[DevilsAdvocate]

Even though I am a union steward, I don't have any inside baseball scoop here. But I did have my ear to the ground.

Likely, next Monday would have been a general strike. And, yes, any union going on a wildcat strike would put the member at risk of being terminated. So how many of the 24 unions that were on stage would have asked their members to risk their jobs? They were coy on that one. When asked at the presser today one guy said "Maybe I'll write a book about this in 10 years and you can find out then".

Would this have hurt the economy? If it was one day of having autoworkers or steelworkers off, it would be a blip. But if they agreed to stay out longer....

As I posted a few pages back, my bigger concern in all of this was the use of the Notwithstanding Clause. It is my HOPE that other premiers will see what a disaster this turned out to be for Ford and think twice about using it in the future. But I suspect that it will depend on how powerful the people are that are having their rights taken away. Muslims and other minorities in Quebec were easy targets as they have no power. Ford thought that custodians and librarians had zero power and were easy targets. PCs did not realize the hornets nest they poked.

-=-=-=-=-

Note that this is not over. This only gets them back to the negotiating table. If the negotiations go nowhere and it is obvious that the two sides are much too far apart, CUPE will be back picketing. And everyone on the stage today swore that they would be back to help. What is over thought is any federal connection. Trudeau doesn't need to think about disallowance or threatening Doug with financial penalties for taking away Charter rights.