Readers' Comments (Part 1)
The postal worker may have a bad back carrying all of this mail!
There is a spot reserved just for you. Feel free to write to me so I can let other readers know your opinion.
1) Who are the people picking up trash after special events as shown on the video... Seems these people come out of nowhere to handle these jobs. They are very well organized.
2) [RE the video] how much was spent on this?
3) "I would say our business has grown substantially in the last week," Mike Thorne, president of justjunk.com, said yesterday. "We're starting to get backed up a couple of days and I've noticed people booking online for pickup over the next five or six weeks."
There are even "garbage parties" springing up where neighbours get together and bring their trash to one central location, saving money by having it all picked up at once.
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/CanadaWorld/2009/06/30/9976536-sun.html
Hey! Windsor likes to party! Let's organize these all over the city!
4) [Copy of a note to Councillor Halberstadt sent to me and many others] I just read your blog and quite frankly, I think it's the other way around. It is our Mayor and city council members, people like you, who are the bullies in this Cupe strike! All of you knew long before, as far back as 1938 when it was first provided, this was to be funded by the city and what did our council members do? NOTHING! Nothing at all. No funds set aside for the future. Now because council members like you and before you did nothing, you wish to strip union members of this benefit! Yet, you wish to maintain it for yourselves! Shame on you!
Union members only make up 26.77% of the labour force fund, the smallest portion in the city's employment liability count! Cupe is weak so they will be the first stepping stone in stripping this benefit away! I would be interested in knowing how many actually use the post retirement benefit out of the Cupe membership? How many actually make it to the point of being able to use it? What is that percentage compared to the whole of Cupe members? What is the Cupe percentage in comparison to ALL entitled members? We know Cupe members are paid the least in comparison to other members of the city. Cupe members would be the one's least able to afford or save for this benefit. Many Cupe members are sole-supporting single parents! The new trend for the past decade.
I can hear your circle meeting now..."Council member: "We will take it from Cupe, then proceed to all other members in our city employment. We will eliminate it for everyone. Who cares about them anyway by then, they no longer provide a service to the city so why should we continue to pay it? They are not people, but a liability that needs to be eliminated. We will spend much during the 2009 strike, more than it would take to fund this benefit, but we will strip this benefit anyway. It will be worth the cost spent in the long run." Council members will keep it as deserved.
SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON ALL PAST AND PRESENT COUNCIL MEMBERS WHO DID NOTHING AND WHO VOTED TO ELIMINATE THIS BENEFIT FROM YOUR DEDICATED WORKERS AT A TIME WHEN IT IS NEED MOST! Liability, not people. Hogwash!
Perhaps it is your wish to see all your "valued" employees retire and having to apply for social assistance due to lack of retirement funds for benefit coverage. What a way to continue a cycle! So much for dignity, there will be none!! None while working, none when retired.
You should take a lesson from the LCBO establishment. They are INVESTING in their people, not STRIPPING them of what they already have!!! Take a stand for investment in your people! They provided well during their employment.
Another thing to keep in mind......the baby boomers are starting to retire, as noted before. They will require more for their retirement and......THEY STILL CAST A VOTE! Many younger people do not tend to vote at all. Food for thought.
5) This comment
"We believe that the new crossing should be subject to public oversight, and that would mean, in effect, a publicly owned bridge," said Mark Butler, a spokesman for the federal agency Transport Canada, on Thursday."
does not require a publicly owned bridge. The government has many oversight responsibilities of private firms, to wit, the financial sector so recently collapsed. What a good oversight job the feds do!
6) [Re The Invisible Bridge Company Lawsuit Against MDOT] Glad you posted this. I was particularly humoured at the shot taken at you in the comments section today in the Windsor Farce.
7) [RE Security guard wages] I thought this article was particularly interesting.
I have a university degree, college certificate and hundreds of hours in additional training as well as seminars. Yet, I still don't make this much money working for Ontario Works.
So much for "what is good for the goose, is good for the gander".
8) tell me if you don't see the same thing that I do in the first minute and a
half of this video? Was I wrong in thinking it was something against CUPE that those fences went up? Could it be that it is really not about CUPE at all? Yes, CUPE was barred and Carrousel BY THE RIVER and the Corvette Show were also denied access to our waterfront with the "lease" of our parkland to Red Bull but wasn't it really all of Windsor who lost out?
