More Items Of Interest

More thoughts for you to consider and a photo of Councillors Jones and Lewenza going to Council:

WHY IS THERE A STRIKE

Supposedly it is over PRBs for new hires.

Sure PRBs are an issue. Under Eddie Francis, the unfunded liability numbers have skyrocketed from $170M to $290M. Please, do not ask me for comparables...I am just using the same numbers that City Hall has used in the media in the past! Good enough for them, good enough for you and me, dear reader.

But wait a minute. There were only a handful of new hires last year so those people are not responsible for the big numbers.

Here is the startling revelation made by the Mayor on CKLW on Tuesday that completely shocked me as you can hear for yourself:

• "They decided to take their membership out on strike on an issue of Post Retirement Benefits that does not effect employees for the next several years"

Is the Mayor effectively saying there will be no new hires in the foreseeable future? If so, why is the City being so hard-nosed about the issue today? There is no financial impact immediately although there would be over time, much later in the future, as people retire and new employees are hired.

Therefore, we have the time NOW to resolve the differences given what the Mayor claimed!

Why can't the City set up a Committee with CUPE, as was proposed before, to deal with this issue to arrive at an amicable resolution in the near term? At the same time, the City can consider how the Windsor Public Library dealt with PRBs and act in a similar manner with CUPE and citizens being fully informed!

I just do not get the need for the strike to be prolonged. Unless of course there is another agenda at play.

IS THE CAW NOW RUNNING THE CUPE STRIKE

Their members were around at the big Friday CUPE meeting. And their leadership was well represented at the Council meeting picket line I am told. Perhaps that explains the seeming difference in tone in picketing over the last few days. Much tougher than before.

If that is so, my theory is playing out. What it means is that the Mayor and Senior will resolve this at the appropriate time with a few FO's thrown in for good measure to keep the audience amused and happy.

It means as well that CUPE Windsor members might switch unions. More importantly, Dwight and Sandra could be in big trouble as well if Eddie has a new E-army of CAW members behind him.

COUNCILLOR MOM SPILLS THE BEANS, AGAIN

• "I am disheartened at how negotiations have been handled from the media scrutiny to the division of the community and certain people playing into that division. A fair deal can be reached that will not increase your taxes. If we can accelerate 5 years of capital projects to 2 years we are not as financially strapped, as some of my colleagues will lead you to believe. A fair deal can be reached."

ACCURATE BUT NARROW "NON-LEAKING"

Have affidavits ever been signed or was that just cheap melodramatics to distract the masses, again? That seems to be a very favoured approach to take.

Here is what the City said in its Labour Board answer.

I like how narrowly the Response was drafted. Look at the limited number of people for which the City takes responsibility.

Moreover, and here is the important part....everything is tied directly to the media eg source of details obtained by the media. There is no denial that they leaked information to a person who then was the source of the details obtained by the media.

I especially liked "does not admit it....was responsible for leaks to the media." The City could be responsible for leaks to the whole world but not to the media. Accordingly, the City is saying nothing wrong. Accurate but narrow!

If the City admits that it is not aware of the source of the leak, then why did it cast aspersions at the head of another local union? Was that a cheap shot so the media will run after him and make him squirm in preparation for new bargaining talks after the Baird bus decision?

Gee, do you think that someone in on the City's Response preparation was the person that Councillor Halberstadt referred to in his BLOG. We need an Integrity Commissioner investigation on that too now:

• "It has become clear now that the infamous "leak" (to the A Channel) of the bargaining positions of the city and CUPE was perpetrated by CUPE National. Details were perhaps verified by one or more people on the city side."

Since the City now claims it does NOT know the source of the leak, the Councillor better give CUPE an apology! And the Councillor ought to get better sources.

HAS THE STAR PUBLISHED ITS CORRECTION YET

The Star published incorrectly in my opinion the following. I believe that these comments were prejudicial to CUPE's position:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis’s bid Monday to do away with post-retirement benefits for politicians drew an angry response from union leaders representing striking city workers..."
  
  Francis later told reporters the idea to seek a repeal of the post-retirement benefits for elected officials, approved in a council bylaw in 2003, came to him earlier that day. He said it was in response to CUPE advertisements and recent union leadership statements asking why such benefits are good for politicians but not for employees.
  
  
• "So on Monday night, Mayor Eddie Francis tried to get council to eliminate the benefits for politicians."
  
  
• Mayor Eddie Francis claimed he was "trying to save (taxpayers) money" Monday night when he introduced a last-minute motion at council to end post-retirement benefits for municipal politicians.

Here is the original version of the Motion and the corrected one. In neither case were politicians giving up PRBs!

BEST HEADLINE FOR THE BRIDGE CO/MDOT WAR

From Today's Trucking Online:

"Welcome to Dirt-troit, Michigan"

More Short Items

Here are some more interesting items:

WHAT IF THEY HELD A PROTEST AND NO ONE CAME

OMG. It must be a once in a blue moon time. Some sense of sanity has appeared for a second or two.

Representative Tlaib's anti-Bridge Company protest was completely ignored by the mainstream media in Detroit. But for a Windsor Star story involving Councillor Jones and Brian Masse, it would have been a non-event.

It looks like the Detroit media have had enough and are unwilling to participate as negotiating tools. It's a shame though that they still have not reported on the most interesting lawsuit by the Bridge Company against MDOT over alleged breach of partnership.

Instead, the Detroit News in an Editorial today said:

• The escalating disagreement between the owner of the Ambassador Bridge and Michigan's Department of Transportation (MDOT) is exactly what isn't needed by a depressed state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
  
  It could delay the completion of the public-private Gateway Project, designed to ease commercial traffic across this key component of the country's busiest and most-valuable border trade corridor. More important, it escalates tensions over a proposed new span -- or spans -- needed to assure that Michigan fully benefits from a projected boost in trade traffic by as much as 250 percent during the next 30 years...
  
  Bridge owner Matty Moroun and his associates have made a business decision to build a second span and should be given the opportunity, but they must understand that they have to work with public officials. The proposed Downriver bridge appears to be a few years away -- MDOT hasn't acquired the necessary land yet -- but also will be needed if traffic projections hold true and if Metro Detroit wants to be a major player in future international trade. This standoff should end and so should the political rhetoric."

In another surprising Editorial given their border position, the Detroit Free Press finally woke up to reality and stated:

• "The protracted dispute between the Detroit International Bridge Co. and the Michigan Department of Transportation over whether to build another crossing over the Detroit River has gone far enough.
  
  It's time for Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing to step into the arena and referee this brawl before the next round of lawsuits and accusations inflicts further damage. The battle of the bridges is already delaying the completion of the state's $230-million Gateway Project, which will tie I-75 and I-96 directly into the Ambassador Bridge. It could even prevent the construction of both a replacement span for the Ambassador and a second crossing downriver...
  
  Sorting out who's right and who's wrong in this mess is difficult -- maybe impossible. What's important is that the Gateway Project opens, giving traffic direct access to the bridge as soon as possible.
  
  The state bureaucracy may have to show greater flexibility to make this public/private partnership work...
  
  But the bridge company, too, must become a better transportation partner. It's a private company that, in operating an international border crossing, has assumed very public responsibilities...
  
  It's time for the governor and mayor to give them a nudge -- or push -- and get this thing worked out. Petty bickering and prolonged litigation should not be allowed to obstruct the progress of North America's busiest international crossing."

ANOTHER YOUTUBE VIDEO

CANAL vs. SEWERS

Remember that money that Eddie wanted for the canal...

Eddie Francis:

• "While ignoring the canal project, council approved adding a $60-million item for a waterfront underground retention treatment basin to end sewage overflows into the Detroit River, an item for which the city was already in the process of seeking senior government funding.
  
  “Other cities are putting forward massive projects with vision. Today, here, instead of such vision, we have a receptor sewer project … how does that diversify our economy,” Francis said after the meeting."

Ecojustice, an environmental advocacy group

• "In its report released Monday, Ecojustice pointed to eight municipalities responsible for dumping the largest amount of untreated and undertreated sewage in 2006 and 2007 into lakes Ontario and Erie.
  
