Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Vancouver in 2007

Summer is winding down, kids are returning to school, the fall colours are making their first showing, and the summer strike of CUPE (Vancouver Civic workers) continues into its 7th week.

This strike, dubbed "Sam's Strike", is now at the "its your fault" stage. Who cares who's at fault, and get back to the table. The City says it won't return to the table until there is a commitment from the Union that they will concede on some issues. Wait a minute... get to the table, then negotiate. The Union has asked for a mediator, the City has refused.

Those are the facts. When there is a strike, all parts of the contract are on the table at any given time. The details do NOT need to be fed to the media when one side or the other wants to "make a point" against the other.

The parties need to be willing to negotiate in good faith.

As far as bringing the strike into the realm of politics, well, we Vancouverites are now aware of the agenda of the Mayor and his Counsel. When the next election comes around, voters will let them know what they think. To be honest, after living in BC for most of my life, I have seen the voting public forgive and/or forget past sins when they get to the polling booth, on more than one occasion. We didn't get our nicname Lotus Land for nothing.

So bottom line: get back to the bargaining table. Quit stalling. Stop trashing each other (literally & figuratively). Have the decency to negotiate in good faith. Get the job done!!!! If you can't do that... and I mean both sides, then get a mediator.

In the meantime, here is a little video to let you see what at least one striker thinks:

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