Only 62.5% of the memebership voted at all. Looks like there is a disconnect in the ranks. Why didn't the other 225 vote?

Heck that is better than the amount of people who come out to vote on who will run our city in any given election ! I think it was a very good representation of the intentions of the union membership.

I used to vote against any contract offer, no matter how good it was. I wanted a holiday and my job was boring. Some people didn't vote because they didn't care one way or the other.

Okay... I gotta get new glasses... I thought this headline read as... "Unions to apply for Meditation "...

Why would they need to do that, I thought ?? ... must be a new approach .

:-)

So if they go on strike and don't collect our garbage, or provide services, do we get a discount on our taxes.

DOWN WITH UNIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YamaDooPolCat said it best…lazy union mentality…lets vote against it so I can get another holiday. I want that guy working for me!!!

But i want more money!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely, He speaks.... of course we will get a discount on our taxes !!

Oh... and on that same day... Lucifer and his team will be starting the seven game, world championship series of snowgolf on their home course !!

:-)

It's not fair... all the negative comments about unions wanting and wanting. They are going to get the extra 1% no matter what. The usual tactic of riding on the backs of other unions in other towns by the PG group will work in thier favor - it always does.
On the lighter side - they also want to entrench the 1 worker to 3 watchers ratio. Sorry city guys.. too many us retired guys like to 'watch' as well.
As for the voter turnout, the membership knows the score - we all sit down and listen - the negotiator says 'if we vote to strike, they will cough up the 1%' - If you don't vote for stike we can't negotiate. Its not really a free vote, more a following of union strategy. The average guy is happy with what he has, it is hard to resist a promise of more money.

Well the union selecting mediation over going staright to the picket lines is a nice change. So cudos for that choice.
Having a job is nice as well.
Hope things work out for all.

Beacuse of unions we have 4 city workers doing the job that one motivated person can do...its not the employees fault...its just what th unions preach.

WEAK AND LAZY!

can someone explain to me why in this day and age what use do unions serve, other than hindering business and holding the public hostage cause their union leaders wants a war and flex their muscle?

Sure.... unions are useful for connecting two pieces of pipe together when you are doing a retrofit... or need to have the option of taking those pipes apart sometime in the future.

:-)

(Gawd... I've wanted to use that answer for about sixty years... thanks for the chance !! :-) )

nice one RRabitt ;)

All this whining about lazy City workers. Give me a break. most people that I know are not lazy or work watchers.

So where is the real problem? The trouble is we can't see whats going on at the management level. Pot holes are not filled or the job not done properly. Last summer they were on Ospika Boulavard cutting grass in August when the grass was completely dorment. Just name a project that is done by City employees and most of it should be redone.

Its not the employees its management that dosent provde proper training or poor management. They have 18 managers and where did they get their training or management skills. Having had some contact with these people some are just sipin doctors and the empoyees pick up on this and what you get is poor perfromance.

When election time rolls around in November you have the power to make the change. Do it then and stop gripping about the one percent that workers want. They are people like you and I who have worked with their hands and some are still working so give them a break and go after management where the real problem lies.

Cheers

Well said Bridge

Outsource the work so it can get done.
Put the work up for public tender!

No proper training? Hmm many lean on their shovels rather well.

If the mayor can go to China, I say give them the extra 1%. This wage will return to our local economy thereby benefiting the rest of us.
Bridge, very well stated...it appears to be mismanagement causing our woes. Employees take direction, not give it!

I don't understand why employees are not entitled to fight if they can to get what they want. Get it now, while you can - and sock it away for your later years. One day, when you have given the best of your years to the City and get to an age where you are a bit slower, a bit more tired, might need more medical care and even perhaps time to heal, or maybe you will have some sort of tragedy occur in your life requiring time off, you will return to your job only to find that it no longer exists because management has decided to reorg and you will no longer be "qualified" to do the newly classified job (which is actually exactly the same but with a fancy new title) while you were down and out. Oh sure, they will provide you with alternatives, because they have to, according to the union, but they will be useless because, face it, you have worked in the one same job for 20, 25, or 30+ years and of course have not obtained the required education / experience to work in other equitable positions.

Get as much as you can while you can because one day, you will no longer have your job and you will be forced to retire long before your time. Use the union while you can - because at the end of the day, when your job is on the line, they are no help at all.

I sound bitter - and I am - I have seen this exact scenario happen SEVERAL times over the years. It is sneaky, nasty and downright discriminatory, but it happens, and the union (so called employee advocates?) allows it.