  Windsor came in third, having unloaded 4.3 billion litres of sewage and storm water overflow, while Leamington was ranked eighth with one billion. Niagara Falls topped the list with seven billion followed by Hamilton with five billion.
  
  "Untreated or partially treated sewage is a foul cocktail," said Liat Podolsky, staff scientist with Ecojustice, formerly known as the Sierra Legal Defense Fund. "It affects all recreational use of the water and isn't healthy for any species...
  
  "The construction of a $60-million storm retention basin just west of downtown should dramatically improve the situation, Tyagi said. The retention basin will capture storm water overflow, give it primary treatment and then redirect it to the Lou Romano plant.
  
  The city needs to build two retention basins to get the problem completely under control as well as spend $450 million to separate storm and sewage lines, Tyagi said."

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS EDDIE FRANCIS

• "Mayor Eddie Francis leaves behind his strike-bound city this week for Athens, Greece, Frankfurt, Germany, and an undisclosed third location to attract foreign investment and chase Olympic dreams for Windsor...
  
  Francis said he's paying his own way on his European trip and that he'll be returning to Windsor next week."

I could not figure out the comment about him "paying his own way" when he was going on City business. The poor man has to spend all of that time in Athens exhausting himself to get the games for us.

When will he have a minute to be able to spend his own money considering when he was called about events that took place on Monday, the Star reported:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis, in a phone interview from his overseas trip on city business"

LET COUNCILLOR MARRA SOLVE THE CUPE STRIKE

Eddie certainly has burned his bridges with CUPE. It does not seem that the other Councillors were able to get anywhere with the people who were picketing City Hall before the Council meeting. However, Councillor Marra was able to structure a compromise:

• "Ward 4 Coun. Bill Marra arrived shortly before the meeting began and huddled with CAW representatives, including 444 head Rick Laporte, and CUPE leaders Jean Fox and Jim Wood. A compromise was struck to enable the councillors to cross the line so they could deal with pressing issues, including approval for the upcoming Bluesfest blowout from July 16 to 19 at the Civic Terrace.
  
  "We have a few issues that we have to take care of and we have a few organizations relying on us," said Marra."

EXCUSES FOR NOT ATTENDING COUNCIL MEETINGS

Which of the following excuses are an acceptable reason for not attending a Council meeting and staying ot the bitter end, if any

#1 We met, motions were put forth and failed, words exchanged and I did not like what was said, it angered me. I got very frustrated... I felt like I was talking to a wall and no one was listening. There was nothing more to discuss as far as I was concerned, the vote was already taken, direction already given. I heard enough and needed a break. In 6 years I have never walked out of a meeting out of frustration – never...

After I left the meeting I went home, sat in my hot tub and drank two margaritas. It was relaxing and I enjoyed watching my daughter swim in the pool.

#2 My child graduated from grade school

#3 Honouring a CUPE picket line

WHY THE BRIDGE COMPANY MUST BUILD ITS BRIDGE NOW

Distribution is Windsor's future as I have argued a long time ago. As usual, the petty fighting will cause us to be an also-ran unless someone smartens up!

• "London city council last night gave its staff the green light to seek funding to make the city airport an international hub for cargo.
  
  Support by council doesn't mean money for the project, but it does give city staff the OK to seek funding sources and consider the proposal a political priority.
  
  "I think this is one of the best things council has ever done," Controller Gord Hume said as the issue was debated before the council meeting by the city's board of control.
  
  London International Airport has asked for $3.5 million from city hall for a project whose total costs have fallen as the prospect for upper government stimulus funding has reduced."
  
  
• "As road, rail, air and marine hub, city could be at centre of boom
  
  Fully capitalizing on Hamilton's geography and transportation network could bring close to 60,000 jobs to the city over the next two decades.
  
  Properly promoting the city as a gateway for goods movement could also inject $4.8 billion into the region's economy each year, says a report released yesterday by the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics.
  
  Hamilton is uniquely positioned to be a hub for the convergence of road, rail, marine and air transportation, said Pavlos Kanaroglou, director of the institute.
  
  Few cities have all the components in place and fewer still lie less than an hour away from the country's biggest city in one direction, a U.S. border crossing in another and within the heaviest populated area of Canada, said Kanaroglou, a geography professor at Mac.
  
  The spillover of benefits would extend beyond the Hamilton-Niagara region and into Toronto and Quebec, the report finds. A best-case scenario would see Hamilton adding 35,000 direct jobs and close to 25,000 indirect jobs.
  
  "Hamilton should probably not spend much thought on whether or not it wants to be a gateway," reads the MITL report.
  
  "By virtue of its considerable assets, this city is already a gateway. The question is: relative to its potential, will Hamilton be a strong gateway or an underachieving one?"

DID ANYONE TELL THE MAYOR

No one told Council specifically. Or did they? Did Administration act on its own without telling anyone? Not a chance according to the CAO:

• "The city is hiring replacement workers from other municipalities to handle a growing caseload in its social services department, residents and striking workers learned at Monday night’s council meeting.
  
  Between 15 and 20 workers have been toiling in a managerial capacity for two or three weeks but the admission only came after Ward 2 Coun. Ron Jones raised the issue toward the end of Monday’s meeting.
  
  Cries of “shame” erupted from the public gallery, which was overflowing with striking city workers and their supporters, when city officials confirmed management from as many as six other municipalities, including Chatham, had been conscripted to handle a growing a growing Ontario Works caseload.
  
  CAO John Skorobohacz said council had given administrators authority to ensure operations ran smoothly during the strike, but the crowd clapped and cheered when Jones said such a sensitive decision shouldn’t have been made without a special meeting of council."

In other words, Administration has complete authority to do what is required it seems under some kind of vague generalized statement or did it have specific authority. What are the facts?

Does it matter what Councillor Jones wants. Hardly:

• "They’re contracting out daily and I want to put a stop to it tonight,” said Jones. “The city is hiring scabs in social services...
  
  Skorobohacz didn’t rule out bringing in replacement workers to shore up service delivery in other departments.”

As I said before, who needs Councillors!

PS. On CKLW, the Mayor claimed that Council had been advised. So who is right, the Mayor or the Councillor?

Keep in mind, the City may have no choice since it is a PROVINCIALLY MANDATED service that the City must run. In addition, I understand that CUPE members are applying for welfare now so that is increasing the workload!

HERE IS WHAT $34.50 AN HOUR GETS YOU

• "Members of the city's out-of-town security company followed the pickets from City Hall Square to the bus depot, videotaping the situation.
  
  Francis said the AFI security team was there to "keep order and peace." When asked whether that wasn't the job of local police, he added the Milton, Ont.-based team would also document any illegal picket line incidents for possible use as evidence in future court orders or proceedings, adding that "it helps to have evidence."

What I do not get is how AFI makes any money to stay in business. According to their classified ad, they pay a security guard $1,352 per week. Based on a 40 hour week that is $33.80 per hour. If it is an investigator, the rate is $1,560 or $39. per hour. In addition, AFI must pay for the travel, accommodation and food for out-of-town guards I assume

Apparently " The city pays AFI $34.50 an hour per guard."

How do they do it?

Movable Strike Signs And Other Items

Here are some more items of note

MOVABLE POSTERS

Remember the pictures by the artist that posted that I thought could change the canal debate.

Here is the work by another artist that can be used to change the nature of the strike debate

Who needs expensive and static billboards. Consider the impact if CUPE hired the artist to paint various CUPE slogans on the models to walk around the City. I bet it would have a bigger impact than the busloads of CUPE members from out of town before the Red Bull event!

Note that you do have to "click."

Body Painting

BIRD BRAINS

Considering the position taken by West End activists and politicos about artifacts buried just beneath the surface all around the area where the Ambassador Bridge wants to build their Enhancement Project, especially around the Indian road homes, I am shocked that they did not, using the same logic, demand an end to all grass cutting on City property forthwith:

• "Thigh-high grass at the Ford Test Track may have scared off soccer and baseball and kite enthusiasts, but a growing number of nesting birds, some making rare urban appearances, are flocking in their stead.
  
