Yesterday, Mark arrived 30 minutes prior to the already-crack-of-dawn time he was supposed to report to work for the duration of the strike. Good thing he showed up early. Had he arrived at the time he was supposed to get there, he might have been among the people who couldn't get into the building because of the picketers blocking the entrance. He said some people had to go home, including some people who work in OTHER companies in the same building, because they couldn't get in.
Now I'm not anti-union, but I AM against breaking the law. I couldn't care less if they want to protest 24/7 until the new contract is signed, as long as they're not breaking the law in the process. And I don't think our constitutional right to peaceable assembly includes disrupting other people and other companies from their ability to do business.
So if a court order hasn't already been signed, to set limits on what exactly constitutes lawful picketing behavior, then I hope it gets there soon. I really don't see how messing everyone else's day up is going to win friends or influence people in favor of the strikers. I mean, they WILL have to work with these (non-union) managers, and work in the same building with these other companies, once the strike is over. I see no sense in causing needless hostility.
Having said that, I have no doubt that Mark will be able to get into the building with no trouble, as long as he continues to arrive at the same time he did on Monday morning. I don't think the picketers are so motivated to protest that they'd want to show up THAT early, when there's pretty much no one around to see them carrying signs. Good thing he's a morning person. That makes one of us. ;-)
2 comments:
UGH, just how early is early? Poor Mark.
While I sympathize with the strikers (assuming they have a just cause), I agree with you that they shouldn't break the law. Barring people from doing their jobs at OTHER companies is not right.
He was supposed to work from 7 to 7. But he remembered from his non-management, union-member days that arriving at that time would have him attempting to get in the door at the same time the first picketers were arriving. So he left the house before 6 AM in order to arrive before the picket lines even formed.
Fortunately, he also remembers that if the strike lasts beyond a few days, the early zeal to picket tends to die down, leading to fewer demonstrators being on hand at any given time. So if everyone can have patience past the first days, when everyone and their brother is enthused to be out there, maybe it won't be so hard for workers to arrive for a 7AM start time and actually get into the building.
The police, meanwhile, are union themselves, so their sympathies lie with the picketers. But they WILL enforce a court order. So the obvious answer is to get a court order stating that the picket lines must form at least X feet away from entrances. Bingo. Problem solved. I'm sure there's an existing law somewhere governing where the demonstrators are allowed/not allowed to gather, anyway.
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