12:35 AM - 18.12.04
Justice Issues
Well, today was better dear diary. I spent most of the day in the boardroom working through the data there. There were a lot of "puzzles" that had to be sifted through before I could catalogue some large chunks of material, because each piece nested within a series of other pieces that all had to relate to each of the other pieces in a specific way. Kind of like a Rubik's Cube I think. While I was working, I tried to concentrate on the counting my blessings exercise. It helped. I have a home, enough food and clothing and a job right now. Oh yes and a houseful of kittens and sons who all provide the love and emotional cuddling I need to get through the bad days. Pretty lucky. That's a lot for which to be grateful.
I returned a call to Elections Canada first thing this morning. Another problem to cope with. This time it was about a payment to a staff member - one of the ones who had caused a lot of the problems we were experiencing this event. At the very beginning of the event, unknown to me, she had brought in a collapsible table to work on, citing the lack of flat space available to use. Within a week she claimed it had been taken from her office and damaged over night, hinting that it was a particular person in the office who wasn't even there in the time frame given. In addition, several other staff had seen it intact as we were locking up that night before and she made her claim first thing next morning. Given all the other problems she was creating, it was deemed easier to not engage in another tussle at the end of the event when she submitted a claim for it - pick your battles - the consensus of the financial officer and two of the other supervisors who had seen it all unfold. I authorized the reimbursement knowing it might not be approved. Today word came down that it had been rejected and that I would have to pay it out of my pocket. Fine - take it out of the fees that you still haven't paid me yet. I'm pretty certain that there is no intent to pay those to any of the Alberta Returning Officers, so it is no loss to me in a tangible sense anyway.
Last night I stayed late to help the receptionist with a shipment of office supplies that arrived at the end of the work day. She has been quite hostile and obstructive whenever I have approached her about anything, even though I was directed by my team and their company's liaison to do so. I thought maybe she saw me as a threat to someone else in the office - someone she likes - I'm no threat to her. I just wanted to show her that I am only there to provide support for a while in whatever way is needed. Today she invited me to join in at lunch as the regular staff wrapped the Christmas gifts they'd gotten for the two poor families they had "adopted" this year. For a relatively small group of people, the amount and quality of the gifts and food were really impressive. They obviously had gotten things that they would have gladly given to their own families. That was really a lift to be able to help there too. It was also fun to see some of the staff in an informal setting. Some very nice people I think.
At the end of the lunch hour, I returned a call left on my cell phone by my youngest son. The woman handling my claim for Employment Insurance had called our home a bit earlier and had some questions that required answers before she could process it. When I got hold of her she was very pleasant. She acknowledged up front that payment of my claim might not be done before Christmas. What helped was to hear that it had been approved and also back dated to when I ended the last assignment. At least I know there is enough coming to catch up the bills. Normally when one doesn't apply within the first month ,there is a two week penalty applied where benefits are not paid. I explained that I hadn't wanted to apply at all and had hoped that the contracts my supervisor had spoken about several times were imminent for me for re-assignment. She said next time to be sure to file after a week of not working, because one can never predict a new job offer. She's right about that, isn't she. The questions were about the terms and ways Elections Canada makes payment for our services. They are quite strange and fairly rare because ther are only 308 Returning Officers in Canada at any given time. She had trouble getting her head around the fact that I was being required to work still by Elections Canada even though they stopped making any payments after September 28. "How can they force you to work when they refuse to pay you for it?" How indeed. I just noted that they were the government, after all, and she laughed. I have one detail I couldn't recall about some of the specifics on ages she needed, so I'll check that paperwork tomorrow when I'm thinking a bit more clearly. I hope I can leave her a voicemail for Monday morning. The biggest irony was, when I got home, there was another urgent e-mail from Elections Canada to all Returning Officers demanding more availability to them including over Christmas - cell phones with us and on during regular business hours. Nope - not until they start paying us for our time. The calls I made today were during the day, because government offices aren't open any other time. I have to deduct that time off my timesheet - anothe financial hit. As I've noted before, I enjoy serving my country in support of the democratic process, but slavery and indenturing was made illegal over a century ago, including to the government.
Spent a bit of time talking with my co-worker, who has remained on this assignment, and the young woman in the next office cubicle at the end of the day. She allowed that her 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with scarlet fever and that she was scared for her, knowing what the outcomes can be. It seemed to be the reason she had been crying last night. I noted that my oldest son had caught it in grade 8 and brought it home to share with me and his brothers. He missed three months of school because the doctor refused to diagnose what was classic presentation of the symptoms. It took two months of constant visits before the doctor would treat him appropriately for it. It is hard to dispute a doctor on a medical issue, so the school was hard on both my son and me with respect to the attendance issue. When it was finally conceded that it was scarlet fever, the whole tenor of the discussions changed. Keeping my son away from the rest of the school population protected everyone else from being infected. Duh, eh?
My co-worker seemed to still be concerned with my reactions yesterday. He hasn't been privy to what happened at the last assignment I was in, but it appeard he had been told to "keep an eye on me to make sure I was ok". His concern was comforting and I'm trying hard to keep in mind where the abuse and the intent came from. It wasn't anything to do with my supervisor who did try to intervene several times, or the other co-worker, who finished this assignment yesterday, who often gave me the opportunity to vent when I needed it. I am still waiting to hear if the company in question acted at all to stop the behaviour of the co-ordinator, the tech, the brother and sister, et al or not. I still haven't decided whether I want to register a formal complaint or not - under the legislation I have one year to do so. I know from my own experiences of running elections that management can't always be aware of what is going on when it is a big company, but they have been given enough of an indication that I would consider them party to it if they don't make efforts to clean up that department. We'll see. Workplace abuse and violence won't stop unless companies see that there are consequences for not intervening.
Got home and heard on the news that the proposed "inspection" (A la Inspector Gadget, I think) of election fraud in the Provincial and Municipal elections by the province was being met with outrage. Well good - someone is finally taking a good look at the shenanigans this political party has gotten away with the past two or three decades. The judge, who had heard the original applicaion in court, grantd an appeal by the press to remove the gag order in place with respect to the data presented to him in that process so the public can hear more of the detail, citing the best interest of the community. Other public enquiries have been conducted while criminal investigations were underway on a number of occasions and they don't put those at risk, as the provincial government alleges, as their excuse to keep everything behind closed doors. Christmas gift to me - Thanks Judge Martin. One of the strongest arguments for not having elections for the position of judge in Canada is based on the desire to not have their work compromised by political considerations or pressure - this is the result of holding the line. Yea and amen, brother!
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