Monday Morning
Not much fodder for thought in the agenda for the Council meeting tonight. The only contentious item is the Community Centre resolution.
Wondering if great leadership had happened during the week, after two members of Council voted against the project for two different reasons, wherein the leadership had tried to mollify the concerns of the dissident councillors by working out solutions to their concerns, as opposed to just going ahead because the majority prevailed, I made a couple of calls. Discussion, with the DM has taken place but not enough effort obviously because Councillor Frost is still more than a little peeved. Stan Frost has been a professional Project Manager for most of his career and has never gone into a project not knowing the scope of work until now. "Unless the scope of work is defined over-runs will always ensue, and I see no difference here". The $27 million project has been green lighted with the details of the scope of work missing and that makes Cllr Frost a man with a cause - he wants Council to sit down and define the details, not allow a Steering Committee (which has no mandate to report back to Council but liaise with the Project Manager) to do it on an ad-hoc basis. "Council has to take ownership of the project" he says as he watches unelected and yet to be appointed unknowns do the task.
If as it is feared and the dissenters stay on the No side, for reasons that can be avoided by a little wordsmithing of principles that all concerned agree on then the Town motto is just another fancy piece of script not a credo to live by - "Our strength is in our unanimity"
Last week this pic appeared on facebook, some strange equipment is sitting on top of the Epstein building on the corner of King and Division, and the submitter wondered if they were cell phone antennae. My concern and perhaps the LACACers who read the board could comment, is ; "Have these attachments been submitted to the heritage people for approval?" Heritage guidelines are a mockery if such effort goes into the selection of paint and the regulation of signs when monstrosities such as antennae can be allowed in a Heritage District, (this will be followed up with a call to the heritage regulators and the results reported)
Update: 0915 Monday. The Town of Cobourg's building department tells me that discussions are underway, led by the Director of Planning, with Bell Canada, who is believed to have placed them up there. Bell claims that Federal Communication policy trumps Heritage guidelines and we will have to wait for a week to interview Mr McGlashon, as he is on holiday!
Why is there only one villain in a strike? As we sit and wait for the Union, in the Toronto Garbage Strike to make an announcement about leaving the bargaining table, I wonder why in these cases there is rarely more than one party taking the blame. The classic example is that of the VIA drivers who went on strike two and a half years after the contract expired. That meant these parties had three years to get a deal. In fact they got a half-assed resolution hours after going on strike. Obviously Management had made a decision something it failed to do in three years prior. But the drivers got all the blame!
Another law suit for an online writer, this is no surprise but the way the lawsuit has been dealt with is. This is a copy of a service document on Ezra Levant for comments made online, and only online. The long arm of libel law has caught up with the miscreants of cyberspace, and so it should! Just because we are writing online doesn't make responsible editions immune from their responsibility to be lawful.
Wondering if great leadership had happened during the week, after two members of Council voted against the project for two different reasons, wherein the leadership had tried to mollify the concerns of the dissident councillors by working out solutions to their concerns, as opposed to just going ahead because the majority prevailed, I made a couple of calls. Discussion, with the DM has taken place but not enough effort obviously because Councillor Frost is still more than a little peeved. Stan Frost has been a professional Project Manager for most of his career and has never gone into a project not knowing the scope of work until now. "Unless the scope of work is defined over-runs will always ensue, and I see no difference here". The $27 million project has been green lighted with the details of the scope of work missing and that makes Cllr Frost a man with a cause - he wants Council to sit down and define the details, not allow a Steering Committee (which has no mandate to report back to Council but liaise with the Project Manager) to do it on an ad-hoc basis. "Council has to take ownership of the project" he says as he watches unelected and yet to be appointed unknowns do the task.
If as it is feared and the dissenters stay on the No side, for reasons that can be avoided by a little wordsmithing of principles that all concerned agree on then the Town motto is just another fancy piece of script not a credo to live by - "Our strength is in our unanimity"
Last week this pic appeared on facebook, some strange equipment is sitting on top of the Epstein building on the corner of King and Division, and the submitter wondered if they were cell phone antennae. My concern and perhaps the LACACers who read the board could comment, is ; "Have these attachments been submitted to the heritage people for approval?" Heritage guidelines are a mockery if such effort goes into the selection of paint and the regulation of signs when monstrosities such as antennae can be allowed in a Heritage District, (this will be followed up with a call to the heritage regulators and the results reported)Update: 0915 Monday. The Town of Cobourg's building department tells me that discussions are underway, led by the Director of Planning, with Bell Canada, who is believed to have placed them up there. Bell claims that Federal Communication policy trumps Heritage guidelines and we will have to wait for a week to interview Mr McGlashon, as he is on holiday!
Why is there only one villain in a strike? As we sit and wait for the Union, in the Toronto Garbage Strike to make an announcement about leaving the bargaining table, I wonder why in these cases there is rarely more than one party taking the blame. The classic example is that of the VIA drivers who went on strike two and a half years after the contract expired. That meant these parties had three years to get a deal. In fact they got a half-assed resolution hours after going on strike. Obviously Management had made a decision something it failed to do in three years prior. But the drivers got all the blame!
