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WHISTLER After a heated incident at work, Whistler municipal workers walked off the job yesterday. Rather than hitting the picketline, the workers addressed the municipally-appointed Resident Affordability TaskForce in Whistler Council chambers and presented them with CUPE 2010s concerns around affordability in Whistler.

CUPE 2010 president Peter Davidson pointed to page 5 of the draft Resident Affordability Strategy that reads: Whistlers higher cost of living means that many employers pay employees higher wages in order to attract and retain them.

Davidson asked the Taskforce to urge the Resort Municipality of Whistler to do as other model employers are doing in Whistler and as their own sustainability plans dictate namely, get back to the bargaining table and offer their municipal employees a fair contract that includes a Whistler living allowance.

The municipal workers have been engaged in work-to-rule job action since February 28, 2005 and have been without a contract since December 2003.

CUPE 2010 wage rates are largely set to GVRD rates, but the cost of living in Whistler is 30 percent higher than in other areas of the province.

CUPE 2010 president Peter Davidson presented his locals submission to the Taskforce regarding their draft strategy and asked them why out of the 11-member appointed Taskforce members, there were only business and management representatives and no representatives from labour.

Davidson offered to join the Taskforce to represent working people in Whistler.

CUPE 2010 members returned to work today, vowing to escalate action further if the Resort Municipality of Whistler doesnt get back to the bargaining table and in the meantime ensure all municipal workers are treated with respect in the workplace.

A copy of CUPE 2010s submission to the Resident Affordability Taskforce can be found at http://www.2010.cupe.ca/www/Local2010/15637.

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For more information, please contact:
Peter Davidson, CUPE 2010 president, c: (604) 935-8603 or Diane Kalen, CUPE communications, o: (604) 291-1940, ext. 240.