Sympathizing with GM workers
Bill Rea

I have been of two minds over the recent blockade of the General Motors of Canada facility in Oshawa.

Part of me cheered, thought things like "Go for it, guys!" and basically gave in to my feelings of triumph we all feel when the little guy kicks the big bully in the shins.

After all, these people jumped into action after it was announced that GM was going to stop production at its Oshawa truck plant some time next year, a move they evidently believed was a violation of an agreement between the auto maker and their union.

I felt a lot of sympathy for these people. It's not nice finding out that a job and source of income you believed to be secure was going to evaporate before too long. I've been through that, and it's not nice.

So I was happy to see some of the little guys fight back, even if all they were probably able to muster was being the proverbial thorn in General Motor's side. It was better then nothing.

But then my adult instincts took over, and I realized they really didn't have much of a justification, apart from their understandable anger and frustration. Well sorry folks, but anger and frustration are just part of life, so it's best that we just get used to it.

One point I have heard many times over the years is that no one owes any of us employment for ever. True, things have changed a lot since the days when a boss could walk up to an employee and simply say, "You're fired, clear the desk, punch the clock, get out!" The last many years have given us concepts like notice, just cause, severance, etc. Unless you've screwed up big time, you can't be canned without a certain amount of process. That is, of course, unless economics intervene.

That is what happened to me and a couple of dozen other people almost nine years ago, when the company for which I had busted my butt for more than five years was no longer there, and neither were the regular pay cheques. And to add insult to injury, the bankruptcy trustees who presented themselves in our office to make the grand announcement (our employers had not been seen for more than 24 hours) told us that the pay cheques we had received the previous week were worthless. In other words, we had been working for free for three weeks. In my case, my cheque had also included about $30 in reimbursements for some office supplies I had previously put on my VISA. It was no big deal, I thought, because I had done it before and always got my money back in good time. But when you're dealing with a company that has suddenly gone under, then the whole dynamic is changed.

Once the Titanic met the iceberg, passengers really didn't have a case when they didn't get their breakfast the next morning.

Oh yeah, all of this happened exactly eight days before Christmas. I have no time for people who complain about their Christmas bonuses from work, because I can top their stories.

I felt frustration and anger that day too. There was no talk about setting up a blockade, or any other similar type of public action. What were we going to blockade any way?

There was a lot of bitterness too. It wasn't fun telling my wife and my mother, who was still living at the time, that I was out of work (actually, I had kept Beth informed on what I suspected was about to happen, but I kept it from my mother until I was sure, not wanting to worry her unnecessarily).

Like most people, I had always believed that if one worked hard and put forth their best for the person for whom they worked, their chances of getting tossed out of work was remote. At the age of 17, I learned the hard way that I was not immune to summary dismissal. In fact, I think my determination to not let that happen again is one of the contributing factors to my becoming the workaholic I am today. Stupidity and a passion for my work probably come into play too.

Since we workers were creditors of our now bankrupt employers, we were told by the trustees that we would have a certain amount of priority when it came to portioning out what money remained in the coffers. When everything was counted, we got nothing.

That's the reality. If the money isn't there, don't expect any of it. Old Mother Hubbard's poor dog, you will recall, went without a bone because the cupboard was bare.

So while I feel sorry for these people who have been told they will have to find other jobs in the next year, at least they have received that amount of notice, and they will have income for the next several months. That's a better deal than I was handed. indeed, I eventually caught myself wondering why these people were wasting time on blockade, and not devoting energies to planning for their next jobs.

Granted, it's not fun to know your job's days are numbered, and it's not fair for all these workers to be put into a situation like that.

Well I didn't think it was fair that I got canned eight days before Christmas, considering that I had completed my christmas shopping by that point, and was just waiting for the bad news to come in my VISA bill. And I didn't think it was fair that I had worked for free for three weeks.

You know what? Life isn't fair, so get used to it