Dear Editor
As Burnaby residents, and taxpayers, and always wanting to keep up with our city’s civic issues, my wife and I were very disappointed to read in the Wednesday, Sept. 30 publication of Burnaby NOW an article about council’s procrastination in dealing with negotiations with our city’s firefighters. A four-year delay for a fair wage contract while, of course, council enjoys the fruits of their pay increases.
As a “pro-labour” civic party, has council lost its understanding of just what our firefighters mean to our community? Not only on the job, always there in an emergency; but also off, with their full-time commitment to the Burnaby Firefighters’ Charitable Society.
With an arbitration that will most likely give these firefighters the same contract that has already been bargained for by some 30-plus other British Columbia locals, council’s stubbornness with this issue will only cost we taxpayers up to $80,000 spent wastefully on an unnecessary dispute mechanism, only to reach a foregone conclusion.
This perpetration by council is a needless frustration for all. Council, please show respect for these men and women who are always there on the doorstep in events of disaster for all the citizens of Burnaby.
Richard Tingle, Burnaby
