Doug Collins
® get this straight @

THE DAYS when we had mail delivery six days a week and
there were no strikes now seem as remote as the Caesars.
But once the workers’ paradise started, it was hell for the

{ rest of us. Today, Canada Post cxists for the benefit of its
unions. The public can go pick its nose.

It has become so bad that when
Jean-Claude Parrot appears on
the tube speaking out of one side
of his mouth, people want to
become pitchers,

Does Canada Post management
want to make mailing more con-
venient for you by franchising out
business to your local super-
market? Dreadful! Much better to
make Gray Eyes go to remote
Horseshoe Bay to pick up a
registered letter, which happened
to us only the other day.

The utter arrogance of these
CUPW coves and others in the
post office matches that of the
aristocrats of old. They act as if

| every CUPW job were part of
God’s writ. They own those jobs,
you see, just as the French and
Russian aristos owned the land.
Posties we were born, sort of
thing, and posties we will die,

There was a time — before
Lester Pearson was dumb enough
to let them organize — when they
were suitably humble. Which is
what they should be, seeing that
sorting and delivering mail
doesn’t exactly break the back or
stress the thought processes. But
now they are boss, too. Manage-

f ment exists only to give them
raises, and the mail is secondary.
Which was only to be expected,
given that this is Wimpland.

The present situation might
have been planned by Groucho
Marx. CUPW members walk out,
and then hurry back in 15 minutes
later, thus causing even more
disruption. Why aren’t they told
to bog off?

Oh, that would never do.
Canada Post has to be nice to
them. It wouldn’t surprise me if
the government gave them grants.
Meanwhile, guerrilla warfare
pays, and as we saw in the Letter
Carriers’ skirmish, violence pays.

In the latter affair, 180 criminal
charges were laid, 15 of them in
B.C. But I haven’t yet heard of
anyone going to jail for bashing
people who were going about their
lawful business. One lives in hope.

In the current quarrel, there
isn’t even the prospect that
surplus, pampered and overpaid
CUPW folk will be tossed out into
the snow to freeze. The hated
franchising plan is !ong term, and
anyone displaced ‘‘will be given
generous packages over 202
weeks’’, Will you get such treat-
ment if the boss decides he doesn’t
need your services any longer?
Will anybody?

That a job should belong to a
guy until death do them part is
one of life’s little mysteries. Being
a human leech has never been my
idea of how we should go about

things. Not only that, but it is
clear that most post office people
hate their jobs. If they didn’t they
wouldn’t bitch so much. But if
they don’t like it in the factory,
why don't they go away and com-
pose another Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony.

It’s not that I think that people
should be treated like dirt, you
understand. But that works both
ways, and CUPW doesn’t mind
treating us Jike cirt. Furthermore,
the idea that jobs are built into
concrete is close to racketeering.

If Canada Post management
wants to set up franchises in the
interests of efficiency and conve-
nience, it should damned well be
able to do so without a bunch of
twerps saying nay. Why should we

have to hand out more money for
stamps every few months just so |

Parrot & Co. can drive around in
better horseless carriages?

Does the struggling corner store
operator have a job for life? Do 1?
Do you?

I say a pox on CUPW and all }

who sail in her. The Canada Post
unions have become too big for
their britches and it’s time Brian
Baloney asserted himself instead
of boasting about how he has
never crossed a picket line.

What this country needs is a |

Maggie Thatcher. Maybe we
could rent her for a while? She is,

after all, going to be here in 10 {

days or so, and she would be far
better engaged working for us
than wasting her time at that
Commonwealth Conference.

DISTRICT OF WORTH VANCOUVER

Parents told to remove hoop

A GROUP of parents who put up a basketball hoop
for their children on a dead-end street in Pemberton
Heights has been told by North Vancouver District
Council that the hoop must come down.

The hoop and street markings were built last June

“in West 23rd Street and quickly sparked concern
from the district’s engineering department which said
the hoop violated the street and traffic bylaw.

Ald. Joan Gadsby, who voted for removal of the
hoop, said, ‘‘I can appreciate that this provides much
good fun for kids from the ages of eight years to 42
years.... However, I am concerned that, first of all,
there are alternatives close by only two-and-a-half
blocks away at Capilano Schoo! and Sowden Park.’’

Seconding Gadsby’s concern was Ald. Craig Clark
who noted, ‘‘In spite of the fact thar it’s a quiet street
- it is a street. It’s being used for motor vehicles and it
certainly behooves us to encourage our children to
play elsewhere - as opposed to on the street.”

John Dobbin, who lives at 1228 West 23rd Street,
was present when council voted 2-1 in favor of the
hoop’s removal.

Dobbin did not comment on council’s action, but
has said previously that he will respect council’s deci-
sion and tear down the hoop.

Ald. Bill Rodgers was the only council member to
vote for retaining the hoop. -

“4! think that the basketball hoop should stay. I’m
concerned about the road markings,’” said Rodgers.
“I think that they should be removed and I unders-
tand Mr. Dobbin has said that they’d be prepared to
paint them over in black, but otherwise J see that the
basketball hoop is on a quiet street.” ;

Ald. Gadsby noted the district’s supervisor of traf-

fic operations had expressed ‘‘concern regarding the hn

safety of young people playing...in the street area.’’

Gadsby also emphasized a ‘‘further potential liabil-
ity to the District of North Vancouver.”’

“This would be a precedent-setting move that
would not preclude other sports-minded people from
wishing to do something similar on the streets,’’ said
Gadsby.

Ald. Rodgers disagreed with Gadsby, saying, ‘‘!
don’t think we're setting a precedent - the cir-
cumstances and location are such that this isn’t going
to be a traffic safety hazard. I don’t see the need to
take the hoop down.”

But Rodgers was out-voted by aldermen Gadsby
and Clark on a motion that the hoop be removed.

AVOID
DISAPPOINTMENT
ORDER YOUR
“FRESH”
THANKSGIVING
TURKEY
Now!!

U

9 - Sunday, October 4, 1987 - North Shore News

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