Tuesday, February 19, 2013

City of WL Unionized worker benefits terminated

In a move that the IUOE (International Union of Operating Engineers) has called:

"a bold move aimed at intimidating IUOE workers at the City of Williams Lake"

They have announced that they've been informed that benefits of City workers are terminated, effectively immediately.  It should be noted though that benefits, in a strike situation, normally continue as long as the Union continues to pay for them

Local resident Kim Herdman, on Welcome to  Williams Lake's Facebook page noted:

this is incredible! The City seems to forget that once things are settled with their Unionized Employees and the Regional District all the time and money wasted will be the small issue...the big issue will be a tarnished reputation and more difficult working relations...and even more dangerous for them voter dissatisfaction with their handling of issues and people

Finally - view other IUOE press releases on this subject here (Feb 15th) and here ( Correction of "Mis-truths" by City of WL)

View today's press release by IUOE below:



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's your feeling about all this Steve?

Steve Forseth said...

Honestly - I believe the City is totally mis-handling it. I think City workers do deserve a raise of some sort - 1% per year in a 3 year contract

In addition - the union is right, on medical benefits, it shouldn't be "two-tiered" if previous practice was "equal benefits for all"

Finally - it doesn't seem like there is an answer "waiting in the wings" to resolve this dispute quickly... :(. Also - as a City resident, I don't care for the language used by the City in regards to the IUOE but seems to be "par for the course" especially in regards to how they deal with the Cariboo RD on the Rural Fringe Fire Protection dispute...

Steve