blogcutter

The pandemic of the last 3+ years has knocked the stuffing out of most of us, I think. It's also knocked a lot of stuff into our lives that was not there before. Masks! Face shields! Bulky Corsi-Rosenthal contraptions made of kludged-together box fans and furnace filters! Emergency packs to cope with tornadoes, derechos, ice storms, wildfires and power failures arising from myriad crises! Meanwhile, it's been harder to divest ourselves of the stuff we DON'T want around any more. The City of Ottawa urged us to postpone putting out large bulky items on garbage collection day. Thrift shops pressed "pause" on collecting donations. The Friends of the Experimental Farm have not held one of their big book sales since 2019.

Fortunately, much of the above seems to be coming to an end.

We got a phone call in late April or early May from the Diabetes people. They would be in our neighbourhood on May 10. Did we have anything we'd be interested in donating? Well, yes!

They were very specific about what they could and couldn't accept, how it should be packaged and so forth. And one thing we've acquired in abundance over the past 3 years of ordering stuff online is packaging material. Cartons. Bubble wrap. Brown paper packaging, though not tied up with string.

So I put together bags and boxes of clothing, household items and little-kid toys that the grandchildren have outgrown, labelled them with the downloadable Diabetes Canada labels and put them out for collection. That worked so well that I arranged a second pick-up date for early June and packaged up more stuff. Which was also duly picked up.

The City of Ottawa used to schedule twice-annual "Giveaway Weekends" when you can put out stuff you don't want, but somebody else might. Now, however, they boast that giveaway weekends have morphed into Giveaway Every Day. Unfortunately, I don't think that works nearly as well. People aren't going to cruise your neighbourhood each and every day to see what's on offer! And you can't have stuff all over your lawn when the lawn service comes in to do its weekly mowing! This past Saturday, however, was our neighbourhood garage sale day. I don't have the patience to sit in our garage or driveway, babysit a cash box and try to flog my stuff. But knowing that there'd be lots of people around, I decided to put out some unwanted stuff that I figured other people might be interested in, and marked it as being free for the taking. And it magically disappeared over the course of the morning, while we were exploring the neighbours' offerings.

And on June 24, the Friends of the Experimental Farm will again be accepting book donations for their sale in October, which returns after a 4-year hiatus. Then on November 4, they're accepting more donations for NEXT year's sale.

We still have stuff that may prove challenging to divest ourselves of. But for now, that's a good start on the decluttering process!

Well, yes and no. A lot has changed over the past 30-odd years. I participated in the strike of 1991. I'm now a federal retiree and member of the Retired Members Guild of PIPSC, the union I've belonged to for most of this century.

So what has changed since the general strike of 1991?

For one thing, the political climate is very different. Back in 1991, Brian Mulroney was the Prime Minister of Canada. Conservative governments were the order of the day in other major English-speaking countries too. The U.S. and the U.K. were still reeling from the effects of Reaganomics and Thatcherism and their new leaders were not much better. Today, Justin Trudeau is PM and while his sunny ways have given way to cloudier conditions, his continued leadership is to some extent at the mercy of our NDP leader as they (and all of us, I would argue) have a common interest in staving off Pierre Poilievre.

For another thing (well, two things actually) - technology and the pandemic have made remote work (or at least hybrid work) the rule rather than the exception for federal public servants.

Let's take the political climate first. Right-leaning governments generally disapprove of any sort of labour action. The usual attitude is something like:

After all we've done for them, how can they do this to us? How can they be so ungrateful?

They have no compunction about legislating their employees back to work with the stroke of a pen. Or in this day and age, with the click of a link. Of course, it all has to go through the messy business of Parliamentary democracy (which is perhaps not so democratic under our electoral rules) but a majority or near-majority government usually gets its own way eventually.

Then there's the fiscal restraint motive that typifies right-wing governments, making them averse to the idea of salary increases that even keep pace with the cost of living. But ironically, when it comes to their own employees, the government actually saves money during the strike itself. No salary dollars get paid to the striking employees, there's less wear and tear and overhead costs for the buildings and facilities. So they can let the strike go on for a bit, maybe throw workers a few crumbs from all the money they've saved, and order them back to work maintaining they've been patient long enough and more than generous in the end.

I certainly saw this with "Lyin' Brian" Mulroney and Gilles Loiselle (not-so-affectionately known as Weasel), who was the president of the Treasury Board at the time of the 1991 strike.