Is it only my eyes that see regular everyday Windsor people look like cattle in a fenced-in enclosure in contrast to the open & airy spaciousness of the elite of this city? And when contrasted to our neighbours across the river, where in appearance anyways, all people are being respected, well it just makes me want to jump into the river and swim over to someplace that might welcome me. My eyes must be going with age but I don't think that I'd be swimming alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WTtvB5j3I
9) re: The planning effort for new crossing of the Detroit River began in 1999 with our colleagues in Michigan."
Planning for the new crossing was started before the ink on the Agreement with the Bridge Company was barely dry!
Okay, so a bunch of big shots realized that there was a problem with our crossings back in 1999. One group liked the idea of fixing what we have and another group behind the scenes had "a better idea" and was maybe insulted that their suggestion was not approved? So this behind the scenes group starts working on damaging the efforts of the first group? I don't get it.
To me there is no other way of clearly saying what I am witnessing here
before my very eyes.... we idolize and make heroes of them [this behind the scenes group]like they have risen from the ashes of failure to save the day? The very "ashes of failure" that they alone have created by undermining, anti-lobbying, failing to help the upfront, out in the open project succeed, tripping up, poisoning, the list is too long so etc?
What have we come to that we idolize blind-siders...
Maybe love affairs aren't the only secrets hidden in the BlackBerry files.
10) On a brighter note something you will never read in the newspaper. A Union member brought by water and stated the employees at Costo where she purchased the water from were assisting her in load the water into the van told her a story. They stated that [a Member of Council] and his family went to Cosco last week he was given such an unwelcome greeting from the shoppers that he stopped his shopping and left the store. Another person I told the story to said she heard it was Supercentre, wouldn't that be something if it happened twice? Thanks for keeping up the blogs, look forward to them everyday.
11) I am just sick tonight of what's happening in our world !!
Ed McMahon first..........
Then Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson !!!!
12) re: HONOURING THE MAYOR
Doesn't Eddie understand that they were giving him an idea about how to get the Winter children's games here by creating an "elevation." They even came up with the idea of naming it for posterity in his honour.
Why is he so rude about it now when he took their idea?
OMG ... nearly peed my pants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lololololololol hahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
13) HEY ED, No, you may not stop reporting the news...
i know its tedious and everything, but i cannot believe you would stake a claim to not write about the strike anymore. is this not the most disruptive thing that has happened to windsor since the norwich block downtown was demolished? its news. its happening here. for you to make such a claim would be tantamount to ignoring your responsibility to respond to the preposterous and absurd yet thoroughly destructive policies being implemented by the city of windsor upon its employees -- a burden you were tasked with when you elected to begin doing what it is that you are doing with windsorcityblog. you can't turn your back on what's happening. please do not join the ranks of the majority who are turning a blind eye to these events. the future public record needs you to help account for the many falsely reported imbalances and discrepancies taking place as much as the grave injustices that are being perpetrated on all rank and file city workers. like it or not, we are in the grip of a series of events that are awash in historicity. you must bear witness! you must respond! ED, the poor saps in this city need you. i kid you not.
14) as for your question:
If "citizens are not faced with the prospect of trash-strewn, foul-smelling streets," then why is there the panic to threaten people with $5,000 fines or to take trash home on fireworks night? I wonder if some of the trash was taken away by front-end loaders in the middle of the night especially in the Red Bull area.
no, a pack of about 25 managers and supervisors in janitor garb, under the close watchful eye of i don't know how many police, on bike, in cruiser and in unmarked vehicle -- i'm guessing at least thirty; plainclothes and detective -- spent the hours between midnight and three am scouring this area with their little streetsweeper kits. i know cos i was there.
it was hopping, it was intense, and felt like a surreal scene from some long lost fellini film, or something. (it was far more repulsive and insulting than all of that. this city is already severely damaged, and it is becoming more and more damaged by the day, with every new nefarious scheme like this that becomes 'rolled out' to demoralize and slowly "obsolece" we workers. (my job has nothing to do with debris; nor should the managers', in my estimation.)
so, do fold that decadent cost into your estimated price tag on this strike. cops guarding a managerial class of scab-workers as they work to rid the festival plaza/dieppe of all the trash and refuse abandoned by the fireworks revellers. managers at 53 dollars an hour. cops at who knows how much? etc. etc. -- silly me, i thought we were in a recession and saving money was the order of the day ?!?
this city is getting weirder and weirder, if that's even possible.
15) My strike shift just ended. I wanted to share some observations with you concerning picketing by the river after fireworks.
