Interview

OPSEU is Smokin' in Ontario

by P.D. Lesko

Just like the lyric from the "West Side Story" song, it's "alarming how charming" Smokey Thomas is. He has a strong Canadian accent, speaks rapidly and with a folksy warmth. Thomas laughs easily, and doesn't hesitate when he calls the democratic process in his own union a "pain in the ass"— or backtrack and ask that the comment be striken from the interview. In fact, his demeanor makes it difficult to believe that Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members sometimes refer the Toronto-based organization as the "Lebanon of the labour movement" thanks to vicious political infighting during conventions and elections. Thomas, a member of the union for decades, is not outsider to the warfare. He is, however, not the least bit pretentious. Warren (Smokey) Thomas was elected president of Canada's Ontario Public Service Employees Union on April 20, 2007, after serving three terms (six years) as First vice president and Treasurer. The 55-year old registered practical nurse has been an OPSEU activist for 25 years beginning as president of Local 431 at the Ontario Psychiatric Hospital in Kingston, Ontario, where he represented more than 1,000 members. He was elected to OPSEU’s Executive Board in 1993.

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Unconventional Wisdom

A Sales Pitch Named Desire

NOTE: With the exception of efolletts.com, all of the on-line textbook sellers mentioned in this piece, originally published in 2000, have gone out of business

by Jay Vandergelt

I LOVE TENNESSEE Williams's work. My favorite of his plays is "A Streetcar Named Desire." The complex and manipulative Blanche DuBois and the equally as complex and brutishly stubborn Stanley Kowalski face off. On a related topic (you'll see how in a moment), I have been following the recent surge in online textbook sales with some interest, and have come to the conclusion that these textbook vendor dot.coms (bigwords.com, ecampus.com, varsitybooks.com, textbooks.com, efolletts.com, etc...) market to faculty the way Blanche DuBois lived her life. That is to say, these dot.com businesses pitch to faculty by relying on the kindness of strangers. "Do something nice for your students...." the ads all clamor. Pshaw.

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Juggling 101

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Posted: January 6th, 2010

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