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Friday, August 23, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
LCBO Strike Looming
The Windsor Star has an article in Friday's edition about the threat of strike by LCBO workers. "Drinkers urged to stock up due to possible LCBO strike" by Dave Battagello. What I find more interesting than the article itself, is the comments. I'm including some of them here.
Andre Landry Sr. ·
No Jo ·
My two cents worth commentary, for the two cents its worth.
If LCBO ceases to exist and liquor sales are privatized but not at corner stores, instead you would have to specifically open a liquor store to sell it. It would provide business and employment opportunities.
The link to the article is above - the entire article is below in very teenie-tiny faded font
Andre Landry Sr. ·
Go on strike, that might just be the reason we will need it in corner stores, no more strikes and more people employed, and I hope the Government does to them what they did to the teachers, enough is enough with this B.S. your already making a descent wage compliments of the taxpayers whom most make a lot less than you and pay your wages and benefits.
Richard Kehl ·
Lets go private, the store in mcgregor will boomin, oh ya it's private lol
No Jo ·
Or the wineries!
Anne Marie Bondy Soulliere ·
Or the Wine Racks @ the grocery stores!
No Jo ·
Have you seen the 7 page (small writing too) list of LCBO employees who adorn the sunshine party?
Besides...selling liquor and beer in corner stores would create MORE taxes...taxes won't be eliminated by getting rid of the LCBO monopoly. Time to rethink your uninformed comment.
Besides...selling liquor and beer in corner stores would create MORE taxes...taxes won't be eliminated by getting rid of the LCBO monopoly. Time to rethink your uninformed comment.
No Jo ·
The taxes won't change. They will go to the same pocket. I don't begrudge decent wages...what I don't appreciate is being held hostage by a monopoly that I help to pay for.
There's no reason to strike when you already make decent wages. People who make diddly squat are the ones who need to strike in order to improve their situation. If these guys go on strike, it will simply create more anger towards the whole public sector and their unions.
Bargain without inconveniencing the public that pays your salary. Striking is not necessary.
There's no reason to strike when you already make decent wages. People who make diddly squat are the ones who need to strike in order to improve their situation. If these guys go on strike, it will simply create more anger towards the whole public sector and their unions.
Bargain without inconveniencing the public that pays your salary. Striking is not necessary.
Tommy Rock ·
A crown corporation that brings in 2.4 billion but is still in debt? Ya great business model.
Reply · Yesterday at 7:17am
Steve Durocher ·
Stocking up on liquor at Canadian prices, are you mad? It's not like stocking up on pork 'n beans in a fallout shelter. Never negotiate with hostage takers. Time has come to turf government oligarchies.
No Jo ·
Oooooo...there are going to be some pretty pissed off people. Good thing we have wineries close by.
Oh...and don't trust anything 'Smokey' says. He'll do anything to take another public sector union to the street. He still gets paid his big fat wages while his minions lose theirs along with public sympathy.
Would it take that long to train replacement workers to work a cash register?
Oh...and don't trust anything 'Smokey' says. He'll do anything to take another public sector union to the street. He still gets paid his big fat wages while his minions lose theirs along with public sympathy.
Would it take that long to train replacement workers to work a cash register?
Anne Marie Bondy Soulliere ·
They want you to "Stock up" ! Well of course they do! It will push their sales through the roof, again! Strike before May 2/4 week end?! I think not!
My two cents worth commentary, for the two cents its worth.
If LCBO ceases to exist and liquor sales are privatized but not at corner stores, instead you would have to specifically open a liquor store to sell it. It would provide business and employment opportunities.
The link to the article is above - the entire article is below in very teenie-tiny faded font
"Drinkers across Ontario were warned Friday to stock up on booze before the Victoria Day weekend or face being shut out by a potential strike by LCBO workers.
Both management and union leaders expressed frustration over the current stalemate in contract negotiations, although both sides have vowed to continue negotiating.
