Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/Mediator+leaves+town+sight+city+strike/1588833/story.html

Negotiations between the city of Windsor and the outside workers broke off Tuesday leaving no end in sight for the strike which has dragged on for five weeks now. The mediator, who was brought in on Monday has left town and the residents of Windsor are showing increased frustration and a total lack of decency by continuing to dump garbage and other household junk along the streets and fields of the city. There are no new talks scheduled and Mayor "Fast" Eddie Francis said the city will contemplate new plans to deal with the mounting refuse but couldn't offer a time frame of when those plans would be available.

Follow up:

Meanwhile, there are fears that things could start to get heated on the picket lines, a concern that has dogged Eddie since day one of the strike. According to Francis-

“I would hope that we will continue to respect each other, that we agree to disagree without being disagreeable and that there will be no escalation. This is something the city does not need, that this community does not need right now. I would hope we will be able to respect the different lines of authority.”

President of CUPE local 543 Jean Fox had no comment on that matter. However, she did have a comment on the proposal that the city offered. The proposal was an offer to allow the union to use monetary savings gained in the collective agreement and put it towards a self funded benefits plan, which Jean Fox views as not being progressive. Since the main sticking point is post retirement benefits for new hirees, Fox views this as the removal of these benefits, just with a different spin.

“How can he call that a step forward?” It’s still taking away post-retirement benefits. That’s not a step forward. That’s saying ‘why don’t you fund them yourselves.’ That’s the same position, he’s just put a different spin on it.”

So after five weeks, the Mayor, city council and some people of Windsor have showed how much they don't understand unions. The stuff I read in the paper hasn't changed much since I last spoke of this issue. A lot of people are dumping on unions, hell some are even calling for the ousting of Kenny Lewenza, who isn't even in CUPE or have anything to do with the strike. People, he is the president of CAW, not CUPE and by publishing comments like that on the star's website, you look stupid. The people of Windsor should know better,after all, this city was built by the unions and almost everyone here had at least 1 relative involved in one of the local auto plants or other manufacturing facilities. How quickly we forget, shame shame. As for Francis, he's too busy obstructing some other project, as if its his obsession to obstruct anything he can. It's all he does.

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