their employers at the Toronto Transit Commission. We thought we were hallucinating, so we flipped through the other "news" telecasts to be sure: lo and behold, they were saying the same thing. We needed a few minutes to properly grasp this information after being blindsided by its left hook; at which time, realizing that the next bus home wasn't due to arrive for nearly a half hour, leaving just over thirty minutes to complete a forty-five-to-an-hour trip, I discovered myself in a bit of a spot (though not nearly as unfortunate as those poor souls who hadn't any idea they would be stranded in whatever part of town they were gainfully employed). Luckily, my friends were kind enough to put me up for the night, for which I am forever grateful.

The following morning, we found ourselves glued to the television set again, watching a live detail of last night's event, including feedback from those who found themselves without a ride home - as he walked across the street to fetch a cup of coffee, my friend noticed a gentleman, briefcase in tow, standing at the bus stop until a lady approached and broke the news to him, demonstrating what happened to you if you happened to go to bed before eleven o'clock the previous evening. There was also a phone-in portion of the program: one woman, despite expressing shock and dismay, tried to sympathize with the striking workers; the next caller, a man, sounded visibly upset, and made no effort to conceal or dilute his contempt for the workers; the last caller we saw, another man, brought to light the various elements at play in the situation, not wishing to purvey the caustic response the hostess seemed interested in eliciting.

A week earlier, the Union boss provided forty-eight hours notice of a strike, should no agreement be reached. Fortunately, or so it seemed at the time, a deal was reached, pending ratification from the Union members, thus (temporarily) averting the deactivation of our city's transit system. This time around, the public wasn't so lucky, as only an hour's notice was given; the reason being, according to said Union boss, was that, during the weekend prior, transit workers were systematically harrassed and threatened (in some cases, spat upon), and he would not again compromise the safety of his workers. Ironically, any hostility he sought to avoid by pulling his workers off the job so suddenly would likely have hit them ten-fold upon their return to work for that very reason, though calm did prevail (the head corporate lackey of our fair Province encouraged commuters to be kind to the returning workers).

Sunday afternoon, after an "emergency" session was called in Parliament, it was agreed that the employees be ordered back to work immediately. Within a few hours, the system had returned to normal, meaning the city could do the same. Personally, I didn't know what to think: sure, I depend on the TTC to get around the city, and was relieved to be able to do so again; but also, I fully believe in the right of workers to stand up for themselves - especially when facing the growing trend of finding their jobs outsourced to money-making machines (I wonder if my former employer is reading) - a right that, in my eyes, was discarded when legislated back to work. That being said, I'm also aware of the dastardly deeds of which Union representatives are capable, as they seem less about acting as a voice for the commoner than they are grabbing as much as they can in a society promoting such behaviour.

I was thinking to myself how effective these isolated job actions can possibly be: a strike by one sector of the work force seems to adversely affect the livelihood of the rest, thus eliciting vitriolic attitudes towards the former, as if the result of some clever divide-and-conquer technique, pitting worker against worker. Perhaps a work stoppage by this union or that is not the answer, but rather a strike by all of them at once, because, let's face it, we're all in this together: whether an employee for the public transit authority, the sanitation department, the local general store, or one of the many multinational corporations, we are slaves all the same. Without that awareness, any small-scale strike will be futile, thus the time has come for something much larger, reaching every single person finding her/himself struggling to keep head above water.

The corporate media will have themselves a ball hailing the defeat of the transit workers. Unfortunately, for them, they won't be hailing the victory of the people, for their workers will not be reporting it in their newspapers or on their television networks, as they will be in the streets with the rest of their sisters and brothers.