Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 21, 1996, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 readers forum Winnipeg free press november unions accountable before Law changed i would like to take the time to respond to the column by Dave Angus from the chamber of Eom ref be entitled labour Bill ensures Bill which was passed the same Day that Angus column appeared in the free does anything but ensure 1 have worked in both unionized and no unionized workplaces and it is by far More democratic to work in a unionized As a Union member i was Able to vote for our leadership and i could vote on How and where our Money would be if 1 did not agree with i could debate and vote on the Issue or a supreme court Deci Sion correctly stated that unions were the min democracy of the Angus argued that the chamber supports Bill 26 and the financial Dis closure provision much has been made of the potential for employers to take advantage of information relating to strike funds by simply out the Union during tract in the Bill specifically exempts Union strike funds from the reporting 1 am surprised that Angus would make such a statement because he is Well since he has read the that All expenditures from strike funds must be it would not take a rocket dentist to figure what the Union strike fund since All income and Dit res must be including expenditures from strike in the governments own advisory the labour management review committee Dis agreed with the tories on a majority of the amendments to Bill including the the second area i would like to address is the statement that Angus made around votes if employees want to vote on the last offer of their there should be a mechanism through which a vote could be Bill 26 makes this this statement is erroneous and mis the Bill allows the govern Ghent or the employer to fall for a vote an the employers last it does net give employees this oppor but employees already have this Opportunity employees elect a negotiating committee that will bar Fain with the employer on behalf of All employees vote on what Tottey want the committee to including wages and Ben employees vote on whether they will go on strike and they vote on numerous offers their employer makes throughout the bargaining if the membership feels that the bargaining committee should bring an offer to the membership for a the membership can bring this Bill 26 does not ensure Freedom or make unions More unions Are already accountable to their membership and everyone that wants to be involved can do Allen ble1ch Winnipeg Union members protest cuts to programs in new Bridge delights Driver i would like to say thank you to the construction workers and anyone else involved in building the Norwood As a business owner and a res ident of the i am so proud of the the first time i travelled Over the Bridge was at what a View Boniface Cathedral and the River looked travelling on it Dur ing the one notices the Fine lines and the look of cleanliness and thoughtfulness for pedestrians and thank and in looking Forward to the second Span being completed As we travel into the 21st Century in Block Winnipeg Book aimed at sales Good for Susan a Carleton University for exposing Walter stewarts base purposes in writ ing his Book the Charity in her recent Phillips Points out some of the major fallacies and Gross inaccuracies in stewarts arguments that unfairly attack Canadas charities As a these were also evident in his address to the Canadian club in win summing the Book reviewer writes this style of Juicy journalism May sell which one has to con clude is the real even if it comes at the Cost of responsible Donald Ross Winnipeg nursing Home staff praised i am deeply concerned about the negative publicity regarding conditions at Holiday Haven nursing my Mother has been a resident of Holiday Haven for 10 during this i have visited her at least every other at ail hours of the Day and at All times i have found the staff to be caring and above Loving and com at no time have i Ever witnessed or Lack of i truly believe the staff deserves Praise instead of a couple of disgruntled a employees should be ashamed of themselves for making such Shirley Winnipeg phone rates still a concern i the column that editorial Page editor Brian Cole wrote on Manitoba Telephone system last wee kit presented the issues something that neither Side in the current debate his really even after Reading Coles i am still against the Sale of the Telephone the reason is that i am afraid that no private com Pany is going to give fair and equal Access to Telephone service to All Man no matter where they in the Way a publicly owned system always Bas in the government of sir Rod Rand to Jojin decided to buy the Tele phone system in Manitoba from Bell Premier Gary Filmon is trying to convince us that government ownership of the telephones is some kind of insane marxist plot that he has uncovered and must now How sir Redmond was Many but he was no his main Rea How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone son for acquiring the Telephone sys tem was that a private was not that interested in developing a Telephone service outside the lucrative Urban markets like Roblin wanted Rural Manitoba to have Tele phone service to help with economic now Filmon wants to reverse