CUPE holds annual virtual town hall

JOHN MOORHOUSE / Penticton Herald Wednesday, February 23, 2011
 Organizers of a “virtual town hall” meeting over possible privatization of the Penticton Community Centre, say there‘s not much time for the public to voice their concerns to city council.  Penticton area residents were contacted by an automated phone system Tuesday evening and invited to participate in an hour-long CUPE-sponsored telephone forum.  The event was moderated by former local NDP candidate Cameron Phillips, with guest panellists Blair Redlin (a CUPE researcher and former deputy minister) and Laurie Larsen (president of Surrey CUPE local 402 and a Surrey school board trustee).
Larsen was expected to explain what happened when a private company took over operation of Surrey’s public swimming pool. The municipality later brought the service back in-house.  Commenting beforehand, Patti Finch, president of Penticton CUPE local 608, said many people don‘t understand what privatization of the community centre will mean. “Also, a lot of the public aren‘t aware that the decision could be made as early as March 7,” she said. “Some people are still thinking that they‘ve got until the pool reopens – but they don‘t.”  Finch said public input prior to council‘s decision is important.
“The union can only do so much, but it is a public facility,” she said. “It‘s just a way to inform the public that if they want to talk to the mayor and council, they should be doing it now.”

A group calling itself the Taxpayers‘ Coalition is being allowed to appear as a delegation at the March 7 council meeting in an attempt to convince the city to keep the community centre publicly operated. Spokesperson Carolae Donoghue, a former CUPE leader, said the group plans to present documents as to why privatization of the community centre won‘t work.  City manager Annette Antoniak said the coalition‘s presentation will not be too late prior to council‘s decision on the community centre. The city‘s request for proposals from prospective private sector operators closed Tuesday afternoon, but Antoniak said an evaluation committee now has to sit down and examine the various proposals.  “Initially, it will be in-camera, then it will come out (before the public),” she said. Finch said she had been worried that council was going to make its decision during the March 7 meeting, but now it appears the matter will be put off to a later date. Throughout much of Monday night‘s council meeting, a quiet demonstrator displayed a series of placards, critical of council‘s possible move to privatizing the community centre.  With council members and senior city staff all wearing anti-bullying T-shirts in recognition of today‘s “pink shirt day”, Pat Wand displayed a card calling on council to “stop bullying the unions.”  The retired Penticton woman later explained that her father and grandfather had been union members and she‘d hate to see council introduce a two-tier wage system, as proposed in their current contract talks with CUPE. Those negotiations are scheduled to continue this Thursday and Friday.  Full details from Tuesday night‘s town hall forum will be presented in Thursday‘s Penticton Herald.