Time to Regulate Picketing

It often takes a tragic, preventable death for the system to be changed to try to prevent future loss of life.

The college instructor who got into an accident with a car crossing a picket line has died of his injuries.  The police are not laying any charges.  There were security tapes that they reviewed in making that decision.

I have never had to cross a picket line in my car.  However, I have heard enough from those who have about the picketers that jump in front of and even on your car to intimidate you and try to slow you down.

It seems that is what happened with this instructor.  He got in the way of the car, lost the fight with an opponent which outweighed him by a few thousand pounds, fell on the pavement and cracked his head. 

It’s something when the police, themselves enthusiastic unionists, could not find a reason to lay a charge against the driver.  What does that tell you about the actions of the instructor vs. the actions of the driver?  That’s why I don’t say that he was hit by a car – it was him that hit the car.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the slightest urge to get in the way of a moving vehicle.  Further, if I deliberately stepped into a road and caused an accident because someone tried to avoid me, I would be charged. 

What gets into strikers’ heads that they are happy to be a human fence and risk getting smacked by a car? What makes them think that they are above the law?

It’s time to change the law to prevent such foolishness and potential tragedy.  Picketers must not be allowed to obstruct (or “delay”, as they call it) traffic.  Anyone that does so must be charged. 

Many members of the Toronto Police openly defied orders during their recent strike and attended rallies in uniform.  They wore baseball caps when they were on duty and they were supposed to be in uniform.  Then, like what happens anytime strikers break the rules, they try to negotiate amnesty for the wrongdoers as part of a deal.

Now, the government has an excuse to enact legislation to regulate picketing.  They need to prevent further senseless death.  It is no longer “freedom of expression” that is going to win the day:  public safety is going to trump freedom of expression.  If the government acts on this, picketers will have to stay off the roadways and let the cars pass unimpeded. 

Doesn’t that make sense, anyway?  Does the union really believe that they are “educating” people when they delay them from crossing the line?  Of course they don’t.  They are trying to annoy the people and use the tactic as a way of pressuring management. 

It’s time to recognize that picketers who obstruct and delay traffic are not achieving any useful goal and are causing more harm than good.  We don’t need any more people dying for the cause of the union.