The Liberals know they can't get away with this kind of rhetoric. And certainly Jagmeet Singh would lose all credibility with the NDP and with his supporters if he were to try any Conservative style tactics.

So now let's talk about the progress of government technology over the decades, further accelerated by the imperatives of the pandemic.

Again, money was saved by the government as buildings sat empty or vastly under-occupied for three years. On the other hand private businesses, many of whom typically donate generously to Conservative coffers, lost out big-time when public servants weren't going out and hanging around them spending their money. Instead, that money was being spent online, often bypassing local and national businesses altogether.

The government's compromise(?) solution which seems to have satisfied no one was to decide that most public servants must be back in the office 2 or 3 days per week. But does the government genuinely even want that?

We've heard plenty of stories of workers who have dutifully returned to the office - or at least their former office BUILDING - only to be obliged to sit on the floor or in a broom closet or keep most of their belongings in a locker because their old office no longer exists!

So what's going to happen?

I doubt that there'll be any back-to-work legislation. I doubt that the strike will drag on for weeks on end. I think that after a few days of this, there will be a tentative deal reached at the bargaining table. A modest salary increase. Some deliberately vague wording around the whole question of telework, agreeing to keep the door open and respect the changing technological environment, operational requirements, worker preferences, blah blah blah. Then it will get voted on and ratified. The unhappy campers on both sides will reluctantly go back into the tent.

Life and work will go on. Both sides will have had their say but not much will have changed since the strike began.

Or, of course, I could be totally off-base in my prediction of the outcome.

The charity I have chosen to highlight this month is Shelter Movers Ottawa, which offers emergency relocation services for adults, dependent children and pets needing to escape from family violence:

https://www.sheltermovers.com/ottawa/

Staffed by concerned volunteers, it devotes only 5% of donations to administration, the rest being allocated to the practical assistance and resources required in the specific situation.

While few families are conflict-free, problems are exacerbated during a pandemic. In the absence of outside diversions and the regular routines of school and work, family members are compelled by circumstances (but not necessarily by choice) to spend more time together.

In addition to donating to Shelter Movers directly, I decided to buy two books to add to my collection of pandemic literature: The Hot Mess That Was 2021; and The Sh*tstorm that was 2020.

Both are by Jon Sinden. If you buy the books directly from the author, a portion of the purchase price go to Shelter Movers. More details here:

https://thehotmessthatwas2021.com/

I spent a good portion of the morning cleaning the inside of our fridge. It's a task I used to do concurrently with defrosting but now that we have a fridge that doesn't need regular defrosting, the task is generally accomplished on a hit-or-miss basis. With a little bit too much miss just lately. At any rate, today seemed like a good day for it. We've gone through most of the leftovers from Christmas dinner and today is our usual laundry day, so the cleaning cloths and towels I used will all get dumped into the washing machine at 7PM (when the cheaper electrical rates kick in).

Ever since the great lockdown of March 2020, people have been speculating that working from home for most of the workweek will become the new normal, at least for office workers. Indeed, workers will demand it, viewing it as a basic right or entitlement. But is that really what most employees want? Or what they will want, once the pandemic is behind us? And do the benefits of working from home accrue mainly to the employee? Frankly I'm dubious about these seemingly unquestioned assumptions.

I wonder what kinds of statistics are being kept so far. For example, can we tease out worker preferences by gender, age or family status?

This is just a hunch but I'd be willing to bet that married men (including those in common-law relationships) would be the group most eager to work from home. As for women... well, Guilt tends to be our most constant companion. I'm happily retired but if I were sitting in a home office trying to justify my pacheque by putting in at least 7 hours' worth of telecommuting keystrokes every day, I know I would end up working MORE, not less, even considering that I could dispense with the bus trip at the beginning and end of the day. And that's just the work of paid employment.

In addition to that, I'd be worrying about the housework that needed to be done, the kids who needed attention and the bills that needed to be paid. Many believe that on average, men are much more able to compartmentalize their lives whereas women are expected to constantly multitask. Consider too that women are more likely to be in lower-level positions in the workplace, where they likely have less control over workload and work flow and less capacity to delegate. In my last position prior to retirement, I was in a sort of mid-level (a.k.a. sandwich-generation team-leader) position; we had to sign off on "performance agreements" without necessarily being accorded the authority to "make it so", to bring in the staff we needed and the program dollars to accomplish the basic objectives of our sections. And of course, one has to show oneself to be a good "team player" and get along with people one may not particularly like; if you can't express frustrations outwardly, the tendency for many is to stew inwardly, often to the point that it impacts one's health!

