Courtesy of the City of Williams Lake:
The Union’s Chief Shop Steward is quoted in the Williams Lake Tribune as follows:
“It was the union that went to the city and said it would supply the operators to make sure the ice remained at the complex”.
"So it seems funny that when they say they are trying to do something for the public, their idea was to take the ice out. He said, “Their track record is lousy".
The Unions’ statement is, at best, misleading. Here are the facts:
· When the City and the Union were meeting at the Labour Relations Board in Vancouver on February 1st, the City proposed that the Union agree that in the event of a strike, the ice would stay in, although all programmes and services would still be cancelled. The City said that if the Union wouldn't agree that the ice had to come out because of a strike and it would be too costly to put it back in so the remainder of the ice season would have to be cancelled and Union members would be laid off.
· The Union said “no” to the idea of keeping the ice in, and even after several attempts by the LRB mediator to have them do so they still would not consider it. The City recognized that the Union was not going to agree to keep the ice in and that keeping the ice in was not going to be deemed an “essential service”. The City therefore asked that the Union cooperate in taking the ice out properly which might take longer than the 72 hours permitted by strike notice. The reason for this is that the melting ice would have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars damage to the CMRC if not taken out properly. Only reluctantly the Union agreed to just ensure the ice would be taken out properly and were adamant they would not support keeping the ice in.
· At a Union meeting in Williams Lake on the following day, the City was told that general union members expressed their disagreement with the Chief Shop Steward for the position the Union was taking on not keeping the ice in. Additionally, the City has been advised by several ice user groups that they also expressed their opinion to the Union during this time as they were made aware of the Union’s position on not keeping the ice in.
· After the union meeting, the Chief Shop Steward approached the City and agreed that the ice could stay in and the Union would provide operators to monitor the ice making equipment. The parties signed an agreement to that effect.
So whose idea was it to keep the ice in? You decide.
3 comments:
Just after the union members voted in favour of a strike, Geoff Paynton, Director of Community Services, repeatedly said to staff that as soon as the city was served 72-hour strike notice, the ice was coming out. My, how the city talks out of both sides of its mouth!
It's like everything else coming out of this council's mouth, Lies and misinformation to cover up there incompetence.
As a user group rep I was contacted by Payton after the strike and vote and he advised me that the ice would only be able to be kept in if the Union agreed and so far they had not. I wrote it down. He was very clear that they had asked the union to do so and that they had said no but they were still trying to convince them.
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