The city of Windsor and CUPE locals 543 and 82 have settled an historic 101 day strike. Details of the settlement include a 6.3% (edit, it is now being reported as 5.7%) wage increase over four years of the contract, with 1.5, 1.8, and 2% annually, a $2,000 signing bonus, and all possible disciplinary actions against transgressions the strikers have done during the strike will be dropped. However, this settlement comes at a cost to Windsor taxpayers of $17.2 million over 4 years. Post retirement benefits for new hires, the sticking point of the strike have been dropped. It is unclear whether the unfair labour practises suit against the city will continue.
Follow up:
The city’s unfunded liability, which is the money owed for lifetime retiree coverage has grown by 67% in nine years due to higher drug and hospital costs, reaching $291 million in 2009 for all employee groups. The city believes it will be between 40 and 50 years before all current employees are off of the benefits and the $291 million cost is gone. City leaders believed that the costs were unsustainable, which I believe they were comparing these costs with what is happening right now in the economy and not 30 years down the road but it seems the whole world is doing this.
Mayor Eddie Francis believes if it weren't for the citizens backing his plan to eliminate the benefits,
we never would have got rid of this liability. The fact residents responded the way they did gave council the political support they needed to stand strong. If there was a consensus that said ‘give up on it,’ they would have.
So thanks to the ones calling for cuts, you screwed over the next generation of civic workers because you don't have what they had and feel no one else should either. The mayor thanks you with a huge smile, all the while handing you a nice tax increase. Yes he did, oh yes he did and I've been reading some flack already coming from the same people who were kissing his ass calling for outsourcing and telling Fast Eddie to stay strong. Jokes on you now to isn't it, lol.
CUPE, Oh CUPE, wtf?
Eddie succeeded, yet here we have the leaders and members of both locals claiming a victory. A VICTORY? You went on strike for 101 days claiming that you were looking out for future members, stating over and over that it wasn't about raises or signing bonuses etc, but here you are selling out your very own principals for 2 grand and a raise, all the while many citizens are saying "see, it was about the money after all, you lying asses". The fact that the citizens were pretty much against CUPE from the get go hasn't left anyone surprised really. The CUPE PR machine was pretty much non existent and it was a total mess, with antics occurring almost daily. I must say, this has to be the worst strike I have ever witnessed, and that is saying a lot because the WUFA strike at the university of Windsor earlier in the year was pathetic.
I cannot believe that I threw my support behind them and they settled it like this. I specifically asked one of the presidents of the locals if prb's were in fact off of the table and the reply I got was that they were not, that there was a misquote. Now either this person is a liar or they are totally inept and the membership should toss them post haste. Regardless, I know the members are happy to be going back to work, and in all honesty, the raise is a decent raise, but ratifying for $2,000 after losing upwards to $9,000+ while on strike, it doesn't really make sense. How can anyone claim victory aside from Francis, he after all, royally flushed them. This is no victory, it was a forfeit. They went up against "the man" and the man pummelled them. He makes a good conservative, and if the rumours about him making a run for either the provincial or federal conservatives come true, this city it seems would throw their support behind him almost 100%, that is if you can believe all the fans of his in the Star.
This strike divided the city and it disturbs me how people think nowadays, the have nots seem to want everyone to be that way, it is a race to the bottom. So congrats to all those who called for CUPE's failure, you got what you wanted, but at the same time, the starving members got $2,000 and a decent raise, and walked away believing they had accomplished something, so who am I to bust their chops? Well, I'm just a guy from southern Ontario who has an interest in politics. Great job CUPE
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ADHR-I can agree with that to an extent, since Eddie wasn't moving on the issue no matter what, there really isn't much one can do, even though they did offer to co-pay into the benefits, a fair bargaining play in my opinion. But 15 weeks in? They knew this was never going to pass way back when, and to drag it out for this long to settle for a measly 2 grand just makes them look incompetent. I believe that should they have held out longer, the government would have gotten involved and chances are, they would have won their case, especially if what Ian says is true. All that stuff would have come to light and the arbitrator would have sided with the union.
People were on the verge of losing their homes and probably going hungry somewhat, so from a humanistic standpoint, they did what they had to, from a labour standpoint, they rolled over on the future workers and it will create problems.