Attention now turns to the resumption of negotiations between the City and its striking workers. As reported in the media, CUPE 15 returned to the bargaining table today. Our own Bargaining Committee engaged in informal discussions with the employer today, with formal negotations scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday. For more information, see:
“City, union eager to go back to negotiations” (Vancouver Sun, September 8/07, pB7)
“City and CUPE to meet this weeks” (The Province, September 9/07, pA8)
Friday’s puppet show at Central garnered coverage from radio station News 1130 (“Latest CUPE tactic – Puppetry”). In addition to comments from our own Marya Gadison, the news feature highlighted 391’s documentary productions on YouTube, particularly “Wage and Term: It’s the Amount that Counts”.
Job action has begun at the Greater Victoria Public Library. On Friday, when their 72-hour strike notice expired, 220 library workers walked off the job for the first time in their history, closing the 8-branch system for three hours. While GVPL remained open for business on Saturday, union officials warn that job action could escalate this week. The Victoria Times Colonist covered Friday’s events (“Libraries open again after brief walkout” – Victoria Times Colonist, September 8/07). Like CUPE 391, CUPE 410, which represents Victoria’s library workers, has now set up its ownstrike blog. Stay tuned for further developments.
Some of our local’s members have been asking about a response to NPA Councillor Peter Ladner’s negative editorial in today’s Sun. While it seems to focus on the inside workers, our group will examine the text closely tomorrow to see how we can respond. In the meantime CUPE 15 president Paul Faoro’s response can be viewed at fairnessforcivicworkers.ca