this old tory he needs to convince me that a private firm in 1996 is going to be More interested in serving Rural and Northern where they Are not Likely to make big than Bell was in in Many ways things have not changed that much in almost 90 Jim Blanchard Winnipeg native studies give appreciation we Are Grade 6 students attending talmud torah Peretz Folk we have researched native groups such As Plains and the we have Learned about their Laws and we compared what we Learned about them to our own we have heard Many racist state ments about aboriginal and As jewish we can relate to the stereotyping that after com paring the two we found in our studies that there Are Many similarities and differences Between by doing this we have gained respect and appreciation for the first nations and other peo Ples Rachel Tennenhouse Gershon Richter of Flora fever torah Pereti Folk school language As Strong As those who use it your article of the Battle for is preoccupied with the historical fortunes of French in but the Only lesson that history teaches about languages is that languages can of is the concern for French in the survival of frenc Canadian language and culture in Manitoba needs no who is the enemy in times when French was not an offi Cial language in French Lan Guage and culture continued alive and a language endures so Long As people choose to speak and who can be More devoted to a language than French canadians instead of reciting historical Prece dents for the the Protection of French demands an examination of should have May i suggest to Thompson an alter Nate View of this lesson the people of heading Ley have Learned the follow ing property taxes Are Down service Levels Are up there is rational development and planning for such development there is a positive Bank a wholly owned municipal building Worth about a fully equipped and operational Volunteer fire department and first responder unit also wholly paid a fully operational and highly successful Library wholly owned and paid for and a thriving chamber of Commerce that has attracted much new business to heading Ley our business tax is now Down to three per we have a thriving Community that is largely Crim free and a visible Council that responds quickly and personally to citizens con what we do not have is an assessment debacle an ongoing War Between administration and elected Council that effectively hampers municipal business a deteriorating infrastructure or weekly proclamations dedicated to it can be that different lessons have been Learned from the secession of heading Ley from the City of win heading Ley one mans Freedom Church members can still believe while having Reader is another anarchy its prospects in the future and the Mea sures necessary to defend French is a deviant Choice of language for North and will become increasingly so in the the French speaking fraction of the West Ern hemisphere is a minuscule one per threatened in the future by eng Lish and across the French stands 15th in the ranking of languages by number of if French is to endure in French speakers must be accommodating and become bilingual in the Universal Lan Guage of if such bilingualism is then the prognosis for the survival of French becomes More Pes there will be Little tolerance for a deviant Small group that rejects the Standard English and Spanish of hundreds of millions of people for social Trade and com without More astuteness than has appeared in the discussion of that language could at worst bring eco nomic ruin to Quebec termites View of this matter will not suffice to defend a or to be Lan and As goes French in so goes the language in Bol Patton Winnipeg faithful christians can have doubts i am appalled by John stack houses belief that anyone having intellectual doubts about the Christian doctrine should leave the this in spite of his comments that maybe Ortho Dox christianity truly is mistaken about its Core Many faithful christians have in spite of they strive to live their lives following the example of my understanding of the Church is that of a Fellowship of people who put their Trust in Jesus As their lord and whether or not they Are cer Tain of every statement in the Winnipeg heading Ley Learned own lesson in a Story by Awo Santin in the 14 free press concerning the possible secession of mayor Susan Thompson is quoted As saying heading Ley went Ana the Les son Learned there was that it never my thanks to Jim Desjarlais for his thoughtful response 13 to my letter on the subject of unions As demo cratic Desjarlais is right in saying that workers dont own the but they do own their own and have the right to negotiate with the company concerning the terms of their whether they should have the right to do so collectively is at least debatable but lets be Clear that collective not individual is the basis of Democrat democracy Means that the people the will of the majority even in fact Over those who thus like every other form of places constraints on personal free Desjarlais advocates that the will of the individual to abide by Union Deci Sions or to opt out should prevail that each of us is responsible Only to him self and to no higher he describes that As and per haps it is but i think a better word is Ron Webb Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ;