Essential? try consultation not legislation

On Tuesday, just one day after 2,400 support staff workers, including lab technicians, at universities in Saskatoon and Regina went back to work after more than four weeks on strike. Premier Brad Wall said he wants legislation similar to Manitoba's which mandates that employers and unions establish an essential services agreement before contracts expire. "The definition for us will be we don't want patient care affected, we don't want public safety affected," Wall told reporters in the legislature

I do not know of any union in the Province that when facing a strike, does not take into consideration the impact on public safety. Of all the unions that I have dealt with, every one of them works with the employer to ensure that certain areas are not affected.

CUPE 1975 made arrangements that would keep boilers etc up and running during their strike. SGEU, made sure that any action in the highways dept was curtailed when the storm was going to hit the province. All of this was done without any legislation.

Yes, strikes are disruptive, but with out them, am employer can run roughshod over any employee. The CTF, NSBA and Chamber of Commerce, who are all about union busting, could care less about issues facing the workers and only focus on what they can put into their own pockets.

The CTF ,et al, seem to forget that without a union strike, they would not have a Monday to Friday job. They would not get 11 Statutory holidays, or 3 weeks of vacation or overtime pay not mention maternity leave.

Now while Wall said details of the essential services legislation would come next week during the fall sitting of the legislature, Opposition Leader Lorne Calvert called it "a major, major piece of legislation" that requires a great deal of consultation.

No wonder Labour groups are surprised they weren't consulted. Wall refuses to even attempt to work with the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour on issues and in turn is only going to attempt to bully unions into submission.

"Well, it would seem to me that if the new government is going to be introducing legislation that impacts on a significant number of the citizens in the province, that they would want to at least talk to the people who are going to be impacted by it," Larry Hubich of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour said.

Well, Larry, apparently your 93,500 working class people don't get a say on it all!!!!

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