(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial

Vancouver's right-wing civic government stubbornly keeps its municipal and library workers on the picket line, after most other Lower Mainland municipalities have settled with their employees. Mayor Sam Sullivan and his fellow NPA councillors keep grandstanding, hoping to defeat striking CUPE members. Instead of bargaining in good faith, the NPA wastes taxpayers' dollars on phony "surveys" and partisan media ads. While other regional municipalities negotiated critical local issues, Vancouver refuses to discuss issues such as the pay equity sought by library workers. The GVRD contract pattern is based on five-year deals and 17.5% pay increases, yet Vancouver city council sticks to its 16.5% offer, while also conducting a deceitful poll hinting that the CUPE strikers are refusing 17.5%. Local citizens paid the bill for the city's Ipsos-Reid poll, estimated at about $100,000.

     Then the city placed expensive newspaper carried ads filled with blatant falsehoods. For example, the ads claim that CUPE employee benefits include 51.1 annual paid days off - a figure which includes statutory holidays and earned time accumulated by working extra hours and days.

     Now civic officials say that the strike could drag on for months. This is clearly a tactic designed to turn the public against the strikers, especially if community schools will remain closed in September.

     The NPA wants Vancouver to be known as a "world-class city." To merit that lofty title, Sam's gang should be prepared to pay their hard-working employees the level of wages and benefits which are necessary to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet. We urge full support for the CUPE strikers - if you live in Vancouver, get on the phone or send an email today to the mayor and councillors, demanding that the city stop foot-dragging and reach a deal now!