More Post-Strike Thoughts

I wondered about a few things after the strike. Perhaps you did too.

ANOTHER GOOD RUMOUR BITES THE DUST, MAYBE

Did Helga's quick action prevent another major confrontation?

Here is the rumour I heard:

• "People are saying Eddie is not signing the new collective agreement which will delay our payment and raise."

What if it was really like the no Back-To-Work Protocol rumour that circulated in the last minute before the Caboto meeting, and it scared City Hall into signing or face a wildcat walkout next week for bad faith.

Did the City learn its lesson this time around in communicating with employees properly?

Here is the clarifying note sent out to calm everyone down:

• "Good afternoon everyone:
  
  This administration does not often try to address rumours by e-mail. However, a new rumour that has upset a number of people, seems to have been broadly circulating this afternoon. The rumour, in short, is that the Mayor has refused to sign the CUPE Collective Agreements. I would like to clarify the followiing:
  
  The process to get signatures on the Minutes of Settlement with CUPE Local 543 and Local 82 is proceeding positively with no disruptions. No concerns have arisen and we expect to sign the minutes of settlement later this week. The minutes are signed by the administrative bargaining team and by the union executive.
  
  In due course, a new collective agreement will be produced and signed by the appropriate union executive members and the CAO and City Clerk.
  
  I hope this clarifies any misinformation that you may have heard in this regard.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Helga Reidel
  General Manager of Corporate Services"

Wait a minute. There is nothing in there that talks about when the signup amounts are to be paid. Wasn't that supposed to happen soon?

OMG, City Hall managers and non-union employees may have to give out flyers as CUPE employees come to work today.

Oh dear. Will there be another near-riot? Will the Police have to be called? Will someone have to apologize again? Will this further increase the rift between Junior and the Mayor?

Can you imagine the BLOGs that can be written about this!

DISCIPLINE

I wonder how the first day back was for certain CUPE workers.

Were the people who picketed the Mayor's house and those of other Councillors treated properly? Of course they need not worry whatsoever after the Mayor, who after all IS a lawyer, said that what they did was perfectly legal.

How about that person who may or may not have been a City worker in that infamous and obviously altered "garbage" video and the 2 people in the background who were never mentioned at all, were they OK?

Seriously, after the near-riot episode in which people could have been seriously hurt or charged with a criminal offence, nothing the workers did could compare. I wonder what penalty those who instigated that unfortunate event suffered?

How about that lady who was charged for removing car keys, has the charge against her been dropped yet? Has she consulted a lawyer to determine what her legal rights are?

BACK TO LAW SCHOOL

Will the Head of the Police Services Board who also happens to be a lawyer, our Mayor, send Police spokespersons on a refresher law course.

Remember the incorrect legal opinion given by the police after the Mayor's house was picketed? That could have resulted in many people being charged improperly for an offence which the Supreme Court of Canada said did not exist!

Something has to be done to correct this. Just like with the car keys removal incident, what if the charges were incorrectly laid?

It is not fair to expect Police officers to be up-to-date with the law. Their job is tough enough now. It seems to me that the Police must have access to the best legal advice possible and in a timely fashion when a unique event happens.

How that can be done efficiently and effectivley I will leave to others.

The Police ought not to be put in the situation where they act improperly on a mistaken view of the law. Nor should citizens be charged and forced to hire a lawyer at great expense to clear their name merely because the opinion of the Police is wrong.

COUNCILLOR LEWENZA'S LAMENT

Could someone gently, or else pound him in the ribs, tell him to be quiet. He is looking more and more foolish as time goes on about his so-called rift with Mayor. Here is what he says now:

• "Ward 4 Coun. Ken Lewenza Jr. agreed that the strike has damaged relationships on council. "To be frank with you, I've had a great relationship with the mayor over the last five years -- up until the last few weeks.
  
  "At the end of the day, I continue to support all the good work that he does for the city, but very much question his approach to labour relations," he said. At Monday night's council meeting, Lewenza made a statement clarifying his voting record on CUPE contract proposals. "My voting record has been misrepresented by the mayor. Comments made by the mayor are an insult to the contributions I made to the (negotiating) process."

Wow, quite a rift between them!

I sure would like to know what Junior did that would make me think that he is still a labour supporter! What positive action can he show that shortened the strike by one single minute! What "compromise" was he able to have the City agree to! When did he publicly say anything negative about the Mayor's handling of the file! When the Protocol fiasco blew up, what action did the Councillor take against the Mayor other than give a quote in the media!

