In one week, August 20 to 24, some 20 people on the picket line at the Family Health Organization at the Medical Centre in Owen Sound were bumped or hit by cars or trucks. Most of these were not accidental.
On August 23 a man drove up to the picket line, revved his engine, then released his brakes, scattering the picketers in front of him, but rolling over the foot of one woman, breaking it in three places.
On August 24, another man drove though the line in one entrance of the parking lot at the Centre and then went to another entrance and did the same thing. One woman required emergency care.
On August 28, a driver refused to stop at the picket line and ran over a man's foot. And today, August 30, at least two people were hit by cars surging forward through the line. Fortunately, neither required emergency care.
In all cases, police were already on site. No charges have been laid.
"These incidents require a response," said Matt Trowbridge, President of the Riding Association. "It doesn't matter who you support in this long-running strike, we cannot, in a free and democratic society, remain silent when people who are practicing their lawful rights are being assaulted. We have been waiting for some sort of official response from the region's leaders, but no one – not the mayor, the police, the MP or our MPP – has spoken against this violence."
"We see these incidents, where people are using their cars to push through a lawful picket, as attacks on the rights of workers to organize, and of citizens to demonstrate," said David McLaren, the NDP's Labour Rep. "Whatever you think about unions and strikes, you don't use your vehicle as a battering ram just because you don't like what (or who) is front of you. Unhappily, I've seen this before. When no one speaks against attacks on people practicing their rights, it gives a kind of permission for more attacks. That's what we're seeing now."
