Corner Brook Mayor Linda Chaisson spoke to the media yesterday about the ongoing dispute at the Civic Center. She started by saying while they understand how important the center is to families, athletes, seniors and user groups, they want to see it reopen. She says any offer they make must be one residents can afford and a permanent cost increase must be paid through higher taxes, user fees or a cut in services.
CUPE 4386 workers at the center have been locked out for more than 3 weeks now after negotiations with the city failed to reach an agreement. A conciliator was brought in and talks started again on Monday. In an interview with Bayfm news yesterday, CUPE’s Craig Gardner of CUPE said their offer was only $26K over four years, above the city’s latest offer. City Manager Darren Charters explained how this is about being responsible to taxpayers and fair to employees. He says there are 310 employees due for new contracts in a couple of years and that number gets large.
Chaisson says this is called “pattern bargaining” and they’ve already been told by other union members if they get 17 percent that will be their benchmark when they come to the table
Chaisson says they have a responsibility to everyone in the city. She says there are a lot of seniors who have to go the mall because they can’t afford heat, can’t afford taxes and don’t want to move out of their homes.
Meanwhile, Chaisson says she welcomes comments from everybody. She says at Remembrance Square on Wednesday, they could not get through the crowd who were mad.
The city is looking at the costs of getting tenants like Saltos and Forever Young back into the building. Charters says they’re ready to go back to the table with the union.
Charters spoke about loss revenue as a result of the labour dispute. He says the facility is subsidized between $1.2M and $1.5M each year, these buildings don’t make money and it’s a service the city provides. Charters says the cost to operate the center is very expensive and not getting any cheaper.
He says they’ve added heaters at the center to keep the pipes from freezing and are monitoring the situation.
