Richmond Confirms Vancouver Request

This Globe and Mail excerpt reflects the narrow thinking of Vancouver management.

INSIDE WORKERS: NEGOTIATIONS AT 'STICKING POINT'

City strike will likely reach Labour Day

While other cities have settled with workers, observer says Vancouver's negotiations aren't as promising

LAURA DRAKE

July 31, 2007

Yesterday, Richmond's general manager of corporate services said the City of Vancouver had asked Richmond to hold off on offering the five-year contract to its unions so negotiations wouldn't be affected in Vancouver.

"There was discussion about us holding off," Mike Kirk said. "We thought about it, we did delay for a very short period of time, but we decided no, we needed to proceed with our course of action."

Vancouver spokesperson Jerry Dobrovolny said the B.C. Labour Relations Board knows about the communications between the two cities and has cleared Vancouver of any wrongdoing.

"The city employees were about to vote on a specific last offer and Richmond was about to present a different five-year offer right before Vancouver employees were to vote on a 39-month offer from the city," he said.

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Ed. Note:

Mr. Dubrovolny's comments reflect naievty or the Castle Vancouver Complex. Vancouver's CUPE members were getting updates on the Richmond agreement prior to Mr. Dubrovolny's attempt at divine intervention. Vancouver's actions are not contrary to the Labour Code as stated by the LRB.

Collective bargaining often includes elements of pressure or leverage.
-Michael Flemming-

The actions do, however, reflect bad faith bargaining at a time when relations are already strained.