A Time To Rage: The B.C. Election And B.C. Ferries

Many Canadians are saying, “Nothing is wrong. Everyone sit still.” Even people in the front lines are saying that. Take the spokespeople of the B.C. Ferry and Marine workers Union and their public supporters, for instance. But before we do, let’s look at the fire in the theatre. Ordinary people – you and me – are facing attack all over the world. The decent things populations have enjoyed over the last fifty years are under full-scale, relentless attack. They are under attack in China, which recently did away with universal medical care. They are under attack in Europe, daily. A German “enterprise” has begun a “race to the bottom” labour auction. Jobs are posted at a going wage, and applicants are invited to bid for them by offering themselves for less – the lowest bidders getting the jobs. The new European constitution has a third section which is, in fact, a free trade section written to raise the powers of Corporations above the powers of democratic governments. That is only one part of an attack in Europe by corporate interests – egged on by the European Union bureaucracy – on pensions, wages, education, labour freedoms, and much more. In the U.S., leader of the attack on the ordinary, publicly assured, human benefits for the people, slashing “social securities” has been a major action of the Bush government. What has all that to do with B.C. Ferries and the people who make them go? Everything. The attack on ordinary people – you and me – isn’t just happening at B.C. Ferries, in B.C. generally, or in Canada. It’s a global happening that has to be met by rage, resistance, organization, and political action to take over the levers of power…for ordinary people. The fight for B.C. Ferries is a piece of the fight against Corporate takeover of countries around the world. The ferry fight matters most to B.C. Ferries workers and their families and to other British Columbians. But it matters globally. The B.C. Ferry workers spokespeople, however, and their public supporters are saying, “Nothing is wrong. Everyone sit still. Go to sleep”. Take the four page flyer they distributed widely in March, 2005 – a run-up to the B.C. election, obviously. Called “Strait Talk” its overall message is … well, let’s see what it is. Remember “Strait Talk” is dealing with a voter-unwanted theft of B.C. Ferries to please private corporations and make money for them. The behaviour of the “new” entity has combined sleaze with secrecy and dishonesty. “Strait Talk” has a lead story, an “opener” – the first chance to engage readers with the big problems. It reads like a sleepy Board of Trade advertisement. Getting through it is work – even trying to figure out why it’s there. Then, in the last paragraph, tepid, hesitant, (scared?) you read: “Powell River is dependent on its marine highway”. And you read: “The privatization of B.C. Ferries … will bring changes to our marine highway ….” (And will they be good?) That’s the lead story! What comes next ? The rest of the front page is a story arising out of a Town Meeting on the ferries future chaired by Stewart Alsgard, Powell River Mayor, January 26, 2005. (I wrote it up here. See “Farce at the Evergreen Theatre”.) Present were David Hahn, the CEO of the new Ferry Fiasco appointed out of the U.S. and his straight man, Robert Clark, vice-president financial. What does the other front page story tells us? It spends the first third of its space quoting a (perfectly reasonable) disclaimer by B.C. Ferries that the proposed future to be spoken about at the Town Meeting may not be cast in stone. That disclaimer deserves to be dismissed in a phrase. It is unimportant. Then the rest of the article presents – in needlessly complicated language – a “nice” view of the new B.C. Ferries which has been stolen from the people of British Columbia. The article, for instance, has the insanity to say that Martin Crilly, Commissioner of Ferries, was appointed as “an independent arbiter”. Crilly’s position was created and he was hired to be an instrument of Gordon Campbell Liberal policy: to destroy the B.C. Ferries owned by British Columbians. He is an independent arbiter if Adolf Eichman was an independent deliverer of Jews, Gypsies, and political dissidents to the Nazi death camps. Instead of saying WHY B.C. Ferries is being botched, alienated, and privatized – because of Campbell Liberal Toxic Right Ideology and determination to give all the wealth of British Columbians to private corporations, the writer treats the sell-out as normal and reasonable, adding only a few gentle “buts”. The writer gives no report of David Hahn’s nasty, condescending, bully-boy behaviour at the January 26 meeting and his refusal to talk about anything he didn’t want to talk about. Go inside “Strait Talk” which is anything but straight talk. An article which should be headlined “B.C. Ferries Sinks Deeper in Debt and Bad Management” is entitled “Will Coastal Communities Catch the Spirit of 2010”. And then, again, in needlessly complicated, dampened language it presents what should be explosive information about Ferries policy that can only self-destruct. In the “Strait Talk” publication there are some signed articles, with more material. But the first page and a half extend an invitation to the reader to fall asleep or to read something else. Of the signed articles, the NDP and Green Party candidates state their positions. The future of the ferry system is the key issue in the paper, and both political parties