:: rawblogXport ::

:: Friday, May 07, 2004 ::

B.C. Liberals Deny Deceit, Plead Stupidity By charlie smith, Georgia Straight
You'll never hear a politician say, 'We're not Machiavellian. We're just stupid.' However, this message clearly underlies the B.C. Liberal government's spin campaign following its dispute with the Hospital Employees' Union.

It's a comforting thought for the public: Premier Gordon Campbell and Labour Minister Graham Bruce merely screwed up with Bill 37. They 'misjudged' the situation by inserting a clause requiring HEU members to pay back part of the money for work already performed during April.

It's more palatable than believing that a scheming, risk-addicted premier deliberately introduced this measure to trigger a provincial election. Such an election would have drawn the cash-strapped New Democratic Party into an expensive two-front war against Paul Martin's federal Liberals and Campbell's provincial Liberals.

Liberals Strike Out in HEU Dispute By bill tieleman, Georgia Straight
The last-minute deal is clearly not everything that hospital workers were hoping to achieve, and the 15-percent rollback will be very painful, as HEU leaders and Sinclair acknowledged. But the labour movement faced down a government that holds 74 of 79 seats in the legislature and still won significant concessions against all the odds.

If the same unity and energy can be harnessed in the May 17, 2005, provincial election, the days of arbitrarily imposed contracts and endless attacks on workers and others will be over.

posted 6:55 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

-------------------------------------------