I see Prince George is not on the list. We're so used to crappy roads around town that highways are a dream in comparison. Contractors are always cutting conrners to make a buck and sometimes you can't blame them with the price of fuel etc. Just like anything else the goverment privatizes, services just get worse.

But on the other hand anything the government runs costs twice what it should!

I don't see where the highways could get much better, so I am suspicious that this is just a typical union political thing where they are trying to sqeeze more money out of the taxpayers.

The petition has more to do with assisting the labour friendly NDP in the coming election than safety. Fixed date elections allow this kind of planning and lead time. Kind of a "yawn" thing.

Does anyone know who does the painting of the yellow lines in the PG city limits? Someone should take a picture of the yellow line on the Old Caribou highway just as you enter the city limits. I have to laugh everytime I see it. I hope the same crew doesn't get to paint the new lines on the $30 million dollar runway!

The article reads; "A survey completed in June by 200 front line B.C.G.E.U highway workers shows there are concerns about the road maintenance standards."
Maybe the article should read;......shows there are concerns about the jobs lost to private contractors. Contractors have to MAKE money to stay in business. Government (and gov. employees) can usually spend and spend and spend and the main benefiter is the gov. employee and the union.

That sounds like an opinion survey. We have to assume it is 100% accurate.

When will we get access to the actual standards they are talking about and the objective inpsection reports that indicate that the standards are not met.

In addition, I am assuming that both contractors and ministry employees, whether union or management have a part to play in monitoring those standards and ensuring that they are maintained, both with contractors who should be required to bring work which was completed to below specification requirements to the standard they have to deliver under contract, plus internal completed work which should be reviewed by supervisors in the same fashion.

So, until I see a report which has some meat to it this is very interesting. Maybe time to hire KPMG or some other outside auditing firm to see whether the opinions reflect the facts.

BTW, when I mean the opinion poll can be assumed to be 100% accurate, I mean that it is highly likely that these are the opinions being held.

It does not mean that the opinions are reflective of the facts "on the ground".

Yama you complain about unions and government workers laugh about the lines on the road. Wasen't that done by a contractor.

I am sure that Yama and the suits from Victoria as well as our mayor know best what is a good safe highway. The people who work on them know nothing apparently. What is the difference of the union taking a survey or the Chamber of Commerce taking a survey for lower business taxes. They all have an axe to grind.

KPMG or some other auditing firm has no axe to grind ......

Red2b, thats absolutely rediculous.
How many years has it been since highways went private?
You think that after all these years there is a sudden concern over highway safety coming from highways workers.
There has always been concern for highway safety from the workers.

These contractors have for the most part done a pitiful job in the north, except for a few.
All one has to do in the winter is drive to the ends of YRB's areas and see how well the roads are beyond them to know how good a job gets done by our local contractor.

How many times have we seen fatal crashes in winter before the highway gets properly sanded. Thats due to managements incompetence and their unwillingness to spend money for our safety.

Yamapolecat you don't have a clue what your talking about.
Costs are twice as much as they should be you say.
Wheres your evidence to back that rediculous statement up?

Of course costs are twice as what they should be.
That's normal when unions are involved.
Nothing new.

Your getting pretty old HD

It's odd that some on here insist the good old days of government employees on the highway sand trucks was better. No one else seems to remember that.

Where did all those government people go. I thought most of them were offered either jobs or the chance to form a highways maintainance company and keep doing the same job. Aren't the same workers on the sand trucks?

And a question to you union comrades on here, how much highway maintainance is being done by non union contractors? And why is the union work in the YRB area always considered pathetic when compared to other areas?

Employees of the contractors can only do what they are told. if they are told only to patrol in a pick-up what can they do? Ignore the bosses and get fired? What purpose would that serve? The less sand, salt and fuel they use the more the company makes. All the companies are in maintenance for the profit.

Exactly Lostinspace.
Some of the union bashers on this site simply don't understand that their workday consists of what ever their greedy corporate leaders determine they will be doing.

YDPC, I assume that you do not live out of town, or travel our highways regularly in the winter, otherwise you would surely have noticed that the standard of winter maintenance in this region has slipped to below acceptable levels since privatization. I am talking about plowing the snow, mainly, although they do seem to wait a long time before sanding, also.
No one is perfect, and the work that YRB DOES do is to a high standard, I agree.
It is what they AREN'T doing that gets me. And their priority has to be the main highway, that's good, but the well travelled side roads sometimes do not get plowed out for a couple of days AFTER a major snowstorm. Sure, they are certainly doing the best they can, but it is not good enough, I think they need more budget maybe, to allow for more graders and more operators, and yeah, they have to make a profit too. Time to DE-privatize the highways maintenance perhaps?
metalman.