Strike Broken: Syd Folds

Syd Ryan has just managed to make Dalton McGuinty look strong and decisive by comparison. And that's no mean feat. One meaningless concession and Ryan folded like a cheap tent on his wildcat strike threat:

Bill 206 — an act to revise the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) — is set to pass today exactly the way the government wrote it.

Last night's deal includes:

A commitment to introduce legislation by the end of June requiring an independent review of Bill 206 by 2012 to see if CUPE's concerns are legitimate. The union says that the requirement for a two-thirds majority vote for pension changes means it won't be able to improve pensions for its members.

An actuarial review to ensure the main pension plan will never subsidize a supplemental plan, which gives police, firefighters and, to some degree paramedics, the ability to retire earlier with full benefits.

"If the independent review comes up and says this is an unfair arbitration process the (municipal affairs) minister is obligated to address it," Ryan said.

But that's not the case at all, the government says.

The minister will give the review's findings "serious consideration," but it is not bound to do anything.

While Ryan believes a review will fix the concerns over which his members were willing to walk off the job illegally, the government believes a review will prove it was right all along with its plan to devolve the $40 billion pension plan to municipalities and their employees.

Who will really care about an actuary's report six years from now? By then, OMERS will be working smoothly under its new municipal bosses and everyone else will have forgotten this dust-up.

But Syd Ryan gets exposed as an empty blusterer.

Works for me.

Source: Toronto Star