I have never seen so many police in Windsor in one place in years. (not since the OAS conference) Riverside drive was swarming with management and hired private security personnel and what looked like young students picking up garbage and emptying barrels. They were under police escort! At one point about 22 strikers were standing around a large big bin with about 9 or 11 police watching them. There were police on bikes and on motorcycles and in marked cars and a magnum and an SUV.....I had no idea that a group of mostly female picketers could appear so intimidating that at least nine officers were needed!
Suddenly there was an ambulance siren and they were gone! I am not sure why they left but there appears to have been some sort of an incident on a nearby street involving a head injury lots of blood and an ambulance. So while a guy is being beat up or whatever downtown the police are babysitting us! If downtown Windsor had that kind of police presence on the streets after the bars close it would be a far safer spot!
Seriously, how much money did the city waste on tonight’s garbage pickup downtown? Besides the security and the video guys and the police presence what about the manager’s overtime! I saw [Nmae of Manager] himself throw garbage bags into a bin! Imagine the overtime!
Looking forward to reading your next blog!
16) Hi Ed, I was reading your blog today, and it is interesting what you say about the garbage numbers. I for one, doubt that 75% of people are taking it to the dump themselves.
My picket group has recently been putting information flyers in South Windsor neighbourhoods this week. And I have to say, I see alot of garbage piled up in garages which were open, or sides of houses.
Although we did hear that on a certain South Windsor street... those residents are lucky enough to have a garbage bin delivered once a week for a specific time period in which they can dump their garbage in and then it is taken away quickly.
Gee, why don't they do that in my neighbourhood? I have 10 weeks of garbage in my garage too. Have a nice day.
17) [Name of local employment agency] is hiring scabs.
All those heros who said that they would pick-up garbage for 10 bucks/hour can start applying within.
18) I wonder how much air pollution Eddie has saved Windsor from right now.
With the grass being so tall it will help clean more air. By not cutting the grass Windsor has lessened the carbon exhaust and stopped gasoline fumes from escaping into the atmosphere, thereby, helping the ozone.
Eddie is on a friggin roll! Go Eddie Go!
Just a second, I have to shut off my morphine drip.......
19) Read your blog every day now since local media has proven itself to be of such low quality & integrity. Thank you for building your blog Ed! You sure know how to see through these childish political facades and tell it like it really is!
Now regarding your blog about the Moroun opportunity:
Since when have we become a war & destruction area rather than a shed & rebuild community? That is what I would like to know. Roadblocks for every progress effort and it doesn't even make a difference if it is efforts by public or private people. Just put up the roadblock first and ask questions later. This is suffocating! Time for Windsor to do a 360 and start saying YES to opportunities for improvements and NO to roadblocks!
20) Ed I just want to tell you that you are doing a great job and I like your blog better than reading the dam Windsor Star. I agree 100 percent with Cupe on cancelling the paper on the bases of false bias reporting. I know for fact I have been a witness to the events and reports that have been going on and I can’t believe the misguiding reports that go in the paper. AM 800 is not any better. I fear for Red bull coming knowing there is so many unstable people out of work because of unfair treatment from our beloved mayor and our elected councilman. I don’t know what they expect from the people but the longer this has gone on its not breaking down the union its making us stronger and more willing to fight for our rights.
21)
1) Who are the people picking up trash after special events as shown on the video... Seems these people come out of nowhere to handle these jobs. They are very well organized.
2) [RE the video] how much was spent on this?
3) "I would say our business has grown substantially in the last week," Mike Thorne, president of justjunk.com, said yesterday. "We're starting to get backed up a couple of days and I've noticed people booking online for pickup over the next five or six weeks."
There are even "garbage parties" springing up where neighbours get together and bring their trash to one central location, saving money by having it all picked up at once.
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/CanadaWorld/2009/06/30/9976536-sun.html
Hey! Windsor likes to party! Let's organize these all over the city!
4) [Copy of a note to Councillor Halberstadt sent to me and many others] I just read your blog and quite frankly, I think it's the other way around. It is our Mayor and city council members, people like you, who are the bullies in this Cupe strike! All of you knew long before, as far back as 1938 when it was first provided, this was to be funded by the city and what did our council members do? NOTHING! Nothing at all. No funds set aside for the future. Now because council members like you and before you did nothing, you wish to strip union members of this benefit! Yet, you wish to maintain it for yourselves! Shame on you!