Another law suit for an online writer, this is no surprise but the way the lawsuit has been dealt with is. This is a copy of a service document on Ezra Levant for comments made online, and only online. The long arm of libel law has caught up with the miscreants of cyberspace, and so it should! Just because we are writing online doesn't make responsible editions immune from their responsibility to be lawful.
13 comments:
Ben.
The unions will always get the blame in today's society. By and large, union leaders across the land have failed miserably in their efforts to present a strong, positive message about unionism to the uneducated masses. This is particularly true in the public sector, where hard-assed leaders invariably present themselves as aggressive, confrontational and unabashedly aggrieved at being treated so badly by the paying public. Having said that, Buzz Hargrove and his Polish-Canadian successor, as private sector union bosses, have left me totally cold over the years, insisting that the gold-lined compensation packages of their workers should, indeed, be platinum-lined.
I am a member of a union now, for the first time in my life. It keeps a very low profile, despite a large membership. However, the average wage and benefit packages negotiated by its leadership leaves most members earning close to minimum wage, while the executive banks $75-100K salaries. Methinks that's why they keep quiet. Preach communism, and practice self-centered excess.
The VIA situation is shameful, and you are dead on: three years to negotiate a deal, and both management and the union couldn't find a solution. But it's unfair to imply the recent strike was management's fault alone. There are always two sides to a bargaining table.
Cheers.
Anon
It must have been management as no union in its right mind turns down arbitration in this day and age. If it is not "final offer arbitration" where the arbitrator picks one side or the other, it is manna from from heaven to go to arbitration.
The antennae on the Epstein building are an ongoing subject at LACAC. They are Bell equipment, and Town staff are in discussions with Bell as far as I know.
When the issue was first raised with Bell their lawyer sent one of the best bits of legal correspondence ever. It took two pages but essentially said 'F**k off, we're Bell and we can do whatever we want.'
You should try to get a copy!
I wonder if Anonymous has ever considered, just for a moment, that maybe the reason "union leaders...have failed miserably...to present a strong, positive message about unionism" is because the bearers of that message, the mainstream media outlets, are just a little biased in favour of management and distort the message to suit their own priorities?
Another question for you concerns your claim that your own union "preaches communism". I have never heard any North American union promote communism, and I've been around a long time.
Would you care to share with us what union you are talking about? CSIS wants to know and so do I.
Finally, some advice. Next time your union offers an educational, take them up on it. You need it!
I don't know much about how commercial real estate rentals work, but if the building belongs to the Epsteins, wouldn't they be ultimately responsible for what goes up on their building? A tenant would need permission to install that stuff wouldn't they?
It does look very out of place, that's for sure.
The Epsteins have sold the building and the new owners, with Bell just put them up
Ezra keeps winning against these lawsuits. here
Here is one online comment on the G&M story about the VIA strike settlement:
"This is an example of the possible positive outcome from a strike.
"A step in every labour negotiation should be the company and union being offered binding arbitration.
"If only the union refuses to accept binding arbitration the company should be free to hire replacement workers and carry on with business.
"If only the company refuses binding arbitration they should be prohibited from replacing any of the affected union positions until a settlement is reached.
"I bet there would not be many strike situations."
This is an extreme position, but one that may have support with the public. What's the chance that this approach to managing labour disputes for essential services might become an election issue?
Here's a Quill & Quire review of the beleaguered Mr. Levant's recent book, Shakedown.
Just a tidbit to whet your appetites:
"Levant is correct that we need intelligent books to examine the role of the HRC in dealing with the tension between free speech and respect for the dignity of individuals and cultural groups. This is not one of those books [WH emphasis]."
The bare poles, without the actual antennae, have been up there well over a year now, because I noticed them around sidewalk sale time last year, - so clearly over a year now. That means the town has been aware of them as well for that long, and this is no surprise on them. It surely waters down their authority on heritage matters and provides some awfully potent ammunition for other challenges, I'd say.
Gawd...now MSM is to blame for union woes?
I dont remeber any great support from the union brothers when those poor Cobourg Star strikers were out for 4 1/2 months
Are council meetings in Cobourg about to change?
Apparently, the current CRTC hearings on net neutrality or traffic management were abuzz with "the twitter of public discussion that forced its way into a hearing." So says this Open Media, Open Government story from The Tyee.
"Michael Geist [a net neutrality activist and legal scholar] invited citizens to post questions that they thought the commission should ask Bell Canada -- it appeared that at least one of the commissioners was following online and utilized citizen input when dealing with representatives from Bell."
Manfred said, "The bare poles, without the actual antennae, have been up there well over a year now, because I noticed them around sidewalk sale time last year, - so clearly over a year now."
On the lower left side of this faux news item is a photo of the building the day before the antennae went up.
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