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4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, September 29, 1987 Editorial Comments Here We Go, Again It appears inevitable that mail service in Canada will be disrupted once again this week as 23,000 inside workers with CUPW are set to go on strike as of midnight Wednesday. How many postal strikes have been in Canada in the past decade? Don't know? We don't know the exact number, either, but the one coming up this week will be the second this year. Just a cou- ple of months ago, the letter carriers hit the bricks in a walk-out that was marred by picket line violence as the Postal Corporation tried to keep the mail flowing by using temporary workers. And watch for more violence to flare this week when CUPW walks out. There were reports Monday as the Postal Corp. is building helicopter pads at major sorting stations in Toronto, although the Corp. says helicopters won't be used to ferry mail, just equipment and 'key personnel." But there were also unconfirmed reports that fortified buses are ready to presumably move to replacement workers through the lines of angry picketers, Joe Alviano, the Ontario director of CUPW is quoted as saying these and other strike breaking tactics will lead to a long strike, pro- voke violence and set labour-management relations back 20 years. So what else is new when it comes to postal strikes. When the strike hits Wednesday (not even a miracle can prevent this one), Cana- dians will be able to sit back in their easy chairs and get their full share of picket line violence via the 6:00 p.m. TV news. The issue this time around is franchising, a scheme whereby the Postal Corp. plans to allow private enterprise get involved in the opera- tion of post offices. The union sees this as one more assault on union jobs and job security. it seems no matter what the issue is in union-management bargaining, strikes in the Post Office are inevitable. Sad to say, but the country is fed up with postal strikes, and there is very little sympathy for the plight of postal workers, no matter how just their grievances may be. When the letter carriers walked out last summer, it cost the Postal Corp. some $25 million in lost revenues and increased operating costs. If the inside workers walkout this week, it will be a long one as predicted. Goodness knows just how much money will be lost. Certainly, every time there is a postal strike, public confidence in the Post Office's building to move mail from A to B takes a batter- ing. Lost business never returns as more and more corporations turn to private couriers to move their impatient letters and packages. If the Post Office had been strike-free over the past decade, do you think the highways would be filled with courier trucks the way they are now? A postal strike is a big loss for everyone; the company, the workers, the general public. The track record is astrocious. We shud- der to think just where the Post Office will be ten years from now. Any private company with such a labour-management record would be out of business. : | Surely in this supposedly enlightened day and age somebody somewhere could have come up with a mechanism to sort out the labour disputes in the Post Office without a strike. It's probably too late to call on the Federal Government to step in and ban strikes in the civil service, including the Post Office. That step should have been taken years ago. No, the predictable scenario will be played out once again this week. Picket lines will go up, the Postal Corp. will try to keep the mail moving by bringing temporary workers across the lines. There will be a lot of angry words, pushing, shoving, fighting on the picket lines. The police, who have their hands full in the fight against real criminals in our society, will be kept busy keeping strikers and scabs apart. And the TV cameras will be rolling to record all the ugliness A for public consumption on the nightly news. Port Perry (0 cn | =p 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO "Sunlf Phone 985-7383 P.0.Box90 LOB 1NO J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd . Port Perry Ontario J.B. McCLELLAND Editor Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department. Ottawa. and tor cash payment of postage in cash CATHY OLLIFFE News & Features TAN COM <1 NUN L LN A No i» KS 2riay ass Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Elsewhere $60 00 per year Single Copy 50° COPYRIGHT -- All layout and composihon of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher Chatterbox BEST THINGS ABOUT FAME Andy Warhol once made some caustic remark about everyone being famous for at least fifteen minutes. People have been quoting that little phrase (that I can't remember, exactly) for years, now, and in a way, I guess it's true. I had my fifteen minutes in the limelight last week when I managed to win third prize in the Crime Stoppers International newsprint competition. As a result, the Toronto Star called me up, in- terviewed me, and sent over a photographer. And on Friday, voila, there's my mug on page A10 for all to see. The next thing I know, CKAR is on the phone wanting to interview me as well. Suddenly, I'm a celebrity. John B. starts mak- ing cracks about 60 Minutes and Baba Wawa call- ing. My husband's shirt buttons are popping, he's so proud. My husband's boss takes us both out for "lunch. And on Saturday, a group of Durham's finest is in our office to present my prize, a beautiful plaque. All this attention. Gosh, it's enough to go to one's head. Not that it has. It's all too overwhelming and unbelievable. Still, I have to admit it's pretty neat. Especially having my picture in the Toronto Star. Remember the old song, "If My Friends Could See Me NOw?"' That's sort of the way I feel about having my photo in the Star. I mean, because it's a big dai- ly, spread all over the province, all kinds of peo- ple see it. Including old friends. And old enemies. There's my old journalism teacher, for exam- ple. She taught the radio part of my newspaper/radio college course, and she told me I was wasting my life in newsprint. For some reason she had taken me under her wing and decided I should be working for a radio station. When I told her about my first job, on the Gravenhurst News, she practically disowned me and told me I'd never amount to anything. I sincerely hope she saw the article in the Star. I wonder what she thinks of the taste of crow. And then there's all my old boyfriends. When you break up with someone, you like to think he'll go to pot without you. That he won't survive without you by his side. So to all the old boyfriends (all 600 of them), I'd just like to say -- WHO NEEDS YA! And speaking of boyfriends, my first beau had a mother who absolutely couldn't stand me. She actually banned her son from seeing me (so we Stk SPound Hike Romeo and Juliet). y, I really hope that old witch saw the Star last Friday. If she did, maybe it upset her so much she fell into a bucket of water and melted Wouldn't that be special? And to an old colleague of mine, (who I might add, is now driving a cab), who thought I wasn't able to write anything but 'fluff '" say, "You're by Cathy Olliffe probably right! But at least I win AWARDS for my fluff!" Having your photo in the Toronto Star is so great. 'The only problem is, nobody from my past will recognize me. . My hair has blonde streaks'in it now, for one. And my name is different. But I am hoping, against hope, that the people who once made fun of me will read the newspaper really closely, will see the triumphant gleam in my eye, and will say to themselves, 'Gee am I ever an idiot for treating a superstar so badly." Everyone's entitled to a dream, arent' they? THANKS GUYS! The Crime Stoppers award was really nice, but I received a thank-you not last week that was, if possible, even nicer. When you're in this business, you take lots of flak, believe me. So when someone takes the time to say thanks, you really appreciate it. And when that 'thanks' is a poster-sized not written by an entire grade one class, well, you can't help but appreciate it even more. A week or so ago, I wrote a story about Mrs. Watson's Grade One class at R.H. Cornish Public School. I guess I didn't mess up too badly, because a few days later, this note arrived: "Dear Mrs. Olliffe. Thank you for coming to our classroom. We liked the pictures you took of us for the paper. You wrote a great story. Mrs. Watson like it too. You are a super story-writer. Come and see us again. Love, Chris, Cathy, Sarah, Jeremy, Cristy, Greg, Aaron, Michael, Daniel, Jon, Rochelle, Jaron, Amanada, Courtney, Joel, Darren, Kirby, Terry, Adam, Craig, David and Mrs. Watson." Thanks guys, and I just wanted you to know I'hung the letter across from my desk, where I can look at it and let it cheer me up any time I'm feel- ing down. h i "IN TAKING Him OFF FUNNY- GET-WEL- CARDS 'TiL HIS STICHES HEAL.