Union members only make up 26.77% of the labour force fund, the smallest portion in the city's employment liability count! Cupe is weak so they will be the first stepping stone in stripping this benefit away! I would be interested in knowing how many actually use the post retirement benefit out of the Cupe membership? How many actually make it to the point of being able to use it? What is that percentage compared to the whole of Cupe members? What is the Cupe percentage in comparison to ALL entitled members? We know Cupe members are paid the least in comparison to other members of the city. Cupe members would be the one's least able to afford or save for this benefit. Many Cupe members are sole-supporting single parents! The new trend for the past decade.
I can hear your circle meeting now..."Council member: "We will take it from Cupe, then proceed to all other members in our city employment. We will eliminate it for everyone. Who cares about them anyway by then, they no longer provide a service to the city so why should we continue to pay it? They are not people, but a liability that needs to be eliminated. We will spend much during the 2009 strike, more than it would take to fund this benefit, but we will strip this benefit anyway. It will be worth the cost spent in the long run." Council members will keep it as deserved.
SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON ALL PAST AND PRESENT COUNCIL MEMBERS WHO DID NOTHING AND WHO VOTED TO ELIMINATE THIS BENEFIT FROM YOUR DEDICATED WORKERS AT A TIME WHEN IT IS NEED MOST! Liability, not people. Hogwash!
Perhaps it is your wish to see all your "valued" employees retire and having to apply for social assistance due to lack of retirement funds for benefit coverage. What a way to continue a cycle! So much for dignity, there will be none!! None while working, none when retired.
You should take a lesson from the LCBO establishment. They are INVESTING in their people, not STRIPPING them of what they already have!!! Take a stand for investment in your people! They provided well during their employment.
Another thing to keep in mind......the baby boomers are starting to retire, as noted before. They will require more for their retirement and......THEY STILL CAST A VOTE! Many younger people do not tend to vote at all. Food for thought.
5) This comment
"We believe that the new crossing should be subject to public oversight, and that would mean, in effect, a publicly owned bridge," said Mark Butler, a spokesman for the federal agency Transport Canada, on Thursday."
does not require a publicly owned bridge. The government has many oversight responsibilities of private firms, to wit, the financial sector so recently collapsed. What a good oversight job the feds do!
6) [Re The Invisible Bridge Company Lawsuit Against MDOT] Glad you posted this. I was particularly humoured at the shot taken at you in the comments section today in the Windsor Farce.
7) [RE Security guard wages] I thought this article was particularly interesting.
I have a university degree, college certificate and hundreds of hours in additional training as well as seminars. Yet, I still don't make this much money working for Ontario Works.
So much for "what is good for the goose, is good for the gander".
8) tell me if you don't see the same thing that I do in the first minute and a
half of this video? Was I wrong in thinking it was something against CUPE that those fences went up? Could it be that it is really not about CUPE at all? Yes, CUPE was barred and Carrousel BY THE RIVER and the Corvette Show were also denied access to our waterfront with the "lease" of our parkland to Red Bull but wasn't it really all of Windsor who lost out?
Is it only my eyes that see regular everyday Windsor people look like cattle in a fenced-in enclosure in contrast to the open & airy spaciousness of the elite of this city? And when contrasted to our neighbours across the river, where in appearance anyways, all people are being respected, well it just makes me want to jump into the river and swim over to someplace that might welcome me. My eyes must be going with age but I don't think that I'd be swimming alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WTtvB5j3I
9) re: The planning effort for new crossing of the Detroit River began in 1999 with our colleagues in Michigan."
Planning for the new crossing was started before the ink on the Agreement with the Bridge Company was barely dry!
Okay, so a bunch of big shots realized that there was a problem with our crossings back in 1999. One group liked the idea of fixing what we have and another group behind the scenes had "a better idea" and was maybe insulted that their suggestion was not approved? So this behind the scenes group starts working on damaging the efforts of the first group? I don't get it.
To me there is no other way of clearly saying what I am witnessing here
before my very eyes.... we idolize and make heroes of them [this behind the scenes group]like they have risen from the ashes of failure to save the day? The very "ashes of failure" that they alone have created by undermining, anti-lobbying, failing to help the upfront, out in the open project succeed, tripping up, poisoning, the list is too long so etc?
What have we come to that we idolize blind-siders...
Maybe love affairs aren't the only secrets hidden in the BlackBerry files.