But back to housework. When you do all your work from an office, someone else orders and supplies the appropriate furniture, equipment and other resources. Someone else vacuums and cleans the office and takes away the garbage. Someone else pays the heating bills, fixes faulty plumbing and cleans the toilets. Policies on staff areas like lunchrooms seem variable; I remember one office I worked in where we took up a collection to buy ourselves a mini-fridge and the responsibility for cleaning it was shared, with a rota posted so we'd know whose turn it was that week. I think a microwave oven was supplied but we were responsible for cleaning it. In another office, we used a weekly rotation system for who made tea and coffee at our break times. We also were responsible for arranging and paying for social activities like Christmas and retirement parties and gifts. But still, a good portion of the socializing and enjoying ourselves was done on paid company time - we didn't have to feel guilty about chatting and getting to know our co-workers. In lockdown, I would bet there aren't too many chatty coffee breaks over Zoom.

Pre-pandemic, people in jobs they enjoyed with congenial co-workers often came to regard their workplace as a second home and their co-workers as a second family - or even a first family if they had no family or friends living nearby! Pre- social distancing, your office or cubicle might be cramped but at least you could personalize what little space you had, with a few photos of the kids or other significant mementos of your life outside of work. Now, those returning to the office are faced with a soulless "hoteling" culture with generic little boxes or cubicles "depersonalized" to remove all hints of their former occupants.

I guess the jury is still out on the future of work and the future of the workplace. I began my career when everyone was predicting the great leisure society. It's said that no one on their deathbed says they wish they'd spent more time at the office. But what if your office is now your home and your home is your office? What if, after retirement, you can no longer access the personal and community resources you need to live and thrive in that home? Then maybe you move from home to A (LTC) Home and the downward spiral may already be underway. What does that say about our society?

It doesn't have to be like that, of course. There's no one-size-fits-all solution for all people or all families. And Long Term Care homes and Retirement Homes are all over the map when it comes to quality, comfort and suitability for the individual resident. But let's remember that we're dealing with people here - the ones who live, feel dawn, see sunset glow... not just Full Time Equivalents (past, present or future) or dependency ratios!

This week's donation goes to the CHEO Telethon:

https://www.cheotelethon.com/home

The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario holds a telethon once a year. Usually there are also lots of in-person events, the big one being the Teddy Bears' Picnic complete with B.A.S.H. tent for sick and injured teddy bears, food, face painting, fortune telling and plenty of parkland to enjoy. I used to have a purple HEEO (CHEO in French, at least in those days) sweatshirt with a teddy bear on it that I bought at the office as part of their fundraising activities there, but that of course is long gone now.

This year, with most of the traditional large fundraising events off the table, various local celebrities have been shaving their heads or dyeing their hair in vibrant hues to raise additional funds. I hope it works, as the amount raised in 2020 was down substantially from previous years, just at a time when children and youth are in the greatest state of crisis. Demands on CHEO's services have never been greater and the aftermath of Covid-19 in terms of mental health and clearing the backlog of non-Covid priorities stands to keep CHEO's workload higher than ever.

CHEO was not around when I was a kid but I do recall that I was somewhere in my teens when plans were in the works for it. I even volunteered for a few shifts at a booth at the Ex, to provide some general information and hand out a few pamphlets. I think there was a small-scale model of what the finished structure would look like and where the various services would be located. It's all so long ago but it did mean that I got free passes to get into the Exhibition grounds!

I'd still like to see an equivalent Quebec institution for the Outaouais, and this may happen yet. In April 2020, for example, I wrote about the Charlotte Mantha endowment fund, dedicated to building a Gatineau children's hospital:

https://blogcutter.dreamwidth.org/tag/charlotte+mantha+endowment+fund

I've been checking the Gatineau Hospital Foundation's website from time to time to see what projects are in the works and it does look as if Hull will have a new hospital in the next few years, though not solely dedicated to paediatrics. We shall see.

... and I woke up early this morning from a rather bizarre dream.

I was at some sort of a conference in a U.S. city, together with my partner. We adjourned for a break and my partner said "I think I know now where our hotel is." I was a little confused because I didn't remember reserving a hotel room but figured it might have somehow been part of the conference registration. I suggested if it wasn't far, we should go and find it during our break.

