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Democracy
How to settle the civic strike in five days
A fair and effective method uses a jury of residents
By Korky Day
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To provide good service, Vancouverites elected a city government, but it is currently failing to keep City workers on the job. So we need a quick, automatic and legal process to settle the strike ourselves.
As local publisher-columnist Kevin Potvin wrote in The Courier, binding arbitration is ideal. But in all cases of binding arbitration, who the arbitrator is to be becomes a big political battle. Maybe the best arbitrators would be a jury of 11 Vancouver voters.
The City Clerk could draw names at random from the voters list. Of the willing, the first six of one sex and five of the other sex form the jury.
On the first two days of the public trial, the two sides make their one-hour opening arguments. Then the mayor and council majority make the case for their proposed settlement. They may call witnesses. The unions may cross-examine the witnesses.
Likewise, on the next two days, the elected union officials and spokespeople make their case. Then both sides make their one-hour summations.
Subpoenaed witnesses could include any elected city official or top bureaucrat, plus, from the striking unions, any of their local elected officials or spokespeople. Any willing person could also be called.
Any jury member may send a written question or comment to any of the proponents or to the judge.
Either side may change their proposal during the trial, as long as they state aloud the changes and provide written copies to the jury and the public.
On the fifth day the jury meets in secret to debate and vote. A majority picks either the union proposal or the government proposal—no third option would be available. That ensures that the process is quick and that both sides keep their proposals reasonable, at least as will be judged by their fellow citizens.
An interim proposal
If the above plan doesn't happen, a public movement could very much hasten a settlement anyway.
Have you noticed that there are non-union city supervisors who are still working? I think it is they who have been keeping the commercial streets fairly free of garbage.
What if we all put our household garbage into and around the trash bins in the business areas? We'd have to risk fines for doing so, of course. But the supervisors wouldn't be able to keep up. The mayor and the NPA-dominated City Council wouldn't dare offend the business community by letting the garbage build up on commercial streets. Therefore, the city would have to settle.
In ay event, do the right thing! Remember to save everything re-usable and recyclable. Everything else you can pile up to hasten a settlement.
Korky Day is a former chair of the Vancouver Green Party and a veteran journalist. The public may reach him at korkyday@yahoo.com
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