10) On a brighter note something you will never read in the newspaper. A Union member brought by water and stated the employees at Costo where she purchased the water from were assisting her in load the water into the van told her a story. They stated that [a Member of Council] and his family went to Cosco last week he was given such an unwelcome greeting from the shoppers that he stopped his shopping and left the store. Another person I told the story to said she heard it was Supercentre, wouldn't that be something if it happened twice? Thanks for keeping up the blogs, look forward to them everyday.
11) I am just sick tonight of what's happening in our world !!
Ed McMahon first..........
Then Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson !!!!
12) re: HONOURING THE MAYOR
Doesn't Eddie understand that they were giving him an idea about how to get the Winter children's games here by creating an "elevation." They even came up with the idea of naming it for posterity in his honour.
Why is he so rude about it now when he took their idea?
OMG ... nearly peed my pants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lololololololol hahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
13) HEY ED, No, you may not stop reporting the news...
i know its tedious and everything, but i cannot believe you would stake a claim to not write about the strike anymore. is this not the most disruptive thing that has happened to windsor since the norwich block downtown was demolished? its news. its happening here. for you to make such a claim would be tantamount to ignoring your responsibility to respond to the preposterous and absurd yet thoroughly destructive policies being implemented by the city of windsor upon its employees -- a burden you were tasked with when you elected to begin doing what it is that you are doing with windsorcityblog. you can't turn your back on what's happening. please do not join the ranks of the majority who are turning a blind eye to these events. the future public record needs you to help account for the many falsely reported imbalances and discrepancies taking place as much as the grave injustices that are being perpetrated on all rank and file city workers. like it or not, we are in the grip of a series of events that are awash in historicity. you must bear witness! you must respond! ED, the poor saps in this city need you. i kid you not.
14) as for your question:
If "citizens are not faced with the prospect of trash-strewn, foul-smelling streets," then why is there the panic to threaten people with $5,000 fines or to take trash home on fireworks night? I wonder if some of the trash was taken away by front-end loaders in the middle of the night especially in the Red Bull area.
no, a pack of about 25 managers and supervisors in janitor garb, under the close watchful eye of i don't know how many police, on bike, in cruiser and in unmarked vehicle -- i'm guessing at least thirty; plainclothes and detective -- spent the hours between midnight and three am scouring this area with their little streetsweeper kits. i know cos i was there.
it was hopping, it was intense, and felt like a surreal scene from some long lost fellini film, or something. (it was far more repulsive and insulting than all of that. this city is already severely damaged, and it is becoming more and more damaged by the day, with every new nefarious scheme like this that becomes 'rolled out' to demoralize and slowly "obsolece" we workers. (my job has nothing to do with debris; nor should the managers', in my estimation.)
so, do fold that decadent cost into your estimated price tag on this strike. cops guarding a managerial class of scab-workers as they work to rid the festival plaza/dieppe of all the trash and refuse abandoned by the fireworks revellers. managers at 53 dollars an hour. cops at who knows how much? etc. etc. -- silly me, i thought we were in a recession and saving money was the order of the day ?!?
this city is getting weirder and weirder, if that's even possible.
15) My strike shift just ended. I wanted to share some observations with you concerning picketing by the river after fireworks.
I have never seen so many police in Windsor in one place in years. (not since the OAS conference) Riverside drive was swarming with management and hired private security personnel and what looked like young students picking up garbage and emptying barrels. They were under police escort! At one point about 22 strikers were standing around a large big bin with about 9 or 11 police watching them. There were police on bikes and on motorcycles and in marked cars and a magnum and an SUV.....I had no idea that a group of mostly female picketers could appear so intimidating that at least nine officers were needed!
Suddenly there was an ambulance siren and they were gone! I am not sure why they left but there appears to have been some sort of an incident on a nearby street involving a head injury lots of blood and an ambulance. So while a guy is being beat up or whatever downtown the police are babysitting us! If downtown Windsor had that kind of police presence on the streets after the bars close it would be a far safer spot!
Seriously, how much money did the city waste on tonight’s garbage pickup downtown? Besides the security and the video guys and the police presence what about the manager’s overtime! I saw [Nmae of Manager] himself throw garbage bags into a bin! Imagine the overtime!
Looking forward to reading your next blog!
16) Hi Ed, I was reading your blog today, and it is interesting what you say about the garbage numbers. I for one, doubt that 75% of people are taking it to the dump themselves.