have platform policies to return B.C. Ferries to Crown Corporation status. Only Adrienne Carr (the Greens) says so. (Who’s editing this paper, anyhow?) Another signed article is by a Raging Granny. But there’s no rage. Not even any anger. Not even quiet dismay. Only a “ha ha, aren’t they in a pickle?” kind of musing. The title “Storm Warning by a Raging Gran” would probably be better if the “R” was dropped. Then the reader would know what to expect from the article. Just resigned union head, Jackie Miller, should have an article entitled: “Getting Our Ferries Back”. Instead, hers is called, “Requiem for a Ferry Fleet”. How’s that for willing suicide? We British Columbians have the right to read a tough, up-to-date, angry, hard-hitting attack on the dirty Ferry Corporation deeds of Gordon Campbell, David Hahn, David Emerson, and Martin Crilly from Jackie Miller. We have a right to read an ardent call to arms to save B.C. Ferries. Instead, Jackie Miller gives a limp, chronological history of ferries in B.C. for the first half of her article. (Are you asleep?) She reflects the attitude of the Ferry Union spokespeople and their public supporters so well its painful. She writes that the BCFMWU “has been quietly and steadily spreading the word about the loss of the formerly publicly owned system.” So quietly, in fact, British Columbians can’t hear what’s being said. And she goes on to say about the Deas Island strike and lock-out: “We will continue to fight the labour battle privately as much as we are able.” What? Privately? A labour/management situation of concern to everyone in Canada and especially to B.C.’ers. And you’ll fight it privately? That is a way of saying the BCFMWU spokespeople have accepted the completely false rhetoric of Campbell, Hahn and the other corporate totalitarians – that the fight for British Columbia’s ferry enterprise is a private squabble between two “corporate” entities: the new, stolen Ferry Operation bullies and the Ferry union. Nothing could be further from the truth. And no statement in the sad, dreary, hand-wringing “Strait Talk” could be more revealing. Since the March “Strait Talk” appeared, Jackie Miller has resigned from the leadership of the BCFMWU. How can she? Going into the most important B.C. election for the BCFMWU members in the history of B.C. Ferries, Jackie Miller – who should be leading a tough, tenacious fight against the Campbell Liberals, has resigned. ”For personal reasons….” No personal reasons are good enough. Something is very, very wrong at BCFMWU headquarters. This is a time to be angry, to rage. This is a time for ALL ferry workers to tell everyone, angrily, what the lousy Campbell government is doing to ferry workers and the ferry operation. It is time for them to fight with their fists. “Strait Talk” masks or avoids ten points that should be written large on one of the pages of the publication. (1) The Campbell election campaign did not promise to privatize B.C. Ferries. (2) The Hahn managers tried to break the ferry union by forcing a strike upon the union. (3) During the strike of BCFMWU workers, the Hahn bosses tried to get qualified scabs from elsewhere in Canada and from the U.S.A. (4) B.C. Ferries has cut workers, made disguised fare increases, and is using more tax-payers’ money than before. The Campbell government is using taxpayers’ money to lure foreign, private takeover candidates, taking the ferry enterprise deeper and deeper into debt. (5) Martin Crilly’s job was created to push through private corporate takeover of B.C.Ferries. He is not in any way an independent arbiter. (6) The offshore building of ferries is an insult to British Columbians, a blow to B.C. ship-building workers, and a sell-out to highly subsidized foreign corporations. (7) To hide its dirty work, the Campbell government legislated destruction of democracy: cutting off all the dealings of David Hahn and his lackeys from Access to Information, the Ombudsman, and the B.C. Labour Relations Board. (8) Gordon Campbell couldn’t find a Canadian (among 30 million) to run B.c. Ferries. He hired (for $315,000 a year) a U.S. citizen (who had never before worked with ferries) from a bankrupt and dubious ‘energy and other’ U.S. corporation. (9) David Hahn was not hired as an effective administrator but as someone who has been in on the disintegration of assets and operations. If the Campbel Liberal/Hahn plan works, he will be out of a job, after breaking up B.C. Ferries and handing the chunks to (probably foreign) corporations. (10) As I reported in “Farce at the Evergreen Theatre” the Nanaimo Daily News published a thoroughly credible column accusing the new B.C. Ferries bullies of sacrificing safety to slick corporate image. The Granny article suggests the whole new safety rescue system is part of that dangerous scam, but she says it breezily and turns it into a joke. If you can find any of those ten facts at all, or focused upon, in “Strait Talk” you’ll need a microscope and lots of patience. If you expect rage, go elsewhere. “Strait Talk”isn’t shouting “Fire” in a theatre that is burning before our eyes. It looks away from the fire, pretending it isn’t there. “Strait Talk” – tragedy of tragedies – is a total failure to serve the members of the B.C. Ferry Workers Union. It’s a failure to inform and provide leadership to other British Columbians. It’s a failure to join the global struggle against corporate bullies and corporate totalitarians. “Strait Talk” is sad, so sad it makes a caring Canadian want to weep.