Mr. Chairman, I think it is more a matter of whether you respect our opinion or not. We are actually sitting here in public, and I have already stated that we think we would lose arbitration. In our opinion, to go to it now is almost a foregone conclusion. If the Members want to do that we could. It will look a bit sloppy and all for naught. I think we are going to be back later before this committee, asking for probably another supp to cover the costs of paying out V.T.A. to the Union of Northern Workers. That is going to be a substantial amount. There are even a larger percentage of aboriginal and northern people on the payroll there. I try to understand a little bit about what the reason is, but it is awkward. It would have been included earlier but we asked for an internal opinion because we had the same sense as the Member had; if we did not have to, we should not. We are now of the opinion that we have to. We could do it today or a month or two from now. Our sense is that if we were to go to arbitration it would just be delaying the inevitable. Because we have negotiated rather difficult collective agreements this year, we should show some class and go into it holding our heads high and respect the spirit of the negotiations that were conducted earlier this year.
Stephen Kakfwi on Committee Motion 46-12(3): To Delete $193,000 Under Activity Employee Benefits, Personnel
In the Legislative Assembly on December 7th, 1992. See this statement in context.
Committee Motion 46-12(3): To Delete $193,000 Under Activity Employee Benefits, Personnel
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
December 7th, 1992
Page 323
See context to find out what was said next.