The Puppet Masters

According to a misdirected e-mail form City of Vancouver clerk Syd Baxter, the blame for the impending city workers' strike falls squarely on the shoulders of Geoff Meggs, Executive Director of the BC Federation of Labour.

This page sits in awe of Mr. Baxter's investigative skills. For Meggs to be "engineering this", he would have had to been in on all the events leading up the legal strike position CUPE 1004 find themselves in tomorrow. Was it Mr. Meggs who decided that Locals 15 and 1004 should go without a contract for over half a year? Was it Mr. Meggs who told City negotiators that stripping benefits and pensions was a good idea? Did Mr. Meggs convince those same negotiators to demand CUPE accept a contract with no job security after the 2010 Olympics?

This Geoff Meggs appears to be one dangerous operative. Was he the one bankrolled the mayoral candidacy of James Green in 2005, whose subsequent appearance on the ballot stole enough votes from Jim Green and Vision Vancouver to let Sam Sullivan and his right-wing NPA stooges run City Council?

For those of you scoring at home, Mr. Baxter has apologized...to the Mayor and Council for comparing Council Chambers to a toilet bowl. However, he has refused to apologize to Mr. Meggs or the BC Fed for lying about them, which raises the possibility that the next time Baxter is anywhere near a toilet bowl, an ardent trade unionist could be around to shove the City clerk's head in it and flush.