The unions have said all along that it was the managers fault, so this should solve everything.

I missed that Article/news release where the Union said it was the Managers fault, Can you post the link to it?

It is unfortunate that another 35 Foresty Workers and their families are going to be inpacted by the Tolko decision.

With all the great coverage that Opinion 250 has done on the Forest Industry Crisis it is unfortunate that people would try to relate this to Unions & Managers and not th bigger picture of markets & commodities.

I agree Farnorth, there are other issues that should be discussed here. What about the markets? What about demand? What about price? What about supply? What about competition? Everyone in business understands these issues, so let's involve some of them here. Chester

Farnorth says "Can you post the link to it?"

Well I didn't have to look very far for that. Here's the labour leader herself telling the managers it is their fault.

"..NDP leader Carol James says we must stop looking at the Chinese market for the export of our forest products and look to other countries that we may be able to develop..."

The rest of the labour crew says the same kind of thing on a regular basis. It's always the managers fault according to the unions.

So while the "managers" are scratching their heads over what and how much they can do, the union haven't done anything except complain about what the managers should do to keep the union dues flowing in.

The two party system that we have had in B.C. (other parties don't get sufficient voter attention) is ideologically confrontational and almost automatically so. It does not sow the seeds of cooperation and rational assessment to the benefits of everyone. When the Liberals make a decision to do something the knee-jerk reaction of the opposition is to ridicule it and denigrate it - and the other way around, too.

The voters out there are scratching their heads trying to figure out what's going on and whether it is worth it to go out and vote again or not.

The only time the people rally together is when the food has run out, the water has run out, the bombs are falling and the bullets are flying all around - pity!

Homo sapiens should be renamed Homo stupidus.

So yama what is your solution. I am in a union and get decent pay and benifits. Is that a good thing or bad thing? Should I not have this. Yama the managers in my outfit get better pay and benifits than union. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? So what should I do? Throw away my union card and bow to the managers feet.

seamutt ..

It so happens I think unions do serve a purpose, and a good one too. The problem is the corporate greed at the top of the union leadership is worse than the nastiest old style American capatalists of the late 1800's. The top union managers remind too much of the historical leaders that brought the USSR to it's knees while sentencing millions of people to death. The level and compassion of the average union leadership is no higher than the Russian peasants that destroyed that great country. The sausages are great as the letters used to say.

The challenge in our birth to death social welfare system today is to reduce the power of the unions that prey on the weak and vulnerable. Hospital workers, government and teachers unions are at the top of my list. It would be irresponsible to not try and peel the rotten skin off the unions to preserve the good aspects of a union needed in today's society. I question everything, it's everyones responsibility.

What you say is above is pretty well the truth, Yama. Unions, for all their good points, and there are many, are really "monopoly Labour corporations".

With the same anti-social purpose of any 'monopoly' that's unregulated. Raising the price for their 'product', (their member's 'labour', in this case), by making and keeping it 'scarce'.

In their case, through the medium of 'strike' and organized intimidation to take it "off the market".

They do this at the ultimate expense of the general public, of which their members are themselves a part. Not just their employer, who has to recover his costs from the public, or go out of business.

In this sense they are every bit as bad as the worst robber barons of capitalism, past and present.

They are like the NDP, (and Gordon Campbell's Liberals, too!) Too narrow minded to be able to see the 'big picture', and how ALL might benefit from understanding it. Too bad, for they could be a great force for the betterment of the common good if only they'd open their eyes.

The Market is up $60 MBF off the bottom of earlier this year. I'm sure the big guys will do their best to drive it back down with the help of the Canadian Gov-Mint.

Plenty of small sawmills to knock out before it's all said and done on both sides of the border.

Another mill on the Island shut down the other day and raw logs are still being shipped off the Island, truckload after truckload.