Vancouver's Civic Strike: Absurbity Beyond Compare!

Back in late July, when the Vancouver civic strike began, if you had asked anyone whether 12 weeks later, the CUPE members would vote down an agreement that had essentially long been accepted by municipal unions all over the rest of Metro Vancouver, you would rightfully have been told you were nuts. After all, what kind of person, after being out of work for 3 months, and now sitting out in the rain everyday, would possibly vote to stay out even longer?

But in order to understand why 2 out of 3 unions turned down the offers presented to them, you need to revisit the question posed above and see the fallacy in its assumptions. It turns out that there are a great number of CUPE members who have not been out of work and are not getting rained upon every day. These folks immediately obtained work elsewhere, much of it in the private sector, and often for higher wages than they're getting from the City of Vancouver. Why won't they quit their city hall job? Because they don't want to give up their lucrative benefits and pension.

So we have a classic impasse. What's thick with irony though - in fact, as wide as the RAV line passing in front of their picket lines on Cambie Street - is that these same people who voted 'No' are supposedly holding out for lifetime job security. Think about that for a second. Their union is wanting guaranteed employment security for jobs that these people clearly hate. Don't believe me? Talk to a civic worker sometime: They have the worst jobs known to mankind, they're treated harshly, and they're not paid enough. It's sad.

The only way I see out of this problem is for the courts or the provincial government to order them back to work. Otherwise, new deadlines will come & go but nothing will ever change, because there's absolutely no incentive for those 'No' workers to change their minds.

Back on August 5, 1981 U.S. President Ronald Reagan fired 11,345 air traffic controllers for failing to return to work. Perhaps something similar needs to happen here? Imagine going into a municipal government office and being greeted by people who are pleasant & caring and actually seem to enjoy what they do.

Nahhh, I've got to stop day dreamin'!