  “I’ve never seen a colony of bobolinks in Windsor — I was so happy"

I am shocked that they have not condemned those who cut the grass for Art in the Park or for Red Bull. I will bet that those people did not have

• "a permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service,” said Roberts. The Migratory Bird Act, an international treaty, prohibits the harassment, killing or nest removal of bird species named in the act while they are actively nesting, he said.
  
  While the bobolink is neither endangered, threatened nor listed in the Migratory Bird Act, “I doubt the CWS would issue a (mowing) permit,” said Roberts. Pratt said bobolinks and meadowlarks may not be endangered, “but they’re rare in the sense they’re a declining group of species."

BOBOLINK AND GREENLINK

The Greenlink supporters have been mighty quiet.

In fact, Mayor Eddie Francis has been absolutely silent.

Let's be honest, there has been a total collapse in support for Greenlink as a result of the CUPE strike. Now we can see what the hundreds of acres of Greenlink parks would look like if that road was built.

WHAT TAXI STRIKE

Something's up. Remember the stories during previous taxi strikes:

• more than 100 CAW members and striking cabbies clashed with non-striking cabbies who had planned to stage a rally at the union hall.
  
  
• City residents could find themselves near the epicentre of a brawl like the one that broke out last week or they could be forced to wait for police and paramedics tied up by a taxi industry that can no longer police itself.
  
  The potential for trouble isn't confined to the factory gates in this particular strike with its roaming pickets, and problems could potentially flare up at the airport, train station or any neighbourhood where non-striking taxi drivers pick up or drop off fares…
  
  "It's a war," said Renaud last week.
  
  
• Before Thursday's confrontation, there had been nearly 100 calls to police by both the union and the company over incidents of violence: spray-painted cabs, slashed tires, telephone threats, arson, property damage.
  
  The violence is a symptom of the underlying problems in an industry that is heavily regulated by the City of Windsor, yet has been allowed for decades to create its own set of rules.
  
  
• "About 200 striking Veteran Cab drivers, angry that their union president was denied a chance to speak, brought Monday night's city council meeting to a halt and were hustled out of council chambers by police.
  
  The protest escalated outside city hall only minutes later when a group of irate drivers smashed the windows of a non-striking cabbie and tried to overturn his vehicle, Windsor police said.
  
  
• Tension ran high after CAW Local 195 president Mike Renaud rose to his feet as the council meeting was getting underway. He asked to speak to council but was told by Mayor Eddie Francis that council procedure did not allow for a delegation to speak when their issue is not on the agenda."

Not a peep this time around. What gives? How can CAW keep the drivers so quiet and peaceful?

Where is the Mayor who previously threatened both sides to find a solution so the tourist industry would not suffer:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis has given an ultimatum to the two sides in the Veteran Cab dispute -- get back to the table and work out a labour deal or the city will impose a solution that may not be to either side's liking.
  
  "We know that any action we take will not only have short-term but long-term consequences," Francis warned.
  
  He said the strike by Windsor's biggest taxi service, now in its 12th day, has become "an extreme concern to us."
  
  "We're at a position now where we can't take it anymore -- the deadline has come and gone," he said late Saturday.
  
  "Other cab companies are saying they can't keep up," said Francis, adding the upcoming Super Bowl has "nothing whatsoever" to do with the city's desire for a quick end to the strike. He said there are residents, particularly seniors, who have had difficulty getting to medical appointments because of the dispute.
  
  Francis forced the company and the union representing 350 drivers back to the table late last week, but the effort failed after a marathon 13-hour session. The mayor said, however, that he met with union officials Friday and continued to work at helping find a solution."

WINDSOR'S NEXT STRIKE

The firefighters lawyer and CUPE should use this next story to demonstrate that Windsor likes to be unique and that is why PRBs in Windsor should not be treated the same as in other palces.

NOW I KNOW WHY EDDIE WANTS NO ARBITRATION!

• "Baird announces limits on transit drivers' hours behind the wheel
  
  The Ottawa Citizen
  
  The federal government is changing its work-rest rules for transit drivers.
  
  Twenty years ago, the handful of municipalities whose transit systems are regulated by the federal government requested exemptions from rules that cover commercial drivers, like truckers. The rules set a maximum of 14 hours of driving and eight hours of rest per day and require at least one day off every 14 days.
  
  The exemption was given, but as a result, a small number of drivers, including at OC Transpo took advantage of the situation to work very long hours with little rest for weeks at a time.
  
  The issue became a central factor in Ottawa's 53-day transit strike in December and January, which ended when both sides agreed to binding arbitration on all outstanding issues.
  
  At the time, the federal transport minister and Ottawa West-Nepean Conservative MP John Baird promised to review the exemption, which was in affect in Ottawa, Gatineau and Windsor.
  
  After a two-month examination of the issue, Baird decreed the changes Wednesday.
  
  The Ottawa, Gatineau and Windsor transit systems come under federal jurisdiction because they cross provincial or national borders. Provincially regulated drivers in Ontario have similar work-rest rules, including continued exemptions for transit drivers."

CUPE Strike Crisis

I know it may sound dramatic but this is what I believe.

There is no doubt but that matters are going to come to a head shortly and what happens will determine if someone may get hurt badly or wind up in jail! Cooler heads must intervene soon or else the Police Chief may see the drama he talked about in Star headlines flaring up.

Someone was doing serious polling again this weekend in Windsor about the CUPE strike. Someone wants to know the mood of Windsorites before the next big step is taken. That step is legislating the end of the strike and forcing arbitration. Or not. That is correct, OR NOT!

Does CUPE want to know if they have a chance or should knuckle under? Is it the City trying to determine if their strong anti-CUPE action will help the Mayor and Councillors get re-elected notwithstanding that they achieved little otherwise? Or is it the Liberals trying to figure out if Sandra and Dwight ought to support back-to-work legislation for Windsor if that happens in Toronto?

This has been a strike of gross miscalculations:

• Eddie believing that CUPE would fold immediately since he went after the union with the most women in it and the lowest paid workers first so he could then use their precedent to go after the strong unions, Fire and Police
  
• CUPE underestimating Eddie's resolve and his multi-year planning campaign and that beaten up workers in other industries who have been forced to take concessions would support them.

This strike has shown a lack of leadership by our elected officials who, if Councillor Postma is correct, should be censured for failing to bargain in good faith and CUPE leaders who have run just about the most ridiculous strike I have ever seen, making mistake after mistake.

This strike has also been one of opportunity allowing our Mayor to enhance his stature especially in Toronto by "talking trash" and giving CAW the chance to gain thousands of new members. As Gord could gush:

• "Who could have foreseen
  
  Eddie Francis -- "the sick puppy" as Ryan calls him -- becoming the guy who took on Canada's biggest union in Canada's toughest union town and not only lived to tell the tale, but saw his popularity soar in a city where most purses and wallets hold a union card?"

Why the strike has even made blue-collar Windsor the best place for investment in Canada according to Gord:

• "In going to war against the taxpayers of Windsor at the worst possible time, Ryan handed this city a gift, an unprecedented opportunity to vaporize its reputation as Canada's most militant union city, a city where table-pounding labour bosses have historically ruled like demi-gods.
  
  Week by week, garbage bag by garbage bag, defiant and resourceful Windsorites are punching holes in that decades-old image of Windsor as a blue-collar community in which big labour calls the shots and management either grovels or flees.
  
  It has long been a given in corporate board rooms that Windsor is hostile territory best avoided in favour of places like Cambridge and Alliston where an anachronistic union mentality hasn't been entrenched, along with a deep sense of entitlement, for generations.
  
  But that's changing fast, courtesy of CUPE's strategic miscalculation that it could bank on Windsor's rapid capitulation."

Even Minister Sandra Pupatello has been given the oppotunity to make a complete fool of herself. And the Premier gives her added responsibilities:

• "Toronto is getting an apology from Economic Development and Trade Minister Sandra Pupatello, who suggested the city's residents weren't handling a garbage strike as well people in her Windsor riding...
  
  Pupatello suggested earlier in the day people Windsor were coping better with their 10-week-old garbage strike than those in Toronto after just three days.
  
  In an off-the-cuff remark, she jokingly referred to Toronto residents as "babies."
  
