CUPE flight attendants are helping occupy Toronto, but some doubt the Harper government will correct the inequities provoking worldwide unrest against the “1%.”
“Unfortunately, everyone has their own agenda,” said Shannon Leigh Jones, a member of CUPE 4092, the Toronto local of the Air Canada flight attendants’ union. “Could they [address the problems]? Absolutely. Whether they’ll be willing…is something different. It’s every man for himself, really.”
A lively group of flight attendants joined the Occupation at the north end of St. James Park early Saturday. Why help occupy? “I’m here to support the people, the 99 per cent that are finally coming together because they’re not going to take it any more,” said Sheri Cameron. “People who used to be able to take care of their families, put food on the table, a roof overhead, send their children to school, can’t do that any more. It’s not right.”
They’re in their own struggle right now, of course, trying to fight off Air Canada demands for two-tier wage systems and pension plans for new hires. Air Canada wants these things, apparently, so they can start a discount airline to compete against, amongst others, Air Canada.
Canadian working people have been subjected to a torrent of demands for two-tier working conditions. Some unions have given in to them, setting themselves up for divisive future disputes between the younger and older sections of workers (especially as younger workers with sub-standard rights come to outnumber the older).
Many consider these demands to be an integral element of the latest attack on the young, further coddling the 1% against the needs of the 99.
“Our struggle is a struggle for the entire middle class,” said Michel Cournoyer, a Vice President of the Toronto local. “We may be the first group they’re coming at, but eventually it will be the teachers, the fire fighters, the police officers, it will be everybody.”
Cournoyer said there’s no reason for any of this. “We need [instead] to create jobs for the people who don’t have jobs. We have all the resources, we have 20 per cent of the fresh water, we have the minerals, we have the trees. There’s no reason we can’t be setting an example [in creating jobs].”
“It’s bigger than just us,” said Jones. “It’s not about just us.”
“We care about the younger people,” said Filomena Pitoni, a 4092 member. “We have children. We want them to live in a fair society, we don’t like the way our society is moving. I will always support the 99 per cent.”
Cournoyer called on 99 percenters to do more than rally to make change. “You have to vote. It’s the vote that counts, and that’s where the 99 per cent will come together to create more jobs.”
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