About 6,700 employees, members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, have set a strike deadline of next Friday.
“We are absolutely intent on bargaining a contract and not have a strike,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president for OPSEU. “I can’t say the same for the employer. This could go either way. No one has got a crystal ball to predict what will happen.”
The workers’ contract expired at the end of March and they have voted 95 percent in favour of a strike.
The treatment of its part-time workforce is one of the major issues during negotiations, Thomas said.
Nearly 4,000 of the employees – over 60 per cent – are classified as being casual or part-time.
“The last couple rounds of bargaining we asked them to address issues around the part-time workers and they came to the table looking to make the working lives of part-time employees worse than it is,” Thomas said.
About 70 per cent of those part-time employees are female. Thomas claims they often receive less than their male counterparts and get handed working hours so spread out as to make it difficult to grab another part-time job just to make ends meet.
“You have a worker getting two four-hour shifts, rather than working an eight-hour day,” Thomas said. “They need to schedule better so they can go find another part-time job and get their 40 hours per week.”
LCBO operates a “world-class organization” on every front, except when it comes to its workforce where it remains stuck in the dark ages, he said.
“Being world-class is how they should treat their workers, as well,” Thomas said.
To hammer home their concerns, OPSEU filed a legal claim Friday with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against the LCBO and the Ontario government for wage discrimination against its female employees.
“Both sides are still at the table,” said Heather MacGregor, spokeswoman for LCBO. “Our plan is to get a deal that is fair and equitable to the employees, but also one that is responsible to the taxpayer and takes into account the current fiscal situation in Ontario.”
The LCBO generated profits of roughly $2.4 billion last year, including HST and import duties, but the Ontario government – which oversees the provincial retailer of liquor and wine – continues to drown in red ink.
Accusations about its female employees and the tribunal complaint will be dealt with separately as LCBO solely focused on first getting a tentative agreement with its workforce and avoiding a strike, she said.
“We don’t agree with the discrimination alleged,” MacGregor said. “A man and woman (employed by LCBO) receive the same wage. There is no differential treatment based on sex.”
She said working hours vary greatly for part-time workers and need to be spread out to reflect “the nature of the work itself.”
“It’s what most retailers do in the province,” MacGregor said. “It’s consistent with shopping patterns and our busiest times.
“Nobody runs a business with just full-time employees. We manage our employee hours based on store sales and customer traffic.”
Part-time LCBO workers receive wages between $14.94 and $20.27 per hour, while full-time employees receive between $22.65 and $26.48, she said.
Due to record sales, the LCBO last year did increase its part-time hours by 200,000 at its 635 retail stores across Ontario, MacGregor said."
Friday, February 8, 2013
Are police handing out traffic tickets to meet quotas?
I missed the show - hopefully I can find video of it. Here's the full article as well as a link to the original. Meanwhile I will look for the video of this particular episode.
Read more...
Originally Published on the CTV News website, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013 7:00AM EST
It’s hard to argue against a traffic ticket that involves public safety. But if you’re frustrated after getting a ticket for some minor violation, you’re not alone.
In times past, a police officer would often give you a warning and send you on your way.
Not anymore.
PHOTOS
According to local resident Phil Palter, there can be up to five cops writing tickets on a Saturday afternoon at St. Pauls Square in Toronto.
More than 58,000 traffic tickets were handed out in the city of Winnipeg in 2010, and another 57,000 in 2011.
These days, it seems, nobody gets a second chance. A hefty ticket is the order of the day.
It’s happening in cities across Canada, but Winnipeg appears to be the worst.
Police there issued 57,000 tickets in 2011. In 2012, city hall asked the police to increase their revenue from tickets by $1.4 million.
Critics say police officers are under pressure to issue a certain number of tickets.
“I think most officers would be happy to provide a discretionary warning,” said Mike Sutherland, head of the Winnipeg Police Association. “The difficulty comes when there are significant work place consequences imposed on officers if they fail to hand out a certain number of tickets in a prescribed period of time.”
