Today’s entry is the last entry in our Road Trip Diary.
It’s been 11 days since Anna Jover Royo, Jason Alward,
Aura Aberback and I jumped into our rented Dodge Caravan in Toronto and
headed for the U.S.A.
If you have been clicking on our daily written and
video blogs, you will already know our assignment was to investigate how
the anti-union Right to Work laws, that a growing number of
conservative politicians are now promoting for Canada,
actually work in practice.
Right to Work is an insidiously misleading slogan. It
suggests it’s about the right to a job but it’s not. It’s a law that
allows a union member to stop paying dues but still get the benefits of
the collective agreement negotiated by the union
and its dues-paying members. I hesitate to use the phrase but that idea
sounds a little un-Canadian to me.
We headed first for Michigan where we met high school
science teacher Dan Dennis. In 1999 Dennis left his teaching job in
non-Right to Work Michigan and moved to Right to Work North Carolina.
Immediately his salary dropped 25%, his workload
increased, his prep time disappeared, his pension plan was dumbed-down
and so was his medical coverage.
In Columbus Ohio I interviewed mathematician Darrell
Minor. Minor crunched the numbers and found that far from ushering in
prosperity, workers in Right to Work states suffer higher unemployment
rates, pay more for health insurance and have
shorter life expectancies than in non-Right to Work states.
South Carolina was even more disturbing. It adopted its Right to Work law in 1954. The prosperity? With the 4th highest unemployment rate and the 45th
lowest person income in the U.S., folks are still waiting for that.
You can see some of the inspiring people we interviewed
in South Carolina on the video blog. People such as Democratic state
congresswoman Gilda Cobb-Hunter or the head of the International
Longshoremen’s Association Ken Riley.
But the daily blog wasn’t our main assignment. Our
primary task is to create a documentary putting the rhetoric of the
Right to Work boosters to the test. We gathered firsthand interviews,
facts and video. When we get back to Toronto we will
start writing and editing.
I want to say however, what a pleasure it has been to
work and travel with the three fine OPSEU professionals assigned to this
project.
Jason Alward who, in his normal working life, is a
graphic artist. Jason was our driver. He got us where we had to go on
time and safely. He has an odd habit of backing into every parking space
but never backs into a conversation. The Maritimer
that he is, he is able to chat up anyone and immediately put them at
ease – a real asset when you are strangers in a strange land.
Aura Aberback was our logistics wagon master - meaning
she was in charge of just about every aspect of our lives for the 11
days from finding the lowest-cost union hotels, to meals, to editing my
writing. She also kept disappearing (Where’s
Aura?) to take about 10,000 photographs (some of which you can see by
clicking on the photo tab).
Videographer Anna Jover Royo worked harder than any of
us. During the day she shot interviews, road signs, fireworks, crowd
scenes, the Charleston docks, the Michigan state legislature – the list
seems endless. At night she stayed up late
editing the video blog. Our workdays ranged from 10 to 15 hours and
Anna was always up the latest.
The final member of the team wasn’t with us in the
van. Cynthia Clayton was back in Toronto. Cynthia is OPSEU’s web
specialist. She stayed up late at night and got up early in the morning
and on weekends to take our written and video dispatches
from the field and put them up on the website. No matter how many
demands we put on her, she was always positive and helpful from start to
finish. The blog would not have happened without her.
Ok. Now for the big questions.
Did you get on each other’s nerves? Did you have any
big fights? Any small fights? After all, you were packed into that van
together for almost two weeks.
The answer is we got along famously.
Ok, we did have to listen to Jason’s boring CBC Radio
Three music. But he had to listen to mine and Anna’s annoying country
music (go Zac Brown Band). Sadly, Aura could not find a radio station
that played her two favourite artists – Burt
Bacharach and Supertramp.
So thanks for clicking on the blog.
If we learned anything from our American friends it is
we should take the threat of Right to Work legislation very seriously.
They told us it is just a first step. Once RTW passed in their state,
more anti-labour legislation followed.
Their message was “don’t think it can’t happen to
you”. As Democratic congresswoman Gilda Cobb-Hunter put it “you DO NOT
want to become South Carolina!”
You’ve read and seen the blog. Get ready for the movie to be released this fall.
