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a ER Es Ut eS Serer eee mL Srl OTE ee=E eeeesereeSOTO eee 5a aL Re eSEe=eEeENe aT ee eee y j we a } f Two happy Achievers Two very happy Junior Achievers last Friday were Belyn- da Cleland, left and Katharina Kubetz. Cleland will be one of three Canadians to attend, in Bloomington, Ind., the Council and employees unhappy Some of the 13 or 14 Midland public works department maintenance employees are unhappy. The Town council is unhappy with the maintenance workers. The council has sent a thinly disguised message to the employees, in the form of a directive sup- porting that department's superintendent. George Ivens, the maintenance employees' union steward, had little to say about the issue last week. He indicated that some unhappiness is being felt in his department. 'My work day begins when I punch in and ends when I punch out," he said. Alderman Gail Barrie, who with Alderman Carolyn White make up the council'a labour relations committee, last Wednesday said, "Management is prepared to manage in the best interest of the Town." She said the maintenance employees work only six hours but are paid for eight hours each day. According to both her and Superintendent Gord Wallace, the maintenance employees get two 15 minute breaks, a half hour for a mid- shift meal, with 15 minutes at beginning and end for travel, and a half hour cleanup time at shift's end. "They're not supposed to take half an hour," Wallace said. Labour relations commit- tee chairman White said that the Town has been receiving a "flood" of grievances. Her position is that "everyone get a fair shake but work be done for the money paid." Grievances are being receiv- ed at the rate of almost one a week, a high rate, she said. "I don't know who is creating the problems, who is doing it, or why they are doing it." Ald. White does not want the municipality to tender work donw now by its employees. Some of her fellow councillors say the employees should "shape up or ship out." That message has been sent, she said. The need exists for the employees to be shown that they do have to do what they are told by their superior. "Everybody has a boss. You have to have someone to direct, and to see that the work is done." The directive sent Wallace by the council underlines his authority, she said, because a few employees do not respect him as their boss. The maintenance employees belong to Local 328 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. Neil Pollock, regional staff representative for OPSEU, agreed that the maintenance department is the only department of the municipality which is ex- periencing labour problems. Pollock's explanation is that Superintendent Wallace "can't or won't read the col- lective agreement." All of the grievances filed are well founded, he said. An example he gave dates to the winter. Previously, employees plowing snow in the middle of night, could return to the public works department to eat. They were told to stay with their vehicle. A request for pay- ment in compensation was denied, Pollock said. Public works commis- sioner Percy Ehler stopped working for the municipali- ty in late January. Pollock said of Ehler that although he and Ehler "had our moments" in negotiation, their rapport was relatively good. However in the last six months there appears to have been no attempt to try and discuss things before they are done. "The superintendent makes the National Junior Achievement Conference. Kubetz is the local Junior Achiever who made the most sales in 1985-86. decision, right or wrong." Compromise is the key to labour relations, he said. "As long as they violate the col- lective agreement, we will file grievances." Ald. White is both a coun- cil member and a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. She is a custodian in Regent School for the Simcoe Board of Education. She is a former municipal affairs officer of the Midland Labour Council, and a former chief steward of CUPE Local 13. "I am not for or against either party. I want the Town to get its money's worth." Happy peo- ple do more work and better work, she said. As a union member, she knows that some union members abuse union power. But a union has to represent its members, right or wrong, or it can be charg- ed, she said. "There can be those who do abuse that right, of union protection. Others do deserve it." Mutual agreement could be very productive for both sides, she said. Her committee is new with the council. Council members in the past did not talk to the employees, she said. On a monthly basis the labour relations committee -- White, Barrie, clerk Fred Flood, a department head -- meets with Pollock and three others representing the We have them! Children's Dress & Play SANDALS Complete range of sizes and for your s * colours election Always open Monday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Cumming-Nicholson 239 King St. Where meticulous s 526-5861 ervice is traditional STORE HOURS: 9 to 5:30 daily, Fri. to 6 Page 2, Tuesday, May 20, 1986 employees of a department, to settle or prevent problems. The recommendations of that committee are brought to the council for a vote. The salary range for public works department employees is from $10.08 an hour to $12.44, plus benefits. Pollock said last Thursday that the labour relations committee is an excellent idea that is not working '"'for whatever reason." "There's a breakdown somewhere." The council agreed with the labour relations commit- tee recommendation that a "firm" directive should be given the superintendent, issued by the committee and the council, signed by the mayor, giving the super- intendent the authority to conduct operations strictly according to the OPSEU contract and the rules and regulations of that contract. The directive and a copy of the rules and regulations has been posted on the public works department depot's bulletin board. Couple saves pair from near drowning The two people most responsible for the rescue, last Saturday night, of two girls from the middle of Lit- tle Lake Park, want a boat or at least life rings left in the park. A direct line to the police or fire department should be installed. "Any more delay and they would have been com- ing up in a bag,' Ron Brunelle said yesterday. Brunelle, a Midland resi- dent, and Marjorie Marston of Bracebridge were walk- ing in Little Lake Park at 11:30 p.m. when they heard screams for help. Other people heard the calls for help. Brunelle and Marston wondered briefly in the calls for help were a hoax. When they decided that someone was in trou- ble, Brunelle ran to a point as close as he could to the invisible caller and called, "Are you in trouble?" More screams for help came in response. Brunelle and Marston drove as quickly as possible to the fire station. A fireman on duty left im- mediately for the park in one of the fire trucks. He was quickly joined on the shore of Little Lake by police from the Town and the OPP. Two boats were brought to the park and floated in the shallow lake as quickly as possible. The two girls, Kerry Bridges, 25, of Richmond Hill and Karen Ball, address unknown, were brought to the shore followed by their overturned boat. The two were in the water for at least an hopr after the vessel apparently capsized while the pair were trying to change positions in the boat. The two girls had pad- dled the boat from the south end of the lake where Bridges' parents own a cot- tage. One girl later told her grandmother that they were about to give up, Brunelle said. Brunelle and Marston were upset that other peo- ple heard the screams but did nothing. Brunelle said three men around a fire near the spot where he ran to call to the girls must have heard them clearly. He described them as drunk. "I couldn't go to sleep hearing those girls' cries,"' Marston added. Teenager escapes injury in collision A 16-year-old Tay Township resident was taken to hospital Saturday afternoon after the bicycle he was riding collided with a stationwagon driven by a Toronto man. Police were called to in- vestigate the accident that occurred around 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon on Highway 12 just east of Con- cession 9 in Tay Township. According to the Midland detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police, an east- bound 1981 Chevrolet sta- tionwagon, travelling at ap- proximately 80 kilometres an hour, collided with a supercycle bike travelling in the same direction. A police spokesman said the bicyclist, Mark Desper of Con. 13, was riding along the side of the highway when he was struck by the stationwagon while making a left hand turn without signalling. The driver of the vehicle 31-year-old Ricky Nelson of 219 Ellesmere Road in Toronto tried to break and swerve to miss the bicyclist but was unable. Desper was taken to Huronia District Hospital and treated for minor in- juries after being thrown from the centre of the highway to the westbound ditch. No charges have been laid in connection with the incidence. THE DRIFTWOOD RESTAURANT & DINING LOUNGE Featuring... "LUNCHEON BUFFET" Monday to 11:30 to 2:00 p.m. ALL YOU . 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