Re: Feb 25th letter “Union experience misleading”
I was a member of a municipal union for 13-14 years and I have been a member of a union in my current employment since 2007 and a shop steward since 2008. My point simply put is I have been through many different union activities so I’m not new to the process.
In fact every member of Council has been part of and participated in union activities at some point in their professional careers, so there’s an incredible amount of union experience sitting at the Council table.
In the CLAC news release it stated that the employer had not made any meaningful proposals regarding wages and benefits, which is simply not true. Employees already had an agreement for a 1.5% wage increase, each year, for three consecutive years ending in 2016, prior to any union involvement whatsoever.
Having said that, it’s Council’s duty to protect the taxpayer; we’ve appointed a bargaining committee and any agreement reached at the bargaining table must be reflective of the economic reality of a municipality with less than $500,000 in taxable revenue from less than 150 taxable properties.
No amount of sabre rattling can change the fact that we are a small community with limited resources.
Loranne Martin
Mayor of McBride