Most of us would call that a quota, but police management and city bureaucrats are reluctant to use the “Q” word. Mike Sutherland isn’t buying it.
“It can be called by a variety of different names,” he said. “It can be called an objective, or an expectation. Those sorts of terminology are used to disguise the fact that it simply is a quota.”
With so much time devoted to handing out tickets, you might conclude that Winnipeg is a sleepy place where the crime rate is low and police have little else to do.
Not so.
This city of 700,000 people has the dubious distinction of being the murder capital of Canada.
It also has the highest rate of violent crime and robbery in the country.
You would think that all overtime pay for police would be spent fighting those crimes.
But that’s not happening.
“In this city they ask them to come in and work extra days to just do traffic enforcement,” said Len Eastoe, a former police officer who now fights traffic tickets. “So we’re paying them a 10-hour overtime shift to just do traffic enforcement, when in fact our city is plagued with a lot of other serious crime.”
With so much emphasis on traffic enforcement, Sutherland worries that the people of Winnipeg are losing respect for the police.
“If the traffic enforcement situation becomes more focused on revenue and inappropriately focused on revenue as opposed to public safety, then I think it undermines to some degree the public confidence and the relationships that we’re trying to build.”
That public sentiment is echoed across Canada in other cities.
“I think that they should be going after people who are real criminals and spending their time a little more wisely,” said one driver outside a traffic court in Toronto.
The Toronto police issued a statement to W5 saying, “The Toronto Police Service does not have a traffic ticket quota for its officers.”
Which makes you wonder what attracts officers to a quiet street in the centre of Toronto called St Pauls Square?
“There’s certainly nothing to do with protecting the citizen,” said Phil Palter, a resident of the area. “There’s no businesses on that street. You don’t have robbery. You don’t have possibility of accidents of people being run over. You don’t have speeding.”
All there is on St Pauls is a right hand turn to access the street from Bloor, one of Toronto’s busiest thoroughfares. The turn is legal during the day, restricted at night, but it’s not allowed anytime on Saturday and Sunday. And on weekends, the police are there, stopping drivers and handing out tickets.
“You can have up to five cops sitting there on a Saturday afternoon,” said Palter. “It’s so bizarre. And that’s why so many people have complained about it.”
And not just in Toronto. Drivers in other major cities complain about what they believe are quotas imposed to raise revenue for cash-strapped municipal governments. But so far it the issue hasn’t spread wide enough to come to the attention of The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
“So far it hasn’t,” said Jim Chu, Vancouver’s Chief of Police and President of the national association for 2013. “But if it was [happening] that would not be a good thing. Because you’re tying enforcement, using the powers of the state to making money and that’s not the purpose for why we’re out there. We’re out there to keep the streets safe, not to make money.”
In other words, the reason police are out there is to serve and protect, not collect.
Read more...
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Get Pampered for V Day
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Monday, January 28, 2013
Freezing Rain Warning Ends, Slippery Commute Continues
Environment Canada ended the freezing rain warning for our area but you're urged to drive with extreme caution.
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Weather by the Hour
Friday, January 25, 2013
Woman Wanted In Fraud Investigation Arrested in Toronto
CASE # 2013-4032
Images of a woman wanted for a serious Fraud investigation circulated through many sectors yesterday including several bank branches in the Province. Windsor Police have learned that on January 23, 2013 a bank in Toronto received the image of the wanted woman. Within a matter of minutes of receiving the image, the suspect appeared at the bank attempting to open a business account. The alert bank staff notified police and she was arrested without incident. She is a suspect in several such investigations throughout the province including one in Windsor. In Windsor, she provided bank employees with the name Kendra PHILLIPS. She used a different name in Toronto at the time of her arrest. Toronto Police have learned her true identity and are continuing with the investigation. All of the matters will be handled by Toronto Police and the Toronto Crown Attorney's office.