Please stop talking!

OLD NEW BEGINNINGS STORY

A reader sent me a note to remind me of the irony of this.

Just before the Caboto vote, Councillor Marra was quoted in the press as saying:

• "City Coun. Bill Marra urged workers to give the city’s offer “genuine and serious consideration” so that the city can begin the difficult process of healing and moving forward. He said it was imperative city services be restored and vital that workers get back on the job and on with their lives."

Then he got completely blind-sided with that strange clause that was inserted in the Mayor's Back-To-Work Protocol without his permission and he could have lost both his job and the Orgnaization's funding.

As my reader wrote:

• "Last paragraphs [in news articles] really are revealing just like you said Ed! What PUNCH they have! This article was published the day of the vote that was sabotaged by the mayor. Little did Marra know when he was making that comment, the snare that was placed into the back-to-work protocol by his rival the mayor and distributed an hour before vote by managers sent by the mayor. Genuine & serious consideration for sure!"

COUNCILLOR MOM SMEARED

She may as well not run for Council. If she is going to do so, she will be crucified for speaking out about the lack of negotiations by the City. That 7 week period that she talked about in her BLOG could potentially be worth millions of dollars of back-pay for workers and a huge embarrassment to the Mayor.

Did you see the story: "Strike's aftershock - rifts, disillusion on council"

Nice photo of her online speaking with CUPE President Jim Wood. I wonder if this is part of Marty's healing process to link her with CUPE using a photo taken a month ago that has little to do with the "Councillors" story!

She has not Blogged very much either. Her last BLOG was June 29. A lot has gone on since then and nothing...Has she been muzzled or threatened because she said too much before?

I suspect that there is a much bigger story hiding behind her comment

• "I have to do some soul-searching and decide with my family if I’ll run again."

$100K CLUB

How many Windsor managers and non-union employees will join the Club after the CUPE strike? Say like that fellow who supposedly made $25K for working 24/7. How many more members will come from the Police Dept for all the extra security they provided?

So far our savings have been $30M with overtime for mangers and non-union employees at $2.5M. At $50 per household tax rebate, that's another $4M. About a million for security guards. That leaves $22.5M unaccounted for so far.

I can hardly wait to see how quickly that number drops.

WHERE WERE BRIAN AND JOE? WE KNOW WHERE THE LIBERALS AND TORIES WERE

A reader reminds me that our Federal NDP members, Brian Masse and Joe Comartin were virtually invisible during the strike providing no help whatsoever to the striking CUPE members. Oh I forgot, it is not a federal matter. How convenient

As for the Provincial Liberals and Tories:

• "Toronto Liberal MPP George Smitherman organized several cleanups throughout the city with volunteers.
  
  Smitherman started a website, OneToronto.ca, to recruit volunteers to help clean up the mess left over by the strike.
  
  At 7 a.m., volunteers tidied up Carlton Street between Church and Sherbourne Streets. They then headed to the Yonge and Bloor Streets intersection before heading to Queen and Sherbourne Streets.
  
  At 10:30 a.m., Smitherman was joined by the former head of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party John Tory and other volunteers to help clean the area around Toronto East General Hospital.
  
  The area around the hospital, located near Coxwell and Danforth Avenues, is littered with overflowing trash receptacles.
  
  "Our hospital cares about the appearance of our neighbourhood and we are pleased to pull together to keep our community clean," said Rob Devitt, the hospital's president and CEO.
  
  Tory, who ran against Miller in the 2003 municipal election, told reporters at the scene he is not interested in running for the city's top job but that he is certainly listening to people who are encouraging him to do so.
  
  The wife of a striking worker also attended the cleanup to confront Smitherman about using the delicate situation as a "photo opportunity."
  
  "You're always out here sweeping the streets are you? It's funny, I've never seen any of these cameras pick you up doing this before," she said, referring to reporters crowded around the MPP.
  
  Smitherman, who has denied rumours that he is interested in running for mayor in the next election, defended his actions by saying he is doing one thing to help the people of Toronto.
  
  "I'm a local representative who has the capacity to do one thing in these circumstances," he said.

Gosh, whom can the union members in Windsor support now? All of the parties deserted them. As one of my readers wrote:

• "You would not believe how much open discussion there is among our (admittedly small) circle about who should run for Council and how badly X would like to see Y defeated next time around........It seems to be shaping up to be a real Donnybrook."

Now about my comment the other day about NOT running for Mayor....