My picket group has recently been putting information flyers in South Windsor neighbourhoods this week. And I have to say, I see alot of garbage piled up in garages which were open, or sides of houses.
Although we did hear that on a certain South Windsor street... those residents are lucky enough to have a garbage bin delivered once a week for a specific time period in which they can dump their garbage in and then it is taken away quickly.
Gee, why don't they do that in my neighbourhood? I have 10 weeks of garbage in my garage too. Have a nice day.
17) [Name of local employment agency] is hiring scabs.
All those heros who said that they would pick-up garbage for 10 bucks/hour can start applying within.
18) I wonder how much air pollution Eddie has saved Windsor from right now.
With the grass being so tall it will help clean more air. By not cutting the grass Windsor has lessened the carbon exhaust and stopped gasoline fumes from escaping into the atmosphere, thereby, helping the ozone.
Eddie is on a friggin roll! Go Eddie Go!
Just a second, I have to shut off my morphine drip.......
19) Read your blog every day now since local media has proven itself to be of such low quality & integrity. Thank you for building your blog Ed! You sure know how to see through these childish political facades and tell it like it really is!
Now regarding your blog about the Moroun opportunity:
Since when have we become a war & destruction area rather than a shed & rebuild community? That is what I would like to know. Roadblocks for every progress effort and it doesn't even make a difference if it is efforts by public or private people. Just put up the roadblock first and ask questions later. This is suffocating! Time for Windsor to do a 360 and start saying YES to opportunities for improvements and NO to roadblocks!
20) Ed I just want to tell you that you are doing a great job and I like your blog better than reading the dam Windsor Star. I agree 100 percent with Cupe on cancelling the paper on the bases of false bias reporting. I know for fact I have been a witness to the events and reports that have been going on and I can’t believe the misguiding reports that go in the paper. AM 800 is not any better. I fear for Red bull coming knowing there is so many unstable people out of work because of unfair treatment from our beloved mayor and our elected councilman. I don’t know what they expect from the people but the longer this has gone on its not breaking down the union its making us stronger and more willing to fight for our rights.
21)
Take a look at these strike headlines over at Global Ontario Ed. Sometimes pictures really do speaka thousand words. What do you think is going on? Almost appears that Francis & Miller are being compared and Polls being used to topple Miller? Or groundwork for no more Mr Nice Guy?
22) Keep it going. You're my daily fix. I am a junkie. :)
23) [RE MDOT dirt on the ramps to the Bridge] Great pics too...thanks for providing "context" in this debate!
What if MM dumped a pile of junk in the middle of the bridge? Canada would have their Navy Seals roping up the bridge piers! Unbelievable the resentment for MM
24) "We thought it was dirt or clay or construction debris -- but no, it is only retaliation" has to go down in the border file as the most classic quote to date. Priceless.
I just love Dan's sarcasm.
It's too bad that MDOT had to get so remarkably ugly with this mess. It amazes me the craziness that goes on in politics and the incredibly stupid wasteful spending of taxpayers money.
Moroun will win eventually and he should. I wish they would just let them get on with his business - on both sides of the border.
25) [Note to Dwight Duncan sent to me] To the Honourable Mr. Dwight Duncan,
I read an article in the Toronto Star that stated "That could put Duncan and Pupatello, who this morning said there's been no request from either side in the Motor City dispute for legislation, in tough spots because both favour a bargained resolution in the Windsor strike". That statement is not true. I e-mailed correspondence to you on [Date], requesting your assistance, and I did not receive a response. I have a very difficult time believing that no one else from Windsor requested your involvement in terminating this strike.
I am sure that you totally understand that Windsor’s Mayor, Eddie Francis, makes unilateral decisions and defends them to the Nth. Degree... This strike is almost three months old in Windsor, the union workers are seriously in financial difficulties, Francis takes off for Greece, Germany, and who knows where, and the rest of the City is left dangling and needs your help.
For heaven’s sake, if CUPE has not contacted you by now, don’t you think it is your duty to contact them and ask our executive if they require your assistance in legislating us back to work? We have been requesting arbitration and we have thousands of signatures on petitions requesting arbitration, but the Mayor refuses to cooperate.
Back to work legislation is necessary in order to resolve the issue of post retirement benefits. I am one of your constituents, and a member of CUPE Local 543. If I am not important enough to receive a response from your office, then I suggest you contact my Union President, Ms. Jean Fox. She can be reached at [Phone number]
posted by JoeBlog at 12:01 a.m.
<< Home