Quotes of Staff persons‏

* Staff Person A
 
   . On Agent Provocateurs:
   "Sometimes the police need to take charge of protesters and it may appear like 

the cops are provoking them"
 
   . On Vancouver being a police state during the 2010 Olympics:
    "Its necessary and keeps us safe."
 
   . On abusive employers in small businesses:
   "Owning a business is hard and bosses are under pressure to get things done"
 
   . On police cracking down on the waterfront:
   "I'm glad. It should have been sooner".
 
   . On longshoremen:
   "They're mean and tough. If they're not that way to begin with they'll become 

mean and tough".
 
   . On those born wealthy:
    "People born to riches are all so humble and down to earth"
 
   . On Paris Hilton:
   "I'd like to be her friend. She's probably a really nice person."
 
* Staff Person B
 
   On unionized workers:
   "Its virtually impossible to fire them. You really ought to be able to fire 

them."

What Mental Health Housing Staff Push for When Unionized

* Staff in group homes were originally elected annually. Since they were unionized they saw to it that those elections were abolished. The staff now have absolute power.
* More power over residents.
* More discretionary powers.
* Harder for residents to go over top of staff.
* The "right" to utter death threats to, shout at, insult, or confiscate welfare cheques of residents without repercussion.

Why the Labour Bureaucracy and the Bourgeoisie want Staff In Mental Health Housing to be Unionized

* Keep a cap on potential labour militancy: 
   . Many of the residents are proletarian others were homeless and are or were 

unemployed. These group homes serve a an organic link between the anger of the 

ghetto masses and the militancy of the proletariat.
   . The staff instill unquestioning obedience in authority. One of the staff 

persons described themselves as a "den mother" (the family instills in youth 

unquestioning obedience in authority).
* The labour bureaucracy expands its dues base without organizing the

proletariat:
   . Less dependent on the proletariat for dues.
* Builds organic links between the labour bureaucracy and the bourgeois state.
* The labour bureaucracy shares the bourgeoisie's contempt for the disabled.
* The labour bureaucracy collaborates with the bourgeoisie and even organizes 

cops, security guards, prison guards etc. Organizing managers is a logical next 

step:
   . The staff in mental health housing have more in common with low level 

managers or foremen then proletarians or even semi-proletarians.
   . All the manual labour is performed by the residents. Workfare with a new name.

The Functions Of Staff In Mental Health Housing

* Dictate what you put in your food.
* Dictate when you can or can't lie on "communal couches".
* Spray residents with water who sleep at "wrong times".
* Dictate what clothes a person wears.
* Spashes residents with water who sleep at wrong times.
* Residents are encouraged to rat out fellow residents to staff if they have ANY 

concerns about fellow residents. 

* Dictate when you can be awake and asleep.
* Dictate when you can be in your room.
* Dictate what people can spend money on.
* Dictate where residents can sleep
* Dictate when people can watch TV.
* Confiscate disability and welfare cheques.
* Withhold welfare and disability cheques.
* Rat residents out to management (often involving immediate eviction, no notice)

(residents who are evicted from their group home can't set foot in the group unless

the staff person is present):
   . Doing drugs
   . Drinking alcohol within a block of a group home
   . Not handing over "excess earnings over to government" (on disability you can

only make $500 on the side)
   . Not taking one's medication
   . "Excess" sleep, TV or time in the house
 
* If a resident is evicted they can't enter the group home unless the staff person

is present. This is true even to get their stuff.
* A lot of the rules imposed on residents by staff are at the discretion of the 

staff.