Catherine Bell's Report

The NDP member of Parliament from Vancouver Island, Catherine Bell, sent out a report the other day and I read it while eating lunch today. All sounded fine, until I came across her government's goal to push for "anti-scab" legislation. As one who has retrained for a job in 1992 and excelled at that retraining only to discover that the most hours I could get to start were 14 hours per week at $9/hr. I was a single mother of two highschool boys. I managed to make ends meet only because my ex-husband paid support money for my sons and I had a boarder living with us at that time. Eventually my hours increased to a 25-hour work week, and I got a raise to $9.50/hr. Woop-de-do! That barely paid for a haircut at the cheapest franchise hairdressers in town. I found it necessary to take on a second job and started there at $10/hr. and after my three-month trial got a raise to $11/hr. Still not a living wage, but by careful planning, I managed to make ends meet and have a bit of a life. I tried numerous times to get a union job in my field, but I could not afford to be on call as a "casual" when I was already working. (I don't make a good liar, so I couldn't call in sick and go to a union job and I would have been found out). I don't believe in fibbing anyway.

The stress of juggling two part-time jobs became too much for me, and I the employers in their wisdom responded to my request for stress leave by dismissing me. I managed to get E.I. until I could enrol full-time at college to obtain a university degree. They required me to forfeit my E.I. if I wanted to stick with university and not quit to take a job. I found it necessary to take out a student loan and after $28,000 in student loans ended up working in the same field I was in prior to obtaining my degree. I gave up the plan to get a bachelor degree and settled for an associate degree, which the college fortunately granted (North Island College, Courtenay, BC). I also took several computer and office management courses, as a job did not land in my lap even with a degree. (The age old dilemma of not having experience in the specific field). So after a couple of months of not finding work, I relocated to the Okanagan where my sister was living. I lived on credit cards and applied for social services while I searched for work. I finally found work, but it was in the form of "at home, contract work." It was in the same field I had worked in previously, but for less pay. The good thing was the stay-at-home part, as I was thinking along those lines anyway. I have fibromyalgia and staying at home is much easier for me. (No doctor would consider me disabled, though many people are collecting disability pensions with that diagnosis. It seems to depend on the doctor and the pension you are applying for.)

So, I am what could be considered a "scab" as the work that people like me do is sometimes overflow union work. In my case, I am not a scab, because the work I do is actually work that nonunion workers in my field perform. I have friends that unions would call "scabs". These are highly educated people who are single mothers and need the work. Why should they be called an ugly name like "scab"? Is this any different than "nigger" or "squaw" or any other vulgar names that people have been called in the past? I for one, think not.

I challenge union workers who resort to this labeling. To me, it is just as unacceptable as the other "politically incorrect" names people have been called in the past. And Catherine Bell, you should step back and think about what you are doing. You are trying to legislate people out of contract work? How is that democratic?