  She has since issued a statement apologizing for the comment, saying people in both communities are being inconvenienced and urging both sides -- in Windsor and Toronto -- to keep working at the negotiating table to resolve their issues.
  
  Pupatello also says she hasn't been approached by either the City of Windsor or the union to impose back-to-work legislation.
  
  Economic Development and Trade Minister Sandra Pupatello has apologized for calling Torontonians a "bunch of babies" in their response to the garbage strike...
  
  At a news conference promoting a cabinet shuffle yesterday morning, Pupatello, who hails from Windsor, was asked what she thinks about the reaction of Toronto resident to the city's strike.
  
  "I apologize for my comment," Pupatello said. "In both communities, people and businesses are being inconvenienced. I urge both sides, in Windsor and Toronto, to keep working at the negotiating table to resolve their issues quickly."

Henderson, Pupatello and Francis, these are the macho characters who may be responsible for this City gaining a notoriety that Councillor Halberstadt's son can live through and not just read in his University school books:

• "Now that the CUPE strike has entered its 70th day, there can be little doubt that this labour dispute will take its place beside other doosies in the city's history.
  
  My son is taking a course in local history at the U this summer, and is working off a book chronologizing the 99-day Ford strike in 1945. The 1919 SW&A bus driver strike is also part of the course. Things were much different in those days. Andrew tells me that the bus strike was settled when the government sent in the militia to drive the street cars.
  
  In 1945. the Ford plant was located hard upon the Detroit River, and there were rumblings about bringing in the Navy to settle that dispute, which thankfully didn't happen."

You see, dear reader, the strike has gone on much longer than anyone has expected. Everyone is waiting for the stench of garbage to get so strong in Toronto in the next week or so that Queen's Park will be recalled and legislate CUPE Toronto back to work. Windsor will follow along, right.

I am not so sure. What if Windsor is not legislated back to work?

What happens to the CUPE members who are desperate financially and who expected to get some money soon as they are told to get back to work? What happens when some workers cross the picket lines or face losing their homes when others won't as the strike carries on? What about those who believe that CUPE has given in too much and not closed down the City? What happens with the hotheads who see no way out?

CUPE members have been kept quiet and restrained this long since they expected to be legislated back. It would show that their strike was not for nothing given the sacrifices they are making, at least in their own minds.

The consequences can be horrific if they are not. Remember this:

• "CUPE leaders said Friday that Windsorites could expect to see an escalation in picket line activity by striking municipal workers and that the atmosphere had become "too poisonous" for talks to resume anytime soon with the employer.
  
  Many of those who spoke out at a CUPE membership meeting at the Caboto Club "were adamant that we've been too soft," said Local 82 president Jim Wood, representing outside workers.
  
  He said that, while "other strikes around the world, they get violent," in Windsor, "it's been a pretty good strike so far."

The Mayor has no incentive for asking for this legislation. The strike has been manna from heaven for him since he is the new media darling with support growing for whatever he may choose to do in his career whether here or in Toronto or Ottawa. He must believe that Windsorites support him. Yet, has he painted himself into a corner now and he cannot get out?

Why would the Star be restrained? They have not been so far. Its parent has its own financial problems for which it is seeking union concessions. Why would it suddenly change its position when its Saturday columnist can tell us:

• "Now, with the days growing shorter and autumn mere weeks away, there's little inclination to wave a white flag. Winter? Snowplow season? Bring it on."

As for our Provincial politicians, what did Eddie and Dwight talk about in their secret meeting, if there was one? Sandra remembers how she got hammered at Queen's Park when she dared defy. They both know that their election comes a year after the municipal one in Windsor, a year that could be hell for them both if Eddie is still Mayor and the Star still loves him!

Notwithstanding that CUPE has been asking for arbitration for eons since it cannot be seen as backing down, Sandra and Dwight and the Premier can shirk their responsibilities by saying:

• "I think what's really important is that we give the sides the opportunity to speak," McGuinty told reporters this morning following a minor cabinet shuffle.
  
  "They're not going to pick up my garbage this week – so it looks at this point in time. I will be inconvenienced, as will many here in the city of Toronto," the premier said.
  
  "But I think it's important that we just hold our fire and allow the two sides to do what needs doing," he said...
  
  The political calculus in back-to-work legislation is "tricky" for McGuinty, said Prof. Cheryl Collier of the University of Windsor, because two of his most prominent cabinet members are from Windsor: Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and Economic Development; and International Trade Minister Sandra Pupatello.
  
  That could put Duncan and Pupatello, who this morning said there's been no request from either side in the Motor City dispute for legislation, in tough spots because both favour a bargained resolution in the Windsor strike. "

CUPE better start lobbying Sandra and Dwight locally and Sid better talk to Dalton to get them to understand what is going on. I am not certain that this will accomplish much however.

In the end, it all comes down to a couple of Councillors to understand how terrible this could be for the City and to do something finally to end this circus by either demanding that there be binding arbitration or to ask Queen's Park to act. All they need to do is switch their vote and it is over. Everyone needs a way out to save face and we need it now.

Do I see any hope? Not really. I had hopes for Councillor Halberstadt as being a leader until his BLOG error which will make him run for cover.

What I fear is that we may see the biggest miscalculation of all now.

You see, dear reader, it has stopped being a fight over finances but has become all political now. As Margaret Thatcher's speechwriter said:

• "The decisions that really matter to political leaders are those to do with the getting and holding of power. Other decisions may turn out well or ill. They may cost billions of pounds or hundreds of lives, but for enlisted politicians those decisions are secondary. What matters to them is: will I still be here after this?"

Put Up Or Shut Up

It is time that Councillor Halberstadt reveal all or learn to close his mouth for once.

He is the person who is quite willing to strip away CUPE's new hires' PRB benefits but nevertheless votes in his own personal self-interest not to increase his personal PRB costs. Is this a sign he is not running again?

The Councillor did it again in his BLOG as I mentioned the other day:

• "It has become clear now that the infamous "leak" (to the A Channel) of the bargaining positions of the city and CUPE was perpetrated by CUPE National. Details were perhaps verified by one or more people on the city side."

That is a very serious allegation to make. Yet when he was called on it, all he could say was:

• "Asked to explain the blog entry, Halberstadt said it’s simply his opinion.
  
  “It’s just my belief that’s the way it’s unfolding,” he said by phone on Sunday night.
  
  Halberstadt said his posting was “based on conversations,” but would not elaborate.
  
  “I don’t want to get into further comment. I’ve made my comments on my website and I don’t want to go beyond that.”

It is not acceptable for a City Councillor in the middle of a strike to express an "opinion" that is "clear" that CUPE National "perpetrated" the leak and now seemingly backs off saying his comment was based on "conversations" with persons whom he did not name. Whom in the City is he protecting?

If he was wrong, then he owes it to CUPE and to Windsorites to admit it and to apologize immediately for his actions. If he is right, then tell us why.

Perhaps he should take a hint from Councillor Postma's BLOG before he damages his reputation any further. She has NOT written anything since June 1.

West End Activists And Politicos Strike Again

No, not that kind of strike. It should be more like strike out again.

I just cannot believe that these people are serious in what they are saying. Their comments are years out of date, as if nothing has happened. It is as if they have just awoken from a coma and not realized the world has changed.

Michigan's Rep. Rashida Tlaib held a press conference with the usual anti-Bridge Company theme, attended by our Canadian heroes Ron Jones and Brian Masse:

• "International Coalition Will Fight Illegal Construction of Second Ambassador Bridge...
  
  The unique cross-border alliance will help ensure the people impacted by the many negative actions of the Ambassador Bridge Company have a voice."

Gosh, I wonder who is speaking for the residents of Delray with respect to the destruction that would be caused by a DRIC bridge and plaza. Perhaps the Representative does not understand the consequences of Environmental Justice. Add in the Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal and the DRTP proposed rail tunnel and SW Detroit will disappear off the face of the earth for people!

Gee the Reperesntative does not seem to be too concerned that all of these projects are not being looked at all together but separately. She just likes focusing on the Bridge Company.

She can make claims against the Bridge Company but I do not hear her saying that MDOT

• "has deliberately broken up [these three projects--DRIC, DIFT, DRTP] into separate segments in order to avoid conducting an Environmental Impact Statement, which would protect our children from irreparable harm that [these projects] will surely cause."

