I think that we have to step back and take a look at the way people behave in a more disciplined way. We have to analyze the behaviour of folks beyond the media sound bites. Let me begin with 222's trade union roots. Unions have always had a public image problem in Canada and the U.S., where their membership has remained a minority of the workforce. The employer-dominated mass media have largely ignored most of their community nurturing activities and focused critically on events of violence and resistance, mostly strikes.
Labour unions are among the most democratically structured organizations.
Not only are union leaders regularly elected and subject to recall by their membership, but frequent meetings of the general membership provide real opportunities for any interested worker to present a motion to the entire body. Yet, by and large, this hasn't happened in Oshawa. This is the case largely because there is an obvious discrepancy between the message which is touted on a daily basis by the media, government and institutions of society, and the everyday realities which confront the majority of the working-class where these efforts are primarily aimed. Oshawa remains a world unto its own. Oshawa's Local 222 is one of the most concentrated and well-organized working class communities in the country.