PAYBACK FOR UNION SUPPORT FOR MAYOR???????? You better believe it! CUPE and police are already lining up for their piece of cake.
Outrageous breach of Toronto's trust
How can Torontonians trust a mayor and councillors who repeatedly betray that trust?
The failure of Mayor David Miller and 44 councillors to ensure the public was aware of a key collective agreement signed with city firefighters last June, one that gives them 9.66% wage hike over three years and could set the template for negotiations with other workers, is a disgrace.
That Torontonians should only learn this now, in a week that started with Miller asking them to trust him about the necessity of imposing two controversial new taxes, is a sad commentary on the lack of openness and transparency at City Hall.
Thanks to digging by Sun City Hall columnist Sue-Ann Levy, we now know council approved this agreement last June. The final vote was held in an "open" session of council on June 20 at 8:02 p.m., dealt with in one minute, with no recorded vote, after council had emerged from a 45-minute in-camera session.
That Miller and his city manager, Shirley Hoy, yesterday blamed the media for not picking up on this agreement is appalling.
MORE
What firefighter raise?
Several councillors can't remember June vote on new contract
By SUE-ANN LEVY AND ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU
At least 10 city councillors have conce ded the y don't remember -- or have a "vague" memory -- of voting on the generous contract awarded to Toronto firefighters last June.
Penny-pinching Etobicoke councillor Rob Ford said yesterday he's "pretty sure" he was in council on the night of June 20 -- when the contract was hastily approved at 8:02 p.m. -- but "can't remember seeing anything" about the fireghters.
His Etobicoke colleague Mark Grimes -- who came up with the so-called compromise that led to council's approval this past Monday of the controversial land transfer tax -- said he "vaguely" remembers the item. "I'm sure I supported it," he said. "It's not at all at the top of my mind."
Ditto for councillors John Parker, who said he has "no memory of it at all" and Peter Milczyn, who said he recalls the item "very, very vaguely."
As the Sun revealed exclusively yesterday, no press release has ever been issued on the contract since it was approved four months ago, a practice regularly conducted in the past. The lucrative contract hands the city's 3,200 firefighters 9.66% in wage hikes over three years -- 3% this year, 3.25% next year and a total of 3.5% in 2009.
MORE
Hot on the trail of the lucrative contract
These are the key dates leading up to council's approval of the three-year firefighter deal:
Website didn't heat up these councillors
Four city councillors whose smiling faces are featured prominently on the home page of a Toronto firefighters political action website claim they didn't know their pictures were there.
No comments:
Post a Comment