Many fed-up workers finding other jobs

No matter how vote goes, many ‘not coming back’
Many fed-up workers finding other jobs

Ian Austin, The Province
Published: Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Strike or no strike, plenty of city workers likely won’t be going back to their jobs.

With a hot economy and a bitter strike, many fed-up city workers have decided to cash in their chips and work elsewhere.

“We’ve lost eighty per cent of our mechanics, and they’re not coming back,” said Frank Crnkovic, a city truck driver for 32 years who’s found work on the side and was casting a no vote yesterday.

“Sixty-five per cent of our members are working.

“The union sanctioned us to go to work, so why not?” But while many of his colleagues are leaving their jobs, Crnkovic won’t be among those deserting the city’s payroll.

“I’ve been here 32 years, and I’ve only got two years until I retire. There’s no way I’m giving that up,” he said.

Most members of CUPE 1004 voting yesterday at the Maritime Labour Centre in Vancouver kept their vote to themselves, but the prospects for a successful yes vote seemed grim.

Union leaders had urged the outside workers to vote “no” to mediator Brian Foley’s recommendations. The local requires a two-thirds majority before accepting a labour offer.

Park maintenance worker Mick Penman was following the union party line and turning down the city’s wage package.

“I’m voting no,” he said.

Foley’s package aimed at ending the 82-day strike had included a recommended five-year deal with a 17.5-per-cent wage hike and a $1,000 signing bonus.

Penman claimed that management is getting paid colossal wages and is picking and choosing what parts of the city to clean up.

“Those managers are getting $77 an hour to do our jobs,” he alleged.

“If you look at the west side, all the parks are perfect. And the parks on the east side are pigsties.

“And people on the east side are paying their taxes, just like those on the west side.”