DOUBLE TROUBLE
Hockey, liquor stores, ICBC, bus drivers, nurses all looking for new contracts
The possibility of closed liquor stores and an NHL lockout has Canucks fans crying in their beer
Crying in your beer over the prospect of no hockey this fall?
Well, even the ability to belt back a cold one is at risk as labour chaos looms on a number of fronts.
A one-day strike Monday will hit Ministry of Forests offices in five B.C. communities as the B.C. Government and Services Employees Union flexes its muscle, with the possibility that public services such as government liquor stores will eventually be behind picket lines.
The potential shutdown of two Canadian icons — hockey and booze — worries Abbotsford sports fans Matt Clarke and Tyler Morrison, camped out in Maple Leaf-emblazoned patio chairs and pounding back mystery libations Sunday in the B.C. Place Stadium parking lot before the Lions game.
“That’s a travesty,” said Clarke of the NHL impasse, where billionaire owners and millionaire players are squabbling about who isn’t getting enough money. “I think we’ll end up with what happened to the NBA [basketball] this season — a shortened season starting around Christmas.
“From everything I’m reading, they’re not going to get it done.”
Clarke fears NHL players’ rep Donald Fehr and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will reach a standoff.
“You’ve got Donald Fehr — who’s been through this before with baseball — talking to the most stubborn man [Bettman] that we’ve ever seen.”
Jonathan Aubert, walking past Rogers Arena, is upset by the NHL dispute.
“Have you seen Bettman’s salary — $8 million a year for that guy?
“I don’t think he’s the right guy for the job.”
Meanwhile, in addition to looming stoppages at liquor stores and government offices, Insurance Corp. of B.C. workers, bus drivers and nurses are all looking for new contracts.
But B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair is optimistic about the outcome.
“You’ve had very little down time in the public sector for some time,” he said. “It’s really a question of whether the government wants to make a settlement or not.”
Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was taking the one-day BCGEU job action in stride Sunday.
“This job action is a normal part of the bargaining process,” he said in a statement.
“Government made a fair and reasonable offer in these negotiations,” he said. “We are in a time of global economic uncertainty, and we will not add to the deficit or raise taxes to pay unaffordable wage increases.”
The government offered a two-percent wage hike in the first year and a further 1.5 per cent in the second, while the union wants a 3.5-per-cent hike in the first year followed by a costof-living allowance in the second.