In the last 24 hours members of the Windsor Police Service have:
Source
Images of a woman wanted for a serious Fraud investigation circulated through many sectors yesterday including several bank branches in the Province. Windsor Police have learned that on January 23, 2013 a bank in Toronto received the image of the wanted woman. Within a matter of minutes of receiving the image, the suspect appeared at the bank attempting to open a business account. The alert bank staff notified police and she was arrested without incident. She is a suspect in several such investigations throughout the province including one in Windsor. In Windsor, she provided bank employees with the name Kendra PHILLIPS. She used a different name in Toronto at the time of her arrest. Toronto Police have learned her true identity and are continuing with the investigation. All of the matters will be handled by Toronto Police and the Toronto Crown Attorney's office.
In the last 24 hours members of the Windsor Police Service have:
- Answered 194 calls to Emergency 9-1-1 phone lines
- Responded to 54 calls to 911 requiring police attendance
- Handled 272 calls for service (dispatched or officer-initiated)
- Issued 45 tickets for provincial offences (traffic and alcohol violations etc.)
- Arrested and lodged 13 prisoners in the WPS Detention Unit cells
Source
Thursday, January 17, 2013
POLICE RESPOND TO ST. JOSEPH'S HIGH SCHOOL FOR FIREARM CALL
CASE# 2012-3917
POLICE RESPOND TO ST. JOSEPH'S HIGH SCHOOL FOR FIREARM CALL - DEEMED UNFOUNDED
On Thursday January 17, 2013 shortly before 11:00 a.m. Windsor Police responded to a report of a student possibly in possession of a gun at St. Joseph's High School in the 2400 block of Clover Avenue. School officials placed the school under a temporary lockdown while police conducted an investigation. No gun was ever located. Officers have learned that the allegation regarding the student with a firearm was started by another St. Joseph's student who later admitted the allegation was false.
Police have learned that a grade 9 student at St. Joseph's High School was involved in a physical altercation with a student from another school. This altercation occurred at St. Joseph's School on January 16, 2013. The boy from St. Joseph's was suspended because he was involved in a fight. He was granted special permission to return to school today to write an E.Q.A.O test. Meanwhile another student at St. Joseph's fabricated a rumour about the suspended boy saying that he heard him say he had a gun and was going to come to school with it. The rumour made its way around and eventually a concerned parent of a student at St. Joseph's school notified police and the school about the allegation.
The boy who has admitted to starting the rumour could face criminal charges and also faces disciplinary action from the school.
Parents and students are reminded to contact Police whenever they hear of concerning information that could be potentially serious.
Read more...
POLICE RESPOND TO ST. JOSEPH'S HIGH SCHOOL FOR FIREARM CALL - DEEMED UNFOUNDED
On Thursday January 17, 2013 shortly before 11:00 a.m. Windsor Police responded to a report of a student possibly in possession of a gun at St. Joseph's High School in the 2400 block of Clover Avenue. School officials placed the school under a temporary lockdown while police conducted an investigation. No gun was ever located. Officers have learned that the allegation regarding the student with a firearm was started by another St. Joseph's student who later admitted the allegation was false.
Police have learned that a grade 9 student at St. Joseph's High School was involved in a physical altercation with a student from another school. This altercation occurred at St. Joseph's School on January 16, 2013. The boy from St. Joseph's was suspended because he was involved in a fight. He was granted special permission to return to school today to write an E.Q.A.O test. Meanwhile another student at St. Joseph's fabricated a rumour about the suspended boy saying that he heard him say he had a gun and was going to come to school with it. The rumour made its way around and eventually a concerned parent of a student at St. Joseph's school notified police and the school about the allegation.
The boy who has admitted to starting the rumour could face criminal charges and also faces disciplinary action from the school.
Parents and students are reminded to contact Police whenever they hear of concerning information that could be potentially serious.
Read more...
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