Pattison-of-a-B*tch

The Overwaitea Food Group expects UFCW 1518 members to accept two-hour shifts at Save-On-Foods and Urban Fare stores. This page says that this had better be some flamboyant posturing on the part of B.C.'s grocery, outdoor ad and car king, or else his customers will be shopping somewhere else for a good long time. This page has heard from a number of sources since relocating to Vancouver about what a pillar in the community Mr. Pattison is, and how he right-sided Expo '86 when the fair was headed for financial and logistical oblivion. The only thing I've seen King Jimmy do that was actually nay modicum of clever was team up with Quebecor to produce the local free tabloid 24 Hours, hire Glen Clark to give as managing editor to give the impression of being an equal opportunity offender, and rake in the money while Bill Tielman took shots at his B.C. Liberal pals.

One of the payoffs Pattison and his slave-driving thugs among the business community received from the Lieberals in 2001 was the shredding of the B.C. Labour Code, including an end to the four-hour minimum shift. Employees without a union are expected to be at their employer's beck and call, drop in for an hour or two, then go back to whatever it was they were doing, like, working another job to meet the obscene cost of living in Metro Vancouver. Employees that do have a union, if they are in their right mind, are not going to stand to be treated like disrepected and disposable minimum wage meat puppets.

The bare minimum in the Labour Code is not a good place to start negotiations. This page has the impression The Pattison Group will stick by their hard-headed and assinine bargaining proposals, while running to Victoria for the Liberals to put more 'balance' into B.C.'s labour laws. In the meantime, UFCW 1518 has asked the public not to pursue a boycott at this time as it only hurts the members who are still on the job. However, once the pickets go up, expect a lot fewer new vehicles stuffed with Save-On-Foods grocery bags running around town. To the mouth-breathing worker haters among you: this is not a question of 'if you don't like your job, get a new one.' It's a question of how many, if the Pattisons of the world get their way, two-hour shift jobs will working families in British Columbia need to survive?