Her constituents ought to be asking her why not!

How they can say this with a straight face boggles my mind. And some Southwest Detroiters want them as allies? Unbelievable!

• "Protesters, politicians condemn twin bridge plan
  
  By Donald McArthur, The Windsor Star, June 26, 2009 11:01 PM
  
  DETROIT -- Politicians and neighbourhood groups from both sides of the border stood united in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit Friday and condemned as destructive a proposal to construct a twin span.
  
  “We have so many things in common and we will fight this fight together,” Ward 2 Coun. Ron Jones told a crowd of about 50 people outside St. Anne Church. “I’m going to say to you hold on and don’t get tired. Walk that final mile together. Don’t allow them to divide and separate your community...
  
  On the Canadian side, our problems are the same as your problems. We’re all in this together, ” said Sandwich Towne activist and bakery shop owner Mary Ann Cuderman...
  
  NDP MP Brian Masse attended the news conference and assured U.S. residents that the bridge company had miles to go to secure the necessary approvals in Canada.
  
  “A border shouldn’t be a burden in your community,” said Masse.
  
  “We have two vulnerable communities that should be enhanced by a border crossing, not decimated by it.”
  
  Jones told the crowd a twin span would cut Sandwich towne in half and “we’re not going to allow it to happen.”

DUH... Delray has a new burden, it will be decimated and cut in half. But do your jobs heroes, don't let them know that Sandwich has been spared. Delray's problems are certainly not like Sandwich's.

Why it was almost exactly three years ago when similar words were spoken by Sandwichers:

• "Activists and politicians from the west-end community of Sandwich are vowing to work hand-in-hand with their southwest Detroit counterparts in Delray following a bus tour of the historic industrial community across the river.
  
  The two communities are hoping if they have a common voice on a preferred location for the next Windsor-Detroit border crossing, they will influence a binational government team assigned to select the best option.
  
  "We've said time and again to people over here, we consider this family," said Mary Ann Cuderman, leader of residents' truck watchdog group in Sandwich."

Are the Americans that unaware of what is going on? I say this with with no disrespect intended. Sandwich has virtually escaped unscathed so far with the DRIC bridge. Only a handful of homes will be taken. Is the Representative this out of touch with reality? Perhaps she does not subscribe to the Windsor Star.

In Delray, hundreds of homes and businesses will be taken for the new crossing. As for the promises of a better future in Delray:

• "You'd think...community leaders would be dead set against funneling thousands of semis spewing diesel fumes through their neighborhood every day. But the promise of development dollars has helped win them over..."

The reality is a lot different:

• "Joe Corradino introduced the topic of Delray land use concepts. He noted that the work is based on a series of workshops with the community, from December 2005 through August 2006 that defined Planning Priorities. That work addressed Delray land uses with and without a new bridge. He explained that MDOT is a transportation agency, not a land use planning agency, but, realizing that transportation changes would affect land use, helped formulate the concepts shown in the meeting room.
  
  Joe Corradino asked those in attendance use the comment forms to write down their ideas about what they like or do not like in the alternative land use concepts shown. He suggested that of about 200 single-family occupied dwelling units that could be would be affected by the plaza, MDOT can help relocate the residents (and the businesses) to the areas in Delray selected for redevelopment, if they choose to stay. This can be a catalyst for other redevelopment. There are things like this that MDOT can do. This can complement activities by others. But, as time goes on, a partnership will have to be built with the City of Detroit and others to accomplish the redevelopment ideas shown."

As I wrote before:

• "We can huff and puff about saving the heritage of Sandwich but I don't see anyone trying to save the heritage of Delray from our side.
  
  Someone needs to explain as well frankly why Sandwich should be saved and not Delray. After all wasn't the Ambassador Bridge proposal kicked out of the DRIC process because no one side of the river was supposed to be hurt more than the other.
  
  Of course, both Sandwich and Delray could be saved if the Enhancement Project was built since it does not require any more land in either community. For some reason however, that isn't accepted as a viable solution. I can't figure this one out either."

The Invisible Bridge Company Lawsuit Against MDOT

I don’t get it. It has been reported. Sort of. The odd line here and there but nothing more!

The big lawsuit between the Bridge Company and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Oh not that silly MDOT Ambassador Gateway reactionary lawsuit that was just reported. Read more about that from the Bridge Company's perspective in the BLOG below. That is just about the worst thing MDOT could have done from a strategic perspective. Who the heck is advising them on litigation tactics? Transport Canada???

I mean the lawsuit already started by the Bridge Company against MDOT. Very few know about that one! You will understand why shortly as you read on

Poor Governor Granholm. And her hubby if he has Governor aspirations since she is term limited. MDOT with their lawsuit may have damaged her chances for a good job after she leaves office and destroyed his. What a wonderful present as well for the Republicans for the next election. I can just picture the headlines as the discovery process unfolds.

Chris Vander Doelen in the Star claims:

• “Not that the struggle to plan and build the new bridge is over yet. But it's getting to the late chapters.
  
  Nobody expects Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun to give up trying to preserve his control of border truck traffic now. Not after years of plotting and scheming to block construction of competing crossings, whether road or rail.
  
  But with the boot of the U.S. government on his neck, the wily old tycoon is certainly down for the count. Does he have one more trick up his sleeve? I'm betting he tries one, even if it doesn't work.”

As a contrarian, I would say that we are at the Preface stage. We have not even entered Chapter 1. If Moroun is shaking, it is not with terror but of laughter. He does not need to do anything but watch as his Opposition self-destructs in front of him.

Why hasn’t the media picked up the other lawsuit. Why hasn’t MDOT issued a press release denouncing it? They dare not. It explains in the most graphic terms why the Ambassador Bridge has spent $500 million to build their Enhancement Bridge and why they are so angry now.

It explains MDOT's actions in no uncertain terms.

I am attaching the narrative part of the lawsuit for your reading enjoyment! Click the top right of the document so you can read it better. It gives a history of the project that not many have known about including I would suspect many members of the bureaucracy and certainly not many Legislators. I am sure there are more surprises awaiting the right moment.

Of course, this is from the Bridge Company’s perspective. Who knows what MDOT will say in reply. However, from seeing how they operate, the Bridge Company rarely makes a rash statement and can back up their allegations.

Effectively the claim is very simple to understand. MDOT and the Bridge Company are partners on the Ambassador Gateway project which was designed to accommodate a second bridge. The State received money from the Feds based on the project as well based on what the State represented the project to be. The Bridge Company is ready to build their bridge. Lo and behold the State is effectively working against their partner with a third party group, DRIC, to undercut their partnership and put the Bridge Company out of business by taking away most of their business. The Bridge Company wants that stopped by the Courts.

Impossible you say. No one would do that to a partner. Yet, here is what Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Transportation, Bruce McCuaig, said recently:

• “We must also take decisive action and be willing to take on formidable challenges if we are to secure prosperous futures for our respective jurisdictions – jurisdictions that are increasingly interconnected.
  
  An excellent example for Ontario is the planning underway for a proposed new Detroit River International Crossing in the Windsor-Detroit Gateway.
  
  The planning effort for new crossing of the Detroit River began in 1999 with our colleagues in Michigan.”

Planning for the new crossing was started before the ink on the Agreement with the Bridge Company was barely dry!

Now you know why MDOT has not attacked the lawsuit publicly so far. What is being alleged would become public and some difficult questions would have to be answered.

Oh MDOT will have an answer, you can bet on that. Here is the approach they will take as reported in Crains:

• “The organizations have also split over the role of the second Ambassador Bridge span in the context of the Gateway Project. DIBC and some MDOT records obtained by Crain’s show that the project was designed to incorporate a new span, but MDOT officials and political and activist opponents of the project say Gateway was simply a traffic improvement effort that had nothing to do with a second span.”

Didn’t you like the part, unless you are from MDOT,

• “some MDOT records obtained by Crain’s show that the project was designed to incorporate a new span.”

This is getting ugly. And it is only the beginning. Unless cooler heads finally prevail and the parties sit down and resolve their differences, we are into another decade or two of make work for lawyers.

