Ward 4 Councillors Meeting

Councillor Ken LewenzaCouncillor Bill Marra

Tuesday, November 10, 2009Club Alouette2418 Central Avenue

Can We Come Together to Build a Better City?

By Ken Lewenza Jr.The hundred-day civic workers’ strike earlier this year was one of themost difficult and divisive events in our city’s history. And therepercussion and recriminations from the strike continue even to thisday, living on in nasty “he-said-she-said” recriminations that mar our deliberations at city council and other civic forums.With the perspective that comes with a bit of distance, I want to revisitsome of the underlying issues – both fiscal and social – that lay at theheart of the conflict. My goal is not to carry on old battles. My goal isto consider what we can learn as a community from this destructive andunnecessary confrontation, and how to prevent similar debacles in thefuture.

Because the hard truth is that public sector agencies in general are going to faceintense fiscal pressures in the next few years, a side-effect of the global financial crisisand resulting recession. Governments at all levels now face sizeable deficits. Wemust learn how to negotiate those fiscal challenges much better than we did inWindsor this year. The consequences, if we don’t, will be measured in socialdivision, lost services … and, perhaps surprisingly, higher costs.Let’s take it at face value that the hard-line stance (demanding elimination of post-retirement benefits, or PRBs, for new hires, along with other concessions) taken bythe City’s leadership was motivated by a desire to keep costs in line and reduce thefiscal burden on the City and its taxpayers. (Another possible interpretation of eventsis that “getting tough” with public sector workers is always a sure vote-getter duringtough economic times.) The fundamental question I then ask is this: Was this an effective way to reach a cost-effective collective agreement with the CUPE bargaining unit? In retrospect, it clearlywasn’t. In fact, by emphasizing confrontation over cooperation, not only did we spark a long, ugly work stoppage, and drive a wedge through the middle of a communitythat needs to come together right now. We also ended up with a collective agreementthat is clearly more expensive to the City, not less expensive.