Monday, September 3, 2007

Judy's Letter to Paul

Letter to the union

Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, September 01, 2007

Mr. Paul Faoro
President, CUPE Local 15
#300 - 545 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver BC V5Z 1K9

Dear Mr. Faoro:

RE: 2007 Collective Bargaining
Please find attached a letter from the City's Negotiating Committee which outlines many of the reasons why the City of Vancouver finds CUPE Local 15's counter proposal unacceptable. The negotiating committee is also concerned that CUPE leadership is not yet ready to reach a settlement.

I share the view of the negotiating team. In addition, I am concerned that personal and political attacks are increasingly dominating CUPE's public commentary.

During this round of bargaining the Union rejected the City's offer of private mediation, opted out of mediation at the Labour Relations Board, initiated a strike, rejected eight employer offers, and twice walked away from critical settlement opportunities in order to stage media events. More recently CUPE has engaged in tactics of public rallies and open personal denigration of city managers and politicians, rather than focussing on constructive dialogue to end the dispute.

Our reluctance to agree with certain CUPE Local 15 demands is based upon legitimate management and operational concerns. We have an obligation to reach a reasonable and affordable deal that sets an appropriate balance between the interests of the employees, the operational realities of managing a large organization and the financial interests of the taxpayers.

In the final analysis this dispute is about finding a deal that will enable the employees to return to work and for services to be restored to the taxpayers. Perhaps it's time for a private meeting of key members of our bargaining teams to discuss how to proceed from here.

Yours truly,

Judy Rogers
City Manager

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

MS Rogers needs to look no further than the NPA website for examples of attacks!!!! The ruling party has been guilty of lies since the very beginning of this dispute.