How Democracy Works

There are two union locals opposing the deal cut by the Steelworkers and the industry here on the Dope Coast, neither one of them is the Fraser Valley local. Those crazy motherfuckers can usually be counted on to oppose free beer if the companies said it was good for them. It is two locals up the island, where the world's biggest hockey stick can be found, that are saying we ought to stick to our guns and hold out all winter if we have to. It appears neither of the two locals care for the devilish details of the contract language.

On the picket line today there was a lot of talk about how we should vote.

"I say we tell the companies and the union to go fuck themselves!" was how the Vote No side summed up their position. Us woodworkers can be blunt as meteors at times.

The Vote Yes camp are the guys who vote whatever way the union tells them to vote. The notable exception to this rule is the union cannot convince many of us to vote for the fucking NDP. Those NDP motherfuckers have never done shit for the working class and the union knows it but are too stubborn, lazy or unimaginative to direct the money we waste on political action on direct action.

My opinion is that if we are going to tell the union and companies to go fuck themselves we might as well get paid for doing it. I may have even told the guys that with some conviction if we were going back to work with more than a 2% raise to look forward to.

Fact is, I miss drinking with all the crazy bastards I work with at the pub after work. I miss taking the company's money for doing fuck all every two weeks. I miss listening to the Canuck fans cry about their team's sad performance as they pour coffee from their thermos into their mug. And I miss looking forward to retirement as I weave my way through my doped up fellow commuters on my way each morning to Hell.