Cut backs everywhere, but the city has found a hefty dollar for a lawyer. What is the need this early in the game?

sets the tone of negotiations.
Let’s the other parties know that they are not playing.
Ensures that the union stays within “collective bargaining trends and a unified strategy for developing positions and achieving objectives at the bargaining table.”

In lay terms: There will be strike action.
cheese

Does anyone remember when we weren’t in
“challenging fiscal times”? Typical rhetoric you hear prior to any negotiations.

If the plan is to make that the “case” for changes in a collective agreement, the better question is whether the City of Prince George’s fiscal position is any worse or better than it has been in the past and whether the City’s fiscal position is any better or worse than other Cities that have already settled with their employees and what settlement did they get.

Can’t help but also wonder, if indeed the city’s politicians believe we are in “challenging fiscal times” that we haven’t ever experienced before, why did they give themselves a 30% pay hike last year?

Bring in a lawyer ? Lawyers never do anything fast nor efficient ! Paying a lawyer an hourly rate is like an open bank account ……and slow! Not to mention the travel expense from Vancouver, hotels, meals, etc. Why is the City staff not attempting to negotiate or is there no confidence? Doesn’t the City have a lawyer on retainer…..why a Vancouver lawyer ?

OMG, the City has a lawyer on staff. I am pretty sure he is not a union position. Why would they not use him and then he can consult with other lawyers, IF NEED BE.

Using a lawyer from out of town is also stupid due to extra costs (and I’m pretty sure this lawyer will not throw those in free). We have plenty of lawyers in this town that could do the job.

I agree totally with Boon. From what I see bothsides have it pretty good what is wrong with rolling over the contract with a cost of living increase. That would be covered by the cost of the lawyer probably. CUPE isn’t going to give anything up and the City isn’t going to give anything. Just settle for what is already a good situation and get on with running the city.

A spending we will go…. we cant afford any pay raises.. well except for council members.. we have no money left in our budget.. except for a expensive out of town lawyer… Mayor and council are a complete waste of skin.

Wow, that is being open to listening to the workers. Seems like the city is looking for a battle.

So, I wonder what instructions the lawyers were given.

fingers crossed for a 20% reduction in the work force. please, please, please.

20% reduction in work force = 20% reduction in snow clearing = 20% reduction in pot hole filling = 20% increase in time for approvals
20% increase in money available for councillor pay increass, etc, etc, etc.

First the City announces bargaining via the media.

Then for the first time in history the employer hires a lawyer for $600 plus an hour in addition to expenses.

From what I understand, there has never been a strike in this City and there has always basically been a very respectful process between both union and employer – no matter who sat in the mayor’s & the CAO’s seat.

I don’t work for the city and am not a union member; however, I know many folks that support their families by working for the City. They are NOT wealthy, by any means, good ole’ middle class, just enough to pay the bills but still have to save, save, save for any trips, their kid’s futures and their own retirements, care for aging parents, keep a good vehicle in the driveway etc.

This City NEEDS good paying jobs, folks, the “trickle down effect” is proven BS.

Now I am all for keeping a check on staffing levels to ensure an acceptable level of productivity, the old protestant work ethic as gosh knows, I work hard enough BUT, spare me and everyone the BS of the ‘era of fiscal restraint’ crap.

We can afford billions of dollars in payments and interest over decades to come, with no proven ROI, on unnecessary infrastructure and borrow more money for a dike and parking meters (etc); council can give themselves a raise, refuse to take a reduction in their own expenses and keep up the globe trotting, continue to incur how much in legal costs levied against its own citizens, keep organizations such as IPG going with over a mill a year with NO proven ROI to date (not concrete, anyway), pay for the CWG when the province is still reeling from the 2010….

Yet the VERY THING THEY ARE IN PLACE FOR: to manage our tax dollars to pay our public employees a descent middle class supporting wage to keep our public service and existing infrastructure up to snuff to service the citizens of a healthy, nice city to live, do business, spend money and raise a family, retire….well, the same disdain and disrespect this council shows its citizens (i.e. haldi road is just one example) and community non profits whom collectively do A LOT of the heavy lifting for them (sport, recreation, arts, social), well it is evident where their own work force is concerned, the same attitude prevails.

