The summer of '09 will undoubtedly be remembered as the Summer of Strikes. No matter that the actual days lost to strike actions in Canada is relatively low. (The total number of "person days" lost in the summer of 2009 won't come close to matching the 2,033,690 days lost in October, 1976.) Of the more than two dozen labour disputes that surfaced this summer-including the hair-raising night Ontarians spent a record-breaking $52 million at their local liquor stores before an eleventh-hour deal could be struck between workers and management-these were the most notable.
Toronto (june 22-July 31)
Who: 24,000 garbage workers, paramedics and child-care workers
Frustration level: 4
The head of the city's paramedics' union was charged with two counts each of automobile theft and mischief after taping a union poster to an ambulance and abandoning the vehicle.
Vancouver (June 9-present)
Who: 15 funeral workers
Frustration level: 1
The strike affected just three funeral homes, and striking workers politely allowed the public to cross picket lines to visit their loved ones.
Windsor (April 18-july 24)
Who: 1,550 garbage collectors and other outside and inside workers
Frustration level: 5
Without garbage pickup for three months, residents began dumping their waste on the road. Strikers dubbed the resulting trash heap "Mount Francis" (in honour of Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis).
Hamilton (April 6-june 24)
Who: 650 National Steel Car employees
Frustration level: 4
Days after workers ended their strike, National Steel Car laid off 600 employees-the entire active work force-as it had reached the end of its existing order book.
Windsor (April 2-july 9)
Who: 300 taxi drivers
Frustration level: 3
In a bid to steal attention from their CUPE brethren, 200 "forgotten" Veteran Cab strikers paraded past picketing city workers in downtown Windsor.
Armstrong, B.C.
(July 25, 2001-Present)
Who: 37 unionized employees of Wescon Enterprises
Frustration level: 0.5
Really, how much anger is left after eight years?