I wouldn't be so quick to conclude that rejecting a contract = strike. Last year, state employees from AFSCME and MAPE rejected the "final offer" from the state and that was enough to prompt new talks and reach an agreement without resorting to a strike.
Hopefully, Met Council will show the same level of pragmatism that state negotiators did, but that's hard to predict and it doesn't look good so far with Bell's comments in the article, though Cal Ludeman made similar comments when negotiating the state employee contracts. Even so, there is a 10-day "cooling off" period from when an intent is filed before an actual strike can take place. So it's possible that something could get worked out if Met Council shows any willingness to negotiate. It looks like the ball is really in their court at this point and it will be interesting to see how business leaders respond. Will they automatically support "management" or will they lobby Met Council to settle in order to minimize the impacts on their own employees that rely on transit? As for the arbitration, I recall the union agreed to binding arbitration and Peter Bell stating that he was leaning that way, but I never did read that Met Council actually did agree to binding arbitration. Probably because when you do that, it means that negotiators have to rely on the strength of their numbers to present their case rather than the strength of their rhetoric. Management generally doesn't do as well when they have to open the books. Mark Snyder Windom Park MAPE local 0301 On 2/17/04 6:48 PM, "Jim MCGUIRE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I don't see any information showing that the Transit Workers have filed an > Intent to Strike notice, but we all know it's simply a matter of time. I'm > surprised if it truly wasn't filed today. > > Recently on this forum there was a discussion about who rides the bus and > it's clear that a lot of us do. Personally, I don't even own a car so this > will be a real hardship to me. I figure a walk to work will take a little > over an hour. That may not be as bad as what some others will face, but I > certainly don't look forward to it on a daily basis. Though I bicycle in > the Summer I personally have found it difficult to do in the Winter (I'd do > it if there weren't any cars on the road). I may have to rethink that, but > we'll see. > > Clearly, the Met Council is trying to balance its budget on the back of its > employees. I've already written a letter to Governor Pawlenty, but I > honestly doubt that will have any effect. He's already shown little (if > any) concern for public employees so I don't see how that would change. > > On another note - I recall that in January there was an agreement to binding > arbitration. How did that change? Did the Met Council somehow find a way > out of it? If so, I'd say this is a blatant move to bust the union rather > than allowing an arbitrator to determine a more fair resolution. > > Star Tribune article here: > http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4380245.html > > Jim McGuire > Como REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
