Buzz Hargrove is on the tv more than Harper is.Liz Drebit is president of the local CUPE union and, while admitting yesterday that the optics were bad -- "yes, I understand the optics," she says -- she would offer little comment beyond stating that the brouhaha over the lowering of the flag is "definitely not a money issue."
"That said, I don't believe union issues should be dealt with in the press. They should be kept confidential.
Union stirs up flag fuss
'Sad state of affairs' in Port Perry where folks argue about who should lower Maple Leaf for a dead soldier
By MARK BONOKOSKI
Lucy Wilson, president of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 419, says that “it’s a sad state of affairs when we have to argue over who is going to lower the Canadian flag in front of the cenotaph.”(Craig Robertson, Sun)
When the Scugog Standard hits the streets of Port Perry this morning, it will carry a front-page story that cries out for national attention -- namely the tale of the municipal union filing a grievance against a local councillor for lowering the town hall flag to half mast following the death of yet another Canadian soldier in Afghanistan.
The optics, unquestionably, scream of pettiness regarding money trumping both principle and patriotism.
Arguing otherwise would be an uphill battle.
In Scugog Township, it is supposedly part of a unionized municipal employee's contract to raise and lower the Canadian flag on township properties, a role supposedly written into CUPE Local 1785-01's collective agreement with the municipality northeast of Whitby.
OVERTIME
And that, in fine-print terms, ultimately translates into the fact that overtime must be paid to whichever unionized employee lowers the flag should a Canadian soldier happen to die during off-hours, on the weekend or during a statutory holiday such as the upcoming Labour Day.
A volunteer, of course, would lower the flag for a fallen Canadian soldier for one reason and one reason only.
He would do it because it is the right thing to do.
When word came down in mid-August that Edmonton-based medic, Cpl. Andrew James Eykelenboom, had been killed in a fiery suicide attack south of Kandahar, Scugog Councillor Lynn Philip Hodgson, author of seven historical war books, including Inside Camp X, decided to do the right thing and lower the flag to half mast.
It was a Saturday.
The municipal office in Port Perry was closed and therefore no union employees were on site.
"It only takes two minutes to lower a flag," says Hodgson.
And that's all he would say -- citing his position as a town councillor as restricting him from commenting further until the union grievance is dealt with.
Earlier this year, at a time when Parliament Hill was debating flying flags at half mast following the controversial rise in war casualties in Afghanistan, Hodgson moved a motion, passed by council, to lower the municipal flags when a Canadian soldier is killed in action.
'NOT ABOUT MONEY'
No union hackles were apparently raised at the time.
Then, after the recent death of Cpl. David Braun in yet another suicide bombing in Afghanistan, Scugog Standard editor Rik Davie happened to ask Hodgson why the flag outside the town hall wasn't flying at half mast.
And that's when he learned of the grievance.
"The union tells me that this is not about money," says Davie, who wrote today's front-page story in the Standard. "But if it is not about money, what is it about?
"Is it about the $120 in overtime, or whatever it is, for lowering the Canadian flag on a weekend? Or is it about honouring the sacrifice of a Canadian soldier?" he asks.
"If it is about honouring a soldier, then why the grievance?"
BAD OPTICS
Liz Drebit is president of the local CUPE union and, while admitting yesterday that the optics were bad -- "yes, I understand the optics," she says -- she would offer little comment beyond stating that the brouhaha over the lowering of the flag is "definitely not a money issue."
"That said, I don't believe union issues should be dealt with in the press. They should be kept confidential.
"But obviously this one no longer is.
"The members of (our local) totally support and respect the lowering of the flags at the township offices to half mast to recognize fallen soldiers, and other losses that occur both outside and within our community," says Drebit "This was never the issue behind this grievance.
"When the collective agreement has been violated, the correct procedure is that a grievance be filed to resolve the issue at hand and hopefully to prevent any future oversights.
"(While) I do not feel it is appropriate to air these matters in the press, the fact that this has been brought to the attention of the press has caused a great deal of emotional reactions from a number of parties, including the members I represent and our local Legion," she says, adding that she "deeply regrets any misinterpretation that may have arisen from this issue being aired in the public forum."
There is a new war memorial outside the township offices in the village of Port Perry where the Canadian flag flies.
It carries the names of the township's 99 war dead.
Lucy Wilson, president of the local Royal Canadian Legion Branch 419, is understandably not impressed with this flap over the flag.
'IT'S A SIGN OF RESPECT'
"It's a sad state of affairs when we have to argue over who is going to lower the Canadian flag in front of the cenotaph," she says. "Sad, very sad.
"Lowering a flag for a fallen soldier is not a union issue. And it's not a political issue.
"It's a sign of respect."