We went through a bunch of tunnels and walkways and emerged in the lobby of a Holiday Inn. The decor was pretty typical 21st century hotel lobby style and we wandered into a gift shop. It was pretty crowded there but while we were waiting in the lineup to the cash (I don't know what we were buying), the guy ahead of us in line turned around and said to my partner, "You know, I think I recognize you. I used to be your "Little Brother". I decided to let the two of them chat while they waited in line and ventured over to the check-in desks to see if we had a reservation there. I figured if we didn't, I might be able to reserve something on the spot or at least get some suggestions about nearby hotels that might have vacancies.

There were quite a few people waiting to check in, so I wandered around a bit until the line wasn't very long. When I finally got up to the desk and asked the clerk about a reservation, she said "Oh, hadn't you heard? We've all got to get back to our stations right away!" I didn't understand and so, thoroughly confused, I turned away and went in search of someone who could tell me what was going on. Then I approached someone who might have been a concierge or a bellhop (but was clearly some kind of hotel employee) and he seemed like quite a pleasant young man. A woman just ahead of me said to the man, "We've been told to go back to our stations - what exactly does that mean?" The man led her through the lobby and out a back or side door and I tagged along behind them. He said to wait there outside until a taxi came along.

There were already quite a few people waiting there but eventually our turn came and four of us got into a taxi. One of the other passengers was a young woman talking into a cell phone and from what she was saying, I gathered that the FBI were somehow involved and we were being taken to a police station.

We were driving endlessly around the unfamiliar streets and I was still worrying about where we were going, how we could find a place to stay and whether we'd ever get back home when I finally heard a (real life) meow and emerged from my dream.

It's hard to fathom the situation right now in India. It's even more poignant when we consider that having believed the Coronavirus crisis had largely subsided in their country, India was donating its remaining vaccines, PPE and other tools of the trade to countries that at the time, were harder hit.

In recent years, India had been making substantial progress in eliminating child marriage and some of the more egregious human rights violations with regard to more disadvantaged groups. I decided to direct this week's donation to boosting a particular campaign that is within spitting distance (metaphorically speaking, of course) of reaching its target, with a week left to go:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/childrens-care-international/campaign/emergency-support-for-indian-families/

Best-selling novelist Arundhati Roy has written a compelling piece for The Guardian about the situation there, which you can read here:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe?utm_source=pocket-newtab

The Canadian government has put the brakes on incoming flights from India but we all know that viruses do not respect political or ethnic borders. Variants of concern, including the B1617 (first identified in India) are present all over the world and we won't really have herd immunity in Canada or in our home towns until we have it on an international basis.

Hey everyone - spring is here in our region! We have tulips, crocuses and hyacinths in bloom now znd tomato seeds are busily percolating under our basement grow-lamp. The migratory birds are returning in droves - or do I mean flocks, murders, parliaments or exhortations? Enjoying nature in spacious outdoor spaces is one of the keys to surviving this pandemic. So this week's donation goes to the building campaign for a new Wild Bird Care centre in the Ottawa area:

https://wildbirdcarecentre.org/build

The existing facility on Moodie Drive is already one of my favourite spaces to soak up a little nature therapy. Chickadees and other birds eagerly swoop down on my outstretched arm and with no effort on my part, I have them literally eating out of my hand. I've seen wild turkeys roaming the area too.

That's just the wide-open-spaces, public enjoyment aspect. But they perform a highly practical service too. Anyone finding an ill or injured bird can bring it to the centre for treatment, rehabilitation and eventual release - all of which obviously requires resources!

But after 40 years on that site, they have outgrown the premises and are looking to raise money for a new improved expanded bird care centre, which will also encompass a substantial public education component. Last I checked, they had achieved approximately 2/3 of their fundraising target, with just under 6 months to get there.

This week, I have thrown my support behind the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a legal advocacy organization that has been very active during this pandemic:

https://www.jccf.ca/

I've long been disturbed by how there seems to be one law for the privileged and another for the disadvantaged. These inequities in access to justice come into sharp focus during a public health crisis like Covid-19.

Many people see a contradiction between my libertarian streak and my overall leanings towards left-wing causes but to me, individual personal freedoms need not be at odds with the centralization of power or discretion over issues of common concern. But that's beyond the scope of today's post and indeed could be the subject of a whole long-running series!