Mayor Cook pokes IUOE in the eye?

In today's Williams Lake Tribune - Mayor Cook pleads for calm and asks the IUOE to return to the table to bargain and further goes on to say:

"I urge us to be respectful of each other and of the process"

If I was a IUOE member and I read this today -- I would frankly be outraged, given the City of WL Management's approach to bargaining to this point.  Please note - Management acts on the direction of Williams Lake City Council for the bargaining framework - so Council can take the blame for the collective bargaining failure as Management acts solely at the behest of WL City Council

As IUOE has said - City Management has taken the "my way or the highway" bargaining approach which runs counter to how negotiations work.  How do I know this??  Once upon a time, I was personally involved in union negotiations and know how the process works and what doesn't work is "we bargaining solely on one side's proposals and not discuss the other"

Read the full Tribune article below:

WL Tribune Article - Cook and IUOE 

Meanwhile - in yesterday's Cariboo Advisor - they say that the slow economy is partially to blame for the City-IUOE bargaining dispute.  I personally reject this.  What is to blame is a failure by the City to do "true bargaining" where both sides sit at the table and debate each other's proposals until you have a proposed agreement that both sides can live with.  Like US President Barack Obama rightly said -- in negotiations, one side is not going to get 100% of what they want

The following, in part, from the Advisor editorial is something I and I think most in Williams Lake agree with:

It isn't fair to ask workers to settle for less and essentially "take one for the team" during difficult economic times when leaders (Management/WL City Council) are not prepared to make any concessions themselves

If I were on WL City Council today - the $15,000 that Councillors currently receive, I would say it should be rolled back to $10,000, the Mayor's pay should be rolled back to $33,000 and Management should take rollbacks too and that should be enough incentive to resume negotiations and hammer out some agreement that both sides can live with

Full Advisor editorial below:

Advisor Editorial - IUOE Strike