Editorial

Strike hurts everybody

It’s hard to tell what the truth is in the Telus strike/lockout.
Just like any war worthy of the name, truth is the first casualty. Because when two sides really don’t like each other and each is determined to win, no opportunity to make the other guy look bad is missed.
It’s a lot like last year’s very public war of words between the National Hockey League and its players union. If it weren’t for real people being out of work and customers getting bad service, the Telus business would almost be funny.
The union says it is locked out. The company calls it a strike. Both are apparently sincere when they say it.
Or are they? You can’t really tell.
To hear the union tell it, Telus is after one thing: breaking the union. To hear the company, such talk is offensive. All they want is enough flexibility to be able to compete in a world of tough competition and low margins.
Low margins, scoffs the union? You must be joking. How about record profits? How about hiring a known union-buster as CEO and paying him huge bonuses to exploit the cracks in the union resolve.
The union won’t negotiate, says Telus. Telus won’t negotiate in good faith, says the union.
Telus won’t define the core services it says it won’t contract out, says the union. But we define ‘non-core’ services, says Telus.
The more one reads about the issue, the harder it is to tell who’s in the right. But cutting through the rhetoric, it appears that the union bottom line is job security. Job security costs the company money, which affects its bottom line – improving shareholder profits.
Where the customers fit in this equation is a good question. If the strike goes on too long, and service gets too bad, Telus and the union members will end up both being losers.

Up with the arts
It comes as good news that the Town is considering an offer to purchase the Boisvert’s building in downtown Slave Lake for use as an arts centre.
Slave Lake is a big sports town and that’s a good thing. The more accessible sports are – especially to young people, the better off a community is.
The same can be said for the arts. The more participation the better, but without a proper performing arts venue, talk and good intentions don’t make much difference.
It’s very early days, keep in mind. But an offer has been made, and last week Town council voted to spend some money on a feasibility study. Questions about the suitability of the building, the cost of managing it and so on must be answered. Such a venture would probably require some public consultation as well.
But if all that works out, wouldn’t it be nice? A place for all the pent-up local talent to be expressed on stage? An art gallery? A museum? Who knows?
For sure the once-lively and now nearly dead musical theatre scene would get a huge boost from a decent place of its own to rehearse and perform. The coffee house crowd that produced so many fun amateur musical get-togethers at the former Walter Twinn Theatre might also re-surface.
Incidentally, turning a defunct downtown department store into an arts centre has precedent. That’s what Fort St. John B.C. did with its Hudson’s Bay store, after the Bay abandoned its location right at the main intersection of that town. It made a big difference to a town whose business centre was re-locating down at the highway. Sound familiar?
Bring it on. We’re ready for something like this.