Questions Raised on Need for Labour Lawyer in Contract Talks
Thursday, January 17, 2013 @ 4:23 AM
Prince George, B.C.- As the City of Prince George prepares to get down to contract negotiations with its two CUPE locals, the reasons why the City would make a Vancouver labour lawyer a member of its bargaining team and media spokesperson has some asking the question, why?Prince George has never had a labour lawyer on their negotiating team before, and there has never been a job action as a result of failed labour talks, so the move is puzzling says CUPE’s B.C. President Barry O’Neill “Any good negotiator, or anyone who is involved in labour relations at all, knows that if you’re going into a round of negotiations you try to set the stage so that there is some added trust.”
O’Neill was in Prince George last night to speak at a public rally event at the Civic Centre. More than 200 people attended.
He says bringing in a lawyer does little to establish that trust, especially when there has been no history of labour unrest. “ When you have a labour relations department that has proven that you can get a collective agreement without much of a problem, which is probably half a million dollars cheaper than if you brought in hired guns from Vancouver, I don’t get the strategy. The only thing I can think of is if you have some heavy news to deliver on the first day. It won’t be the ‘economy’s in the tank’ it would have to be heavier than that, so I don’t know what it will be.”
The City has hired Adriana Wills, an accomplished labour lawyer from Vancouver. This is the first time anyone can recall that an outsider has been recruited to be actively involved in a collective bargaining process at the City of Prince George.
There has been no word yet on when contract talks with CUPE Locals 399 and 1048 will begin. Their contract expired at the end of December.
Comments
It’s just our mayor wasting more money. She continual shows she is way over her head as mayor and the worst part is we are all paying a huge price.
She hires an assistant, she spends $350,000 on a financial audit and now this.. Come on election.
Brian for Mayor!
He makes more money at the mill with minimal responsibility. Even he isn’t that foolish to quit his cushy life long job for a four year one.
Do you want to get a fair setelment? Or do you want to get something that is shoved down the throats of your employees? Brian for mayor!!
kind of how Brian voted for the raise the council got and it was shoved down our throats ? Is that what you mean ?
kind of how Brian voted for the raise the council got and it was shoved down our throats ? Is that what you mean ?
Question is why? she will cost in the range of $250 to $300 per hour with that add in all the normal costs, research, preperation, travel, meals, Hotel and days in bargaining will amount to more than $150,000. So that will have to come from lay-offs, cuts to wages and benefits or a fight to contract out more services, which in the long run won’t save any money.Mayor is taking advice from the wrong people on this one the CIty and Taxpayers will loose in the end.
Fingers crossed for a minimum 10% reduction in the “work” force.
The civil service is an over bloated and under worked bureaucracy; it’s time to derail the gravy train. We can’t afford to keep it, at least in it’s present state.
The amount of work the city needs never changes unless it increases.. what needs to be trimmed is management..
“Brian for Mayor!”
Hopefully not in our lifetimes.
“The amount of work the city needs never changes unless it increases.. what needs to be trimmed is management..”
I agree – I dont think we need any change in the outside workers, its the redundancy and bloated management inside city hall that could cut back. At least according to a friend of mine that works there ;)
“has some asking the question, why?”
Because they want to create job action.
“there has never been a job action as a result of failed labour talks”
Until now!
“The amount of work the city needs never changes unless it increases.. what needs to be trimmed is management..”100%,that includes federal and provincial governments…
Do we really need that many people in parliament yelling and screaming at each other,if I want to see that I`ll go visit a busy day care center.
And no more full pensions for retired politicians,I think a gold watch and a Canadian flag will suffice.
Posted by: interceptor on January 17 2013 8:35 AM
I agree – I dont think we need any change in the outside workers, its the redundancy and bloated management inside city hall that could cut back. At least according to a friend of mine that works there ;)
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They could both do with a long overdue trimming. And we really need to lose that ridiculous no layoff clause.
BRIAN FOR MAYOR :)
ohhh who is Brian??? Just heard people hollering for him to be mayor so I decided to join them in the chanting
I would like to know from the lawyer why she? was hired.
If one wants an adverserial approach, hire a lawyer.
If one wants a negotiation approach, hire a negotiator. While some lawyers are negotiators, on average, they are not good negotiators.
Do the negotiations, then send the outline of the agreement to a lawyer to draft the agreement document for signatures.
I think it would be fair to say that the **good** negotiating relationship between the City and the Unions have got us into this mess. We are now over managed and over staffed. We have a no layoff clause, and everyone is looking for more increases.
This cant go on. They Union officials can start to earn their pay, and the City had better start to trim the fat. Thats the issue.
O’Neill keeps stating that City workers are also tax payers, however this is not really true. Every cost to the City including the cost of city workers paying taxes, is paid for by boni fide tax payers.
