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LETTER: Secrecy surrounding Orillia strike details 'undemocratic'

'Municipal strikes are not against Council. Such strikes are against the taxpayers who ultimately pay the wages,' says letter writer
2018-06-06 Orillia City Centre

OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor. This letter is in response to our story, City workers' strike starts today after 'abysmal' offer rejectedpublished Feb. 6, regarding the strike by local members of the IBEW union. Send your letters to [email protected]
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The City of Orillia is heading for arbitration with its firefighters and has a strike on its hands. The arbitration is a reasonable step after years of unresolved issues.

The need of the strike by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is harder to assess. The average City of Orillia hourly pay ranges from approximately $14.31 per hour for an instructor to $24.40 per hour for senior operator. (Salary information comes from 90 data points collected directly from employees, users, and past and present job advertisements on Indeed in the past 36 months.)

These wages in themselves are not unreasonable in conjunction with other benefits. As unions do not like strikes in the present political and economic environment, the question is why do we have a strike?

In order to come to an assessment if the strike is justified the public has to know what was the last offer which was voted down by the union members.

One has to consider that municipal strikes are not against Council. Such strikes are against the taxpayers who ultimately pay the wages. This is not “negotiating through media.” 

The voter has to have information to decide if to support Council or the union. Secrecy in this situation is undemocratic.

Konrad Brenner
Ramara Township

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