Photo from Windsor Star video
Here's something pretty unusual.
Dave Battagello of the Windsor Star reports that a group of Windsor panhandlers and street performers have joined a union called Street Labourers Of Windsor, all in an effort to gain public respect. Business owners who have beefs with panhandlers can address them with the union.
He writes:
Helping to organize the group is Andrew Nellis, the voice of the Ottawa Panhandlers’ Union until 2011 before moving to Windsor where he works the streets as a tarot card reader.
The street people are being asked to sign membership cards for the International Workers of the World — a radical labour union formed in 1905 which promotes grassroots democracy and does not require members to be employed. Nellis is also helping to develop a code of conduct for members.
The paper reports that dues are based on income, but the IWW requires a minimum of $5 a month.
“We are a real union,” Nellis told the Windsor Star. “There is no hierarchy, but we have come together to watch each other’s back on the street. We protect each other. We are members of the public just like anybody else. We don’t want extra rights. We just want the same rights that everybody else has.”