We pay for it all. So any increase’s will come out of tax payers pockets. Unless one was to beleive that the increase to the cost of City staff, and workers will come out of the taxes they pay, rather a bit of a stretch I would say.
all I need is some frictionless bearings and resistance free wire and I can build a perpetual motion machine ;)
Thats what manage metm is all about. Make the middle class poorer so that there is more for the elites to share. Cutting wages will not improve our debt load. Its about cutting airy fair ideas.
In most caes management is out of touch with reality.
Cheers
at least Brian listens to the average taxpayer rather than just the special interest groups that now have a strangle hold on city hall. Brian for Mayor!
The business elite continue to get the tax breaks and their benefit is paid for by us average taxpayers through increases in taxes on our homes.
Nice of those in power to continue the tax breaks for the special interests groups while blaming the workers for getting paid too much.
It is all smoke and mirrors that in the end is helping the rich get richer and the average homeowner get the short end of the stick. If the City just cut back some of the big tax breaks to the special interest groups, whether it is the tax exemption for the golf and curling club or the tax incentives for developers, we wqould see a big cut in our house taxes or at least there would be more money that could be put into fixing the roads.
It is easy to throw stones and create an enemy but it takes true leadership to bring people together. sadly we have neither leaders or leadership. IMO.
I liken brian to the ndp. They say we should do this and should do that, but really, the truth be told, when you really don’t HAVE to follow that with action, what does it really add up to? A good leader or someone who knows how to play politics?
And do any of you who think things are not out of control wage wise at the city really think $26.00/hr is a realistic wage for someone taking tickets at the swimming pool? Really?
“And do any of you who think things are not out of control wage wise at the city really think $26.00/hr is a realistic wage for someone taking tickets at the swimming pool?”
Yeah but they pay taxes on that $26.00… oh wait, that gets back to my perpetual motion machine I need to build :D
“someone taking tickets at the swimming pool”
Is that really all they do?
How come Impark does not have to have someone taking “tikets” at parking lots to park.
Seems to me that part of the operation can be automated.
So what does the “layoff due to tech change” clause look like these days?
So they pay taxes on $26 …. say 25% … so to get a 2% increase in their pockets they really have to ask for a 2.5% increase.
Is that what the union rep trying to tell us, that when the city workers bargain for an increase the increase should reflect that unlike the private and excluded employees?
Pipe dreams …. the kind of pipes that obviously have mind numbing recreational drugs in them.
“This cant go on. They Union officials can start to earn their pay, and the City had better start to trim the fat. Thats the issue.”
Why is it the workers that are picked on? What about management?
Curious on how the bitchers on this site about union workers make their living? Do you have your own business and detest paying your employees? Money out of your own pocket.
The reason the City hired a lawyer to negotiate for them is so that no matter what happens, strike, lockout or settlement, they will have someone to ‘blame’ for the outsome. Typical usual big corporate strategy. Never want to accept responsibility for the outcome.
You hire a lawyer to play hardball…probably going to see pickets downtown this year.
Brian for Mayor…..I’m sure he doesn’t have his fingers in any city land transactions.
“Curious on how the bitchers on this site about union workers make their living? Do you have your own business and detest paying your employees? Money out of your own pocket.”
I’m all for unions; what I’m opposed to is the over bloated, under worked and just plain lazy civil service. We can’t afford it any longer. Heck, we haven’t been able to afford it for several decades now but no one has had the cajones to do much about it.
Time to do some serious trimming. Let’s keep the productive workers and managers and get rid of the slackers. Let’s cut down on the needless bureaucracy that exists solely to keep people employed.
Axman facts and examples required
axman, couldn’t have said it better myself!
seamutt, if you want some examples, all you need to do is open your eyes. Just spend ten or fifteen minutes walking around inside of city hall or any other city office or city operated facility.
To quote axman because it needs to be said again: “Time to do some serious trimming. Let’s keep the productive workers and managers and get rid of the slackers. Let’s cut down on the needless bureaucracy that exists solely to keep people employed.” Amen!!
Hiring a labour lawyer for this negotiation is right down Prince George municipal government alley, they have been hiring experts from Vancouver for their opinions for many years now. Same stupid, idiotic use of the tax base, different day.
metalman.
They say “the fish rots from the head down”. When the head of the government is corrupt, the body of government will be corrupted too.
The lawyers are hired to to cover up the stench in the courts, but in the court of public opinion, the rotting is still out there.
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“Why is it the workers that are picked on? What about management?”
Because those doing the picking are more than likely managers.
I think all those that whine and cry about union workers should have to sign their name on a list that prevents them from ever getting any union job in Canada.
Management at City Hall are long overdue for a big shake up. Something like 30 Managers who get paid over and above $100,000.00 per year. IPG needs to disapear also.
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