More importantly, we in Windsor are losing our chances for getting thousands of high-paying infrastructure jobs to tide us over until our economic diversification takes place.

What a mess.

Terrific Column In The Detroit News

Here is the reference to a column you ought to read. http://www.detnews.com/article/20090626/OPINION03/906260371/1001/Crossing-bridge-of-state-control

Now if he would only add in Canada's 50 year economic nationalistic objective to take over the bridge, the attempted crushing of a business owned by an American, the huge waste of taxpayer dollars, the lies and disinformation, the obscene profits that could be made by a P3 operator at taxpayer expense...that would be a column!

• Crossing bridge of state control
  
  Paid my $4 to cross the river into Canada last weekend, courtesy of the allegedly rapacious capitalist who owns the Ambassador Bridge. He's trying to build a new one.
  
  The rebuilt ramps, sparkling ribbons of concrete, abruptly end as you're redirected onto the aging bridge. The Duty-Free Shop, of faintly Scandinavian design, looks to be a massive upgrade from the cheesy old Quonset hut whose smokes and booze lured travelers on their way to Windsor, the 401 and beyond.
  
  But what about the second span, so badly needed to replace the iconic bridge built in 1927, the same year its owner, Matty Moroun, was born? Not coming anytime soon, as the shipping magnate-cum-real estate mogul and his Detroit International Bridge Co. slide deeper by the day into petty squabbles with the Michigan Department of Transportation and myriad bureaucrats in both countries.
  
  The result: a confluence of behavior that is equal parts slapstick comedy and bureaucratic over-reach, with a healthy dollop of power politics and some requisite junior high juvenilia thrown in.
  
  Earlier this week, Ambassador Bridge President Dan Stamper called a press conference to denounce a petulant MDOT's move to dump tons of dirt and debris on a freshly paved roadway, ostensibly (MDOT responded, confirming Stamper's claims) to protect the interests of taxpayers in the $230 million I-75 Gateway Project.
  
  
  Wednesday, MDOT filed a breach of contract suit in Wayne County Circuit Court, accusing the bridge company of altering its plans in ways that could jeopardize the federal funding for the project. This from the same state agency that also is part (for obvious reasons, given its responsibility) of a government-backed plan to build a competing span downriver.
  
  What's next -- a ritual sacrifice in the middle of the bridge or the serendipitous discovery of a tattered, century-old Indian compact to block ol' Moroun?
  
  The rival Detroit River International Crossing, you see, proposes to spend yet billions more of your money to raze neighborhoods on both sides of the border to build a second span that would compete with Moroun, the tunnel and the Bluewater Bridge in Port Huron. Oh, and the governments -- the United States and Canada, Michigan and Ontario -- would reap the incremental revenue they otherwise wouldn't see if privately-financed Ambassador II goes it alone.
  
  Can't have that, can we? Can't allow a private business person to finish the project and to reap the return of his investment even as his company is required to comply with the border controls, customs rules and national security implications on both sides of the river.
  
  Then it hit me: This drama symbolizes our times, as we watch an energized federal government controlled by a new president and a single party move to remake the financial sector, the domestic auto industry, executive pay, the energy producers through "cap-and-trade" and the health care business, among other things.
  
  Private ownership is bad, and government ownership is good. Private industry is more efficient (witness the progress of Stamper & Co., for example), but government is somehow more fair and equitable. Private industry cannot be allowed to reap the benefit of its risk-taking if government cannot get a (bigger) piece of the action.
  
  I suppose I speak for more than a few routine border crossers: Don't care who controls the bridge so long as it's a) safe and b) speedy and c) something north of the testy ritual it's become since the dark days after the September 11 attacks.
  
  If Moroun can do it quicker, within the requirements of authorities on both sides and with a lot less government money, what's the problem -- aside from the obvious fact that government gets one less asset to control and mine for cash.

Call The Integrity Commissioner---Another Leak

Oh my goodness. Another leak, this time to discredit CUPE to the nth degree. Perhaps it's right, perhaps it's wrong. But now it is out there.

According to Councillor Halberstadt's BLOG:

• "It has become clear now that the infamous "leak" (to the A Channel) of the bargaining positions of the city and CUPE was perpetrated by CUPE National. Details were perhaps verified by one or more people on the city side."

Yes folks, details were perhaps verified that CUPE did it. Or perhaps they were not. And from the City side as well too. What a shock!

Who leaked this new news? Where did it come from? What is its basis?

I demand that the Integrity Commissioner investigate this new spilling of information

Councillor Halberstadt needs to be put under oath right away to tell us who gave him this bombshell and what are the facts.

Wait a minute. How did this become clear? Did someone have access to the Integrity Commissioner's investigation? Was information disclosed prematurely and if so by whom and to whom and how did it get to the Councillor? I think this needs investigating as well!

We need to hire an independent, part-time quasi-Integrity Commissioner to investigate the investigation of the Integrity Commissioner now!

Daryl Newcombe must be smiling at the new story that he can cover!

Speaking of Daryl, he must have liked this line in the Star story about the leak:

• "The leaked details were first reported by Daryl Newcombe of A Channel News Wednesday night."

I don't know about you but this is one of the only times that I can recall that the Star has given credit for someone else scooping them. I just can't help wondering wonder why that was done and does it have any significance.

MDOT's Fog

Here is the Bridge Company press release to that other MDOT lawsuit.

Hmmm, no mediation or arbitration even though the Bridge Company requested it. Did MDOT learn from Eddie or vice versa!


MDOT's Ambassador Bridge Lawsuit Fogs Facts

WARREN, Mich., June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Ambassador Bridge:

"The Michigan Department of Transportation's (MDOT) lawsuit filed yesterday against the Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) is surprising because we have been trying to resolve the many issues in dispute with MDOT for a long time. DIBC recently requested mediation and then submitted a formal demand to MDOT as provided for in the agreement with MDOT. MDOT did not even respond, but instead filed this lawsuit. MDOT has been fully aware of the traffic connectivity improvements we planned and constructed. To now charge otherwise, 15 years into the project, is literally unbelievable. The girders, cement, construction equipment and crews have been on site for years. As required by the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Agreement, we have met regularly with MDOT and kept them abreast of changes made to improve the project and border connectivity.


"MDOT's argument that any change to the Gateway Agreement could jeopardize $145 million in federal funds is without merit. MDOT's action instead, is meant to delay DIBC's building a privately funded $1 billion replacement span for the 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge -- a project that will immediately create more than 4,000 new jobs. A MDOT spokesman incredulously stated that MDOT would have accepted DIBC's construction changes if we simply asked them first. MDOT's motives are intended to harm DIBC's efforts to further invest in necessary border improvements as MDOT punishes international travelers and commerce.


"The only material change to the Gateway Project is that MDOT has joined another and competing partnership with Canada within the Ambassador Bridge corridor (DRIC). However wrong that is, it should not mean undermining the existing Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project. For MDOT, improving travel for the public and commerce should come first, just as it does with the Ambassador Bridge.


"Prior to MDOT joining the DRIC partnership with Canada, MDOT supported the Gateway Project and its improvements, supported street closings, and requested federal funding based on the following MDOT language from 1999:

• 'Clearly, this is a high priority project with all the stakeholders ... MDOT, DIBC, SEMCOG, and the City of Detroit. The need for this [Gateway] project has precipitated unprecedented cooperation between local, state, federal, and private interest not seen in the last 25 years...DIBC is expected to become a full partner in the project construction with MDOT. Recent announcement for the $400 million construction of a second span of the Ambassador Bridge by DIBC, underscores the expected cooperation needed to make these projects whole. This is truly a public-private partnership.'
  
  -- MDOT application to USDOT for Gateway funding, 1999

"Today we contacted Governor Granholm to respectfully request her to instruct MDOT to remove the approximately ten thousand tons of construction waste that MDOT deliberately dumped on the West Grand Boulevard ramp (East Service Drive) of the Gateway Project, which stretches for almost a quarter mile; and also to remove the heavy equipment on the other inbound MDOT ramp. Both ramps have needlessly been rendered unusable by MDOT and are preventing passenger traffic and commerce from using the new roadways. Travelers and business should not be used as pawns here. The disputes between MDOT and DIBC will be adjudicated in the courts and through arbitration.


