“…we call upon OPSEU to focus their campaign on the funder rather than going after these dedicated members of our local Renfrew and Arnprior communities.”

Executive-Director Jennifer Lavallee

First of all, OPSEU’s not going after anyone.

It’s been me asking all the questions that make this person’s feelings so bruised.  And for the record, I’m not going after anyone either.  I’m just searching for accountability, as in who has it?  Who has whatever it takes to own responsibility for the decisions made by the management side in this labour dispute?

To borrow a phrase from Harry Truman, where does the buck stop here?

It troubles me to report on this.

Part of my efforts to cover the work disruption between CLRCS and OPSEU Local 472 involve me talking to people, that is people who have some sort of stake in the eventual outcome.  That will have  me making attempts to speak to people on either side of the issue, although I’ll admit to not having very much exposure to the management side, probably because they likely think that I’m some hack working for the union.  They’re wrong about the union part.

That said, I’d be more than happy to speak with any representative management might like to throw out there, but again, I don’t have a lot of confidence of such an outreach taking place from that quarter.  But the invitation still stands.

Imagine, another invitation to talk that will likely be ignored.  More than likely outright scoffed at.  But I get it.

If I were them, I wouldn’t really want to talk to me either.

To hear the government tell it, the labour dispute between Community Living Renfrew County South —  CLRCS — and Local 472 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. — OPSEU — is a matter solely between the employer and the union.

That, generously put, is just not true.

And they know it but say it anyways, even with a straight face, something populists like them seem to thrive upon and take pride in.  To them, Conservative MPPs, deflecting truth is an art form.

There are  reasons why this strike is still going on, and there are reasons why there are other groups on strike against similar agencies also involved with tending to the needs of disadvantaged Ontarians.

If it wasn’t for U.S. President Donald Trump, Ontario Premier Doug Ford would be in a world of political hurt.

I mean, he’s already in a world of political hurt, but it would be a lot worse if a crazy American president wasn’t around to be an asshole all the time, thus allowing Ford to throw on his Captain Canada cape.  Every time Trump opens his mouth and says something stupid — which is pretty much every single one of the times — Ford gets an opportunity to play the bad cop to Mark Carney’s good cop when it comes to managing the unmanageable lunatic on the other side of the fence.  Polling backs up the fact that Ontarians like it when their premier talks tough to the president.

But even with the political convenience of Trump, Ford has his problems, and polling confirms that as well.

Conservative MPP Billy Denault would have us believe that the Ontario government has no business getting involved in the labour dispute between Community Living Renfrew County South and OPSEU Local 472.

Well he’s wrong.

As you know, the province foots the bill for Community Living and its operations, and since nothing can be done without them, it’s a little bit rich for he and them to claim non-involvement.  That’s without even mentioning the extraordinary amount of wasted money being shovelled at replacement workers, security guards, private investigators, and all their related costs and expenses.

This response from our MPP is simply not acceptable.

I’m afraid I don’t know Jennifer Lavallee personally, nor have I ever met her.  If she’s ever willing to change that, I’m available for coffee and baked treats on my dime should she ever be tempted by such a generous offer.  Then, of course, I could get a look at this nasty labour dispute through her eyes.  In the interest of fairness and all of that.

All I know of Renfrew’s Executive-Director for Community Living Renfrew County South is what I’ve heard from others with experience with her, but that’s all second-hand stuff and not the best hook to be hanging my hat on.

But I do feel I know one thing about her, in that it appears she has a really bad public relations problem with the community at large.

What an interesting contrast in tone and tenor.

I’m talking about Sandra Summers, the Executive-Director of BACLA — Brockville and Area Community Living Association — and a media release that she put out this month as an update to her community on the current labour dispute between her agency and her workers represented by OPSEU Local 441.

Now, before I get all gushy here, let me preface my remarks by stating that Ms. Summers is an Executive-Director herself, meaning she’s management, which means she likely swims using the same practiced strokes her peers in the industry employ. So that said, nobody is saying here that she’s willing to roll over and accede to every request or demand tossed her way by the union.

But Lord-liftin’, her tone is decidedly different than the one on offer right here in Renfrew Town.  And maybe those with legitimate suspicions might call bullshit, and maybe there’s an element of that in play, but if that’s the case, this bull-shit, in both degree and in smell, is much preferable to what we’ve been served up here in our own community.

“CLRCS remains committed to bargaining in good faith with the goal of reaching a fair and reasonable agreement for all parties. Our priority continues to be the wellbeing of the people we support, their families, and our staff.”

CLRCS Executive-Director Jennifer Lavallee

A person can make all the commitments they want, and say all that they want to say in the hopes of encouraging their prospective audience, but saying you’re going to talk while seemingly having no intention of talking is, well, sort of like talking out of both sides of your mouth.

The introductory quote comes from an email sent out by the Executive-Director to her, as she puts it, families and supporters.  In it she falls over backwards to ensure that her audience is fully aware of the great lengths she’s prepared to go to in order to get to the bargaining table and hammer out a collective agreement with OPSEU Local 472 that brings warmth and happiness to all parties of the dispute.  Hell, she even assures them of her “good faith” in pursuing these lofty goals.

Honestly, I don’t know what to make of that.

Mass mediation is something OPSEU has proposed as a means and manner of finding a solution to the labour dispute still underway after eight weeks of disruption.  What it amounts to is an intensive, and comprehensive effort at mediation that takes place at several tables with mandates on specific issues, rather than a single table that negotiates all issues at once.

As a means of bringing parties together to hammer out agreements, it sits between the two other big ones, those being conciliation and arbitration.  As such, it may well represent the best way to get to the bottom of all this, and so credit must be given to the union for proposing what appears to be a fair-minded middle ground in the dispute resolution process.

I’ll have to admit to being a little bummed out Monday morning.

Full disclosure, I had written a full week’s worth of articles, all of them dependant upon my assumption that Executive-Director Jennifer Lavallee of Community Living Renfrew County South would not respond to OPSEU Local 472’s invitation to resume bargaining.

There was a noon Friday deadline to RSVP the invitation, but despite me following various sources quite closely for any news, I had not heard anything by the time that deadline came and went.  So I assumed that my initial prediction was correct, and being a rather industrious sort of fellow, proceeded to write a series of scathing articles slamming CLRCS for not showing up to talk.  

But then late Sunday, from a surprising source, I got an indication that she, Jennifer Lavallee, had in fact responded, and had done so on the Thursday evening before the deadline.

Way to go Jenn.  Way to wreck everything.

And they were good articles too, each one increasingly more brilliant than the last.  And now they’re all shot to hell, because the premise behind them was no longer in play.

I hate when that happens.