I am sick and tired of hearing how the city is using “ultimatum bargaining”. I would love to hear the union president explain how their strike actions are not “ultimatum bargaining”, because it seems to me to be exactly the same thing. The union says “you give us what we want or we will strike”, I’m not a symantics expert but that sounds like an ultimatum to me.
I am also wondering how the union has the nerve to say that the city negotiators are not willing to bargain. The union president was on a local news radio station and stated that there were three main points of contention (deal breakers) and 270 concessions. All three of the deal breakers are off the table, and depending on who you talk to, there are now only 70 (union count) or 27 (negotiator count) concessions on the table, which are not being publicized for some unknown reason (that sounds like the city removed 200 concessions from the agreement). If the city was not ready to bargain, the count would still be the same, no? The fact that neither side is willing to make public the supposed concessions really burns my ass. If this was a private union negotiating with a private profit driven company/corporation, this might be acceptable, but in light of the fact this has to do with MY tax dollars, these should be publicized. My first reaction to this situation is that these are frivolous concessions, and the union is in a major pissing contest with MT management and holding the tax paying public at ransom. If the relationship between the two (which seems to be the case) is that toxic, some sort of review should be initiated to see where the real problem lies. Either way this is completely unacceptable, and as this strike goes on, public support will undoubtedly wane. —Tax Payer
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
I support fully the platform put forward by Occupy Nova Scotia that for every day that a public sector trade union is on strike, we get a rebate on our taxes and it comes from that specific union’s lavish pension fund.
What, you mean you aren’t espousing social justice? Well, you could have said something sooner….
Hey Tax Payer, stop making sense! Haven’t you read Tim B’s infotorial on this?
best transit strike bitch, to date
Fucking A.
OP, you are a lying sack of camel dung. Collective Agreements are public documents that you will be able read to your heart’s content…….once both parties actually come to an agreement.
this is like trying to get a dog to pick up it’s own shit. ain’t ever going to happen in this lifetime, folks.
Perhaps GV, you in your infinite wisdom, you could provide us all with a link to which we can all read what the 70 points of contention (to which there seems to be a 2.5 to 1 difference in totals, apparently math skills on both sides are a little questionable) are, so that we can all understand where public opinion stands on these so called “strike worthy” issues. The bitch I read stated that the issue was the fact that these 70 issues that were deemed “strike worthy” by the union president, are not made public, not the fact that public sector collective agreements are not made public. When you can read with the comprehension of a third grader, let us know. Until then, keep up with your hooked on phonics, someday you won’t even need spellcheck. I see you can flip flop from right wing to left wing “church of hate” whenever you feel it necessary, maybe I’ll see you at the next “occupy” rally in support of unions.
Bang on right OB!!! It’s funny, I drove past the MT main terminal in Burnside on Friday afternoon at rush hour, a grand total of 15-20 people ambling back and forth with the lowest of efforts, no waving, no chanting, nothing but lackluster sandwich signs (but when the firetruck full of public sector union members drove by and honked, they got some reaction, but not the general driving public). Good job, 750 striking employees, and a solidarity of less than .05% attendance at their main terminal, where they will get their greatest exposure. Enjoy your vacation MT!!!!
So Coast, please remind me again, which city has a buffoonish caricature for a mayor…
http://www.thestar.com/article/1126777–ma…
Come on binding arbitration!