"We will continue to meet with MDOT to try and find solutions on all the open issues and move ahead together, as partners. We hope our goal at its foundation is aligned - build the best Gateway Project possible."

No More Strike BLOGs

I thought about stopping to write any more strike BLOGs.

What's the point? Eddie is going to Greece to put us on the world stage again, running off to Germany to get an update from Lufthansa when an email request would have worked as well and now has another secret deal he is working on that will bring us prosperity. No one will negotiate until he gets back.

Everyone knows we are in limbo anyway, waiting for the Province to legislate Toronto back to work. The expectation is that Windsor will be legislated back too but I have seen no movement to do that here. Everything is perfect in Windsor with the residents taking garbage to the dump and cutting City grass.

If this strike is not ended by the Province too, then expect that my CAW speculation re Eddie has scared Dwight and Sandra senseless!

Actually, if you take a look at the chorus in their song---The Spice Girls were right. It's the only way the strike will end. I'll let you figure out the song and the lyric.

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

Check out the AFI ads in the Star. They are the security company that the City is using. Check out the salaries too.

• "Average Weekly Security Guard Wage: $1352.00 Average Weekly Investigator Wage Rate: $1560.00."

Since it is more than many CUPE workers make now, how many will submit their CVs. With all of the strikes going on, it could become a good long-term career!

Hmmmm, what if the money for security could have been used to settle the strike issues. Naw, that would have been too easy.

IF INDUSTRY CAN DO IT, WHY WON'T THE CITY

I noticed that Bombardier just settled with their Union:

• "The talks had been held up on Bombardier’s request for concessions on the union’s long-term health benefits for its past and future retirees, and to increase the percentage of its temporary workers at its Downsview plant in Toronto to 20%.
  
  Neither are included in the new tentative agreement, according to Jerry Dias, assistant to the CAW president. "I’m very pleased," he said."

CUPE workers are being described as fat-cats who have no pressures on them to be realistic because they work for Government.

Isn't the City the fat-cat too? They have no profit pressure as private enterprise does. If they have a problem, then they just raise taxes and you, dear reader, have no choice but to pay!

Why can't anyone fight City Hall? Because the City can use taxpayer money to fight taxpayers!

WHERE DO WE START

Eddie wants the negotiations to start where they left off, which gives him the power to try to frame what the resolution will be.

Where did the City finish---as shown on their website:

• "This web site contains the most recent offer that the Corporation had made to the Unions as of Tuesday, May 12, 2009."

What is the big deal about starting where something left off when the City states:

• "Both the Employer and the Union have the right to alter, modify or delete their proposals at any time."

Here is the other absurdity. Let's assume that Jim Wood took PRBs off the table, (It looks like he was gamesplaying to flush out the City but that was a pretty dumb move if true) The Union members at their Friday meeting rejected that idea no matter what anyone says.

What is the point of starting at a point that will never happen! Just so the City can walk away again?

OMG, GETTING A NON-MADE IN WINDSOR DECISION

How dare the City think about going to someone 4-500 Kms away to have a decision imposed on us. Those Toronto people have no idea of our local circumstances.

For shame!

• "The city has asked the province to rule on a request by CUPE to appoint an outside mediator in the bitter Windsor civic strike now in its 11th week with no end in sight.
  
  “We’re interested in having the Ministry of Labour determine if a new mediator is the right way to go,” said Helga Reidel, the city’s lead negotiator."

Hmmm, if it is good enough for the City, then why is it not good for arbitration?

NOW JIM GETS IT

• "Local 82 president Jim Wood, representing outside workers, blamed the mayor for the impasse.
  
  “He has to have everything his way … it can’t always be his way,”

Here is what is bizarre, the City speaking out of both sides of its mouth. Whom is CUPE to believe?

• "Mayor Eddie Francis said the city is against going outside the Ministry of Labour’s pool of mediators, especially with a private mediator recommended by the union.
  
  
• “We’re already under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour, and we want to keep it that way,” said Reidel, adding that, although it doesn’t see the need, the city is not adverse to switching mediators."

Frankly, who cares. Mediators are NOT arbitrators and do not decide anything.

It's just another stall until Eddie gets back. He dare not have anything done while he is away as in Ottawa as Chris Schnurr Blogged:

• "The agreement between the city and the ATU, that all future disagreements will settled by an arbitrator, is the second significant peace deal between council and organized labour in the absence of Mayor Larry O’Brien.
  
  O’Brien has taken an unpaid leave of absence while he stands trial, accused of influence peddling.
  
  In O’Brien’s absence, city council not only engineered a three year deal with its biggest union, CUPE Local 503, but now it has found middle ground with ATU Local 279, just months after the longest transit strike in the city’s history."

HONOURING THE MAYOR

I think that there is a huge failure to communicate.

• "The striking workers had encouraged residents to dump their garbage at their picket site and they created a situation at one of our central trash depots," he said. "They decided to call the garbage pile, name it after me; they called it Mount Francis. That's how much garbage was there."

Doesn't Eddie understand that they were giving him an idea about how to get the Winter children's games here by creating an "elevation." They even came up with the idea of naming it for posterity in his honour.

Why is he so rude about it now when he took their idea?

WHY WAS THE GRASS CUT

Citizens who cut the grass may have been completely misled. In fact, it looks like they were part of a secret public opinion poll that they knew nothing about:

• "According to Mayor Eddie Francis, citizens frustrated by the striking union are tacitly supporting the city by managing their own garbage, paying to dump bags of trash at private sites, and in some cases even mowing weed-strewn parks that have been abandoned by striking staff."

Remember how it was put before:

• "Ignoring warnings and caution expressed earlier by Windsor's mayor and its striking workers, citizens across the city took to neglected parks and playgrounds Saturday to battle garbage, weeds and knee-high grass...
  
  "It's about our children...
  
  "I think it's wrong to take a summer away from the kids"

It is disturbing to me that the pollster did not add in this comment as well:

• "I'm not happy with how CUPE is handling this, and I'm not happy that Eddie (Francis, the mayor) is not talking - it's sad it's come this far."

So much for it being about the kids!

I am told that a new poll has been taken. The results show that CUPE support has increased dramatically. Jackson Park has not been cut. Moreover, at Forest Glade Optimist Park

• "no one showed up with a lawn mower."

Eddie is losing badly now. Why won't the Star and other media publicize these poll results?

GARBAGE PICKUP NUMBERS SUSPECT

Pollsters are questioning as well the Mayor's numbers for public support of picking up trash. Here is what the Mayor said first:

• "Approximately 75 per cent of the city's garbage has been accounted for at transfer stations"

Then almost immediately thereafter he claimed:

• "Mr. Francis cited a "tremendous result," saying the city has been able to account for nearly 80% of all garbage."

And then another number for City news to be very precise:

• " Nearly 76 percent or 75 percent of the garbage has been accounted for."

If "citizens are not faced with the prospect of trash-strewn, foul-smelling streets," then why is there the panic to threaten people with $5,000 fines or to take trash home on fireworks night? I wonder if some of the trash was taken away by front-end loaders in the middle of the night especially in the Red Bull area.

Could that skew the results?

HOPPA

I hope-a that Percy is smarter next time around so he could have replaced the Mayor in Athens as he did in Whistler. Next time he won't blame Eddie about what the Mayor did:

• "I think that's bad faith bargaining,"

Next time, Percy just better say "Yia sas."

NO MORE DIRECTOR FEES FOR COUNCILLORS

A Toronto Star Editorial stated:

• "In lamenting the municipal employees' strike now disrupting Toronto, Mayor David Miller correctly argues that public sector unions shouldn't expect pay raises and concession-free contracts when private sector workers – and taxpayers – are facing layoffs, plant closings, and rollbacks of their pay and benefits...
  
  Regrettably, Miller and his hand-picked executive committee undermined that sound argument earlier this year in allowing city councillors to pocket a 2.4 per cent raise, boosting their annual salaries from $96,805 to $99,153. Few would disagree now that this was a mistake. It can, and should, be corrected...
  
