After four days of working out a few kinks in the various areas of organization (food, staffing) and picketing (more gloves and tuques and parking issues), we planned celebratory fifth-day activities.
Thursday evening (the 23rd- Strike Day 4), flying pickets joined us from York, Laurentian, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan universities, and headed out to the lines in the early morning.
Since the city plows had not passed when the picketing began, picket captains, Shannon Murray and James Moran, with the help of other picketers, nobly cleaned the sidewalks on University and Belvedere avenues.
At noon, over 100 picketers converged on the front gates of UPEI, and marched up and down University Ave. To the noise of trucks and cars beeping their horns, picketers shouted.
Yet, the day was not over: at 4:30, at least 100 FA members and students met at the Coles Building for a late afternoon rally. Larry Hale showed the applauding crowd the $1,000,000 cheque for strike support from the CAUT defense fund – millions of thanks to #CAUT.
From shovelling snow at HQ and on the picket line, to welcoming visitors, delivering food and warm drinks, and rallying not once, but twice, it was time for a bit of R&R. At the Pourhouse, a few dozen hardy souls shared war stories and beverages, and plotted the next week’s activities.
Stay tuned.
Solidarity.
Written by Lee Ellen Pottie
