Strikers - a lazy bunch

I only went by two of the Woodstock District 200 schools today, but I found the strikers' efforts as worthless.

In front of Verda Dierzen School, one striker's car was parked in the middle of the driveway, right where it would interfere with anyone turning into the driveway. And the striker was sitting in his car, in the shade of his car roof, with his striker's shirt or vest hanging out of the driver's window. For that he gets paid to walk the picket line?

At Dean Street School a striker's car (upper photo, the grey car) was parked in the driveway just off Dean Street. Where was the striker? In his car. That is, until I walked up. Then he moved to his lawn chair. And he might not even have been a striker (but he was), because his vest said "Observer". The other vehicle was "Security", although the driver/occupant/"security guard" didn't know whether he was there to protect the striker or the school property.

When I asked the "observer" what he was observing, he mumbled something. I couldn't worm any information out of him. Guess he was told to keep his mouth shut and he was doing that well.

Remember the days when strikers used to walk a picket line? On the Forest Avenue side of Dean Street School two strikers were leaning against a car in the driveway. They weren't bothering to parade up and down across the entrance with their picket signs or shirts.

Oh, and that entrance? On Forest Avenue that's Gate A (lower photo). Only you'd never find it if you followed the instructions on the sign at Gate B. Click on the lower image to enlarge it. At the bottom it directs certain visitors and workers to Gate A ("located at South entrance on Tryon Street").

The headline in the Northwest Herald this morning read "Schools stymied by construction strike." I surely hope that is not the case. Their planning should have included a big "What if?" about a strike possibility. After all, it's summer; it's prime season for construction work; the work has a deadline for completion; workers are union members; unions strike. Think the unions didn't know that?