  There are no such excuses for city council's ill-judged 2.4 per cent pay increase, which came earlier this year, after the economy had already begun its precipitous decline. The pay raise represents a failure of Miller's leadership.
  
  To be sure, Miller himself declined to accept the raise, but he didn't seek to impose the same restraint on the rest of council. That oversight is now providing ammunition to the union leaders, who insist their members are being unfairly singled out for austerity measures."

Eddie's Motion attempt to play games with PRBs failed miserably as at least one Councillor admitted he voted in his self-interest so he he would not have a benefit taken away from him.

If Council is serious, then they should all give up the thousands of dollars in fees they receive each year that bolsters their salaries, such as the new airport fees, and more importantly their pensions down the road.

How much does that cost taxpayers in pension contributions?

Real Fireworks In Windsor

Not the amateurish kind of politicians on both sides of the river!

At least I can enjoy these taken by my daughter, Melissa.

Moroun Is Windsor's--and Michigan's--Last Hope

Be nice to Matty Moroun. He is the only hope that Windsor--and Michigan--have now first to keep traffic moving across the border smoothly and to help in our economic diversification! And of course Canada too as I have Blogged before.

Oh I know about the Coast Guard action. It was somewhat predictable. Then the MDOT dirt piles on new pavement. The Bridge Company has to be stopped or at least delayed if the Governments' DRIC plans are to be accomplished, especially after the Bridge Company NEPA and MDOT lawsuits.

• "The Detroit International Bridge Company said in a statement the move "smacks of retribution for a federal lawsuit filed last month by a coalition of prominent Detroit community organizations and the DIBC complaining of environmental justice and other causes of action against the U.S. Department of Transportation." The statement goes on to say the action appears "one-sided and misguided.
  
  “While we are perplexed and disappointed by this action, we will take all the steps necessary to address the concerns expressed by the U.S. Coast Guard and keep this vital project moving. It’s obvious to us that this abeyance letter is nothing more than the government applying political pressure on the Coast Guard to delay construction of the replacement span of the Ambassador Bridge,” said Dan Stamper, President of the Detroit International Bridge Company, in the statement. "

This is what concerned me when I first got involved in the border file 7 years ago. As a litigation lawyer, I knew that unless there were discussions between the parties, it was inevitable that there would be lawsuits filed that would tie the border up for decades. That is what happened before with the FIRA lawsuit.

It's starting.

Citizens For Jobs Now may as well close up shop unless someone smartens up or rather, they better put the pressure on to get people talking. That should be considered their Number ONE priority. They had better get vocal. Otherwise bridges and roads to bridges won't happen for a generation!

Let me explain.

Sorry Ambassador Bridge Company haters. Transport Canada Minister John Baird put the nail in the coffin of the DRIC Bridge at the recent FCM conference. It should be no surprise because the only money that Canada has in its Budget is $400M for a road to the border. No funds have been set aside for a DRIC bridge and plaza since a P3 was to deal with that and we know what has happened to the P3 market.

It was NOT in his speech but here is what he said according to the Toronto Star:

• "At the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting, Baird identified the country's most significant infrastructure project as the $4 billion to $5 billion access road to a new border crossing near Windsor and said he is making it a personal priority.
  
  The project "has the attention at the highest level. The province and the federal government are on the same page. The time for action is now."

Interesting choice of language. The line was not "a road and a bridge." The comment was about the road NOT the bridge. The Province has NO role in the bridge, only the road. The DRIC bridge completion has been put back two years so far, until 2015, so "action" is hardly the word to be applied to it. The Bridge is now stuck in litigation as well.

It took a long time but it was inevitable after the Globe and Mail 2 1/2 page Saturday spread when Matty Moroun made it clear that he was not going to be terrorized by the Governments involved into selling his bridge cheaply.

We have seen the Governments scramble back and forth from capacity to security to redundancy to future economic recovery as the justification for DRIC. They even got Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe to help out.

Truck traffic---the Governments have 2 investment grade traffic surveys in 2008 and 2009 and have refused to provide me copies. Obviously there is no traffic justification

Security--Minister Van Loan actually wanted to do something at the Ambassador Bridge

• "He also got a commitment from Napolitano that Washington will look again at the idea of what is called land pre-clearance, he said.
  
  Under a proposal favoured by Ottawa, American officials would check U.S.-bound trucks on the Canadian side of the border and vice versa, easing trade bottlenecks.
  
  Van Loan said he suggested a pilot project at the Windsor-Detroit border but nothing was settled.”

P3s are dead. If money will be used for the P3 road, my guess is that it is coming right from OMERS provided they are guaranteed a huge profit. Otherwise they cannot afford to do it

• "The McGuinty government remains fully committed to the P3 model for building vital institutions like hospitals, even though P3s increase costs by hundreds of millions of dollars for every large project. At the St Catharines General P3, private investors backed away from the project, causing the McGuinty government to scramble for financing, turning to OMERS, the Ontario municipal employees' pension fund. The terms of this deal have not been made public."

Now the flip-flop between Baird and Butler and Ambassador Wilson can be explained. The Transport Canada people had to be involved in the process to try to demonize Moroun in the eyes of the Michigan Legislators and to try to make them believe that his Enhancement Project was dead. They failed miserably and made fools of themselves with the Legislators. Wilson had to try and salvage the mess:

• "Canadian federal authorities remain adamantly opposed to Moroun.
  
  "We believe that the new crossing should be subject to public oversight, and that would mean, in effect, a publicly owned bridge," said Mark Butler, a spokesman for the federal agency Transport Canada, on Thursday."
  
  
• "Federal Transportation minister John Baird said Wednesday his government is committed to building a downriver bridge in Windsor and dismissed the Ambassador Bridge's twin span proposal."
  
  
• Wilson in his letter I am told said that Canada had no interest in disadvantaging the Ambassador Bridge's long-term viability and that it would continue to be an integral part of the strategic Windsor/Detroit corridor.

Of course you remember ""Feds Say Bridge Treated Fairly" and the generous offer of Canada to hire an engineering firm to help them with their Plaza master plan.

Wilson, given his background with the Bridge Company was interestingly the one who was forced to eat crow. There is no doubt that Baird was not going to take responsiblity for their fuddle-duddle-up!

Don't take Baird's DRIC road comments seriously unless Ontario really wants to give some P3 operator billions in extra profits. We are being Delrayed on that still.

The Feds and Province still have to get Moroun's help to support a cheaper "interim" road to the Enhancement Project bridge so they can save face.

Why is Moroun Windsor's only hope? He is the only one who is going to build a bridge and with his money, not taxpayers', in the foreseable future. If there is no bridge, there is no DRIC road and therefore no thousands of high-paying infrastructure and other jobs.

If you really want the clincher, take a look in Michigan:

• "$740M of Michigan roadwork axed
  
  State forced to cancel 137 projects after it can't come up with its share of money
  
  The state took another hard shot Thursday when the Michigan Department of Transportation announced it has canceled more than 137 road and bridge projects -- totaling $740 million -- due to Michigan's inability to match federal dollars. Michigan's portion of the federal match for road construction will now go to other states.
  
  "We are in a state of crisis when it comes to our transportation funding, and it is being felt in every community across the state," said Mike Nystrom, vice president of government and public relations for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, which represents 800 construction related companies within the state. The list of canceled projects, which includes 28 high-profile projects in Metro Detroit, was part of MDOT's five-year road and bridge program presented earlier this week to the House Transportation Committee. Nearly $247.8 million would have been spent on road projects in Metro Detroit.
  
  "These projects are vital to Michigan's economic future," said Nystrom. "When roads are maintained, they attract new business. Economic and job growth will not happen in Michigan when MDOT is forced to cancel critical infrastructure projects."
  
  Under the funding formula, the federal government pays for 80 percent of road projects and requires each state to come up with the remaining 20 percent. Michigan relies on fuel and registration taxes for its transportation funding, but those revenues have fallen steadily over the past several years because Michigan motorists are driving less and buying fewer new cars.
  
  If Michigan can't come up with its 20 percent, it loses the 80 percent match from the federal government."

Guess whose project would help out Michigan right away with billions in federal matching grants so they can build their roads.

Perhaps Matty is Michigan's only hope too!