Swinging the big stick right off the bat (pardon the pun, lol) fighting employees with their own tax dollars and setting the tone for hostility, well that’s no way to do business – on any level, imo.

It will be interesting days ahead.

Not good. Adriana is very expensive, so hopefully CUPE can also afford a high powered lawyer. The City seems poised to take advantage of an unexperienced national union rep., and inexperienced union members at the table who have never bargained before. Shame on you, Kathleen Soltis, and Shari Green, for spending our tax money like this. Kathleen is an experienced bargainer, and YES we already fund an in-house lawyer. Shame on the City for entering the bargaining process with guns blazing and wallets wide open. Makes no sense.

Let’s get real. I’m confident you could reduce city staffing levels by 10-20% and not notice a difference.

Actually this article is kind of mis-titled. The city hired a Management Lawyer, not a labour lawyer.

The union will easily be able to keep the lawyer busy and he can keep billing the city huge amounts of money, just further indicating how poor the management of the city truly is, when in the past the parties were able to get together and get things done, at minimal cost.

Johnny, you could be correct! But before you hand pink slips to ruin the livelihoods of working men and women, perhaps with houses owned in this city and kids in school and lives built here…better do their homework and prove redundancy of work.

Unfortunately, there is such a palatable level of suspicion and mistrust (well earned, imo)the likes I have never seen in more than 40 years here…

I do not want working families destroyed to contract out public sector work to for-profit business (whether to meet former campaign promises, or not), either.

I also want to see ‘fiscal restraint’ across the board! Spend spend spend and defend billions of dollars in expenses on one hand, yet slash slash slash jobs that support our city’s economy.

Otherwise, Johnny, I totally agree with you.

“Acting City Manager Kathleen Soltis says Wills was brought on board to be part of the City’s negotiating team “because of the challenging fiscal times we are in. She will lend an extra degree of expertise.””

Huh? I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I need someone to help me out because of “challenging fiscal times”, the last person I’m going to see is a lawyer. My first stop is to an accountant, a financial analyst and/or an economist.

Now if I wanted advice on how to take an existing contract, gut it, deal with the fallout and have something leftover that would be legally binding, I’d call a lawyer, LOL.

bc: “Johnny, you could be correct! But before you hand pink slips to ruin the livelihoods of working men and women, perhaps with houses owned in this city and kids in school and lives built here…”

That’s great, but unfortunately, taxpayers cannot continue to support government inefficiency and workers who are just warming a seat and pushing papers around.

Nobody owes anyone a living.

The job of the city is not to provide employment. It is to provide services and infrastructure. Employment is a byproduct.
Taxpayers have been hit yearly and are in no position to keep that trend going.

Totally irresponsible for the city to be spending tax payer money this way without first sitting down and seeing how far apart both sides are.

It matters little how far apart the Unions and the City are. Fact of the matter is the City is very close to being bankrupt, and can only survive by reducing costs, and increasing taxes and services.

Thats the bottom line. We can no longer afford all the bells and whistles that have been added to this City over the years. The City and its workforce are a basket case. Thier spending has been totally out of control for years.

Its time to rein in costs. There are thousands of jobs available in Prince George and through out the Province. Anyone who gets laid off can find a job with little or no problem.

It is not the responsibility of taxpayers to provide jobs for City workers.

I agree that a simple 5% rollback on all City workers, and staff, including RCMP, and Firemen, and a 5 year contract with no increases would go a long way to ensure labour peace, and keep everyone working. Whats the chance of that happening. So we go to the alternative.

Slash some city worker jobs, it helps to keep our schools open when families move to find work. It’s also good for our real estate prices, and our city businesses have a few less customers to service….yes sir a great plan for improving our community.

All while spending $2000 a day for a high priced lawyer….when did council vote on this and who voted in favour?

In the Haldi Rd supreme court case, the city also hired a lawyer from Vancouver. Will we ever know what that cost the tax payers?

Johnybelt, says
That’s great, but unfortunately, taxpayers cannot continue to support government inefficiency and workers who are just warming a seat and pushing papers around.

Of course you have proof and documentation.

Didn’t we just pay KPMG $350,000 to find the City’s inefficiencies. I don’t remember a reduction in staff being one of the options. I think most of the recommendations was to study the opportunities further. Who’s going to do all that studying if you get rid of all the staff ;)… oh yeah just hire KPMG to do the studying.