This will please all the anti-union people

[my5cents]

At the inquest being held for the Mexican woman who hung herself will in the custody of the CBSA (Canada Border Service Agency), the details of the training (and who paid for same), the equipment (and who paid for same) and the wages of the contract workers for the private security firm who holds the multi million dollar contract to supply security is interesting.

-> Current and former guards with Vancouver-based Genesis Security testified last week that the company's wages start at $15 an hour -- after a $13 probationary period -- and employees were expected to pay much of their own training costs.

-> The only training related to suicide is a printed package staff are not allowed to remove from the airport facility.

-> Under questioning from B.C. Civil Liberties Association lawyer Jason Gratl, the Genesis guard who initially discovered Vega Jiménez hanging in a shower stall confessed he falsified overnight records logging how often he checked on prisoners.

-> Another guard at the airport centre, Ronald Tabalujan, placed a panicked and breathless 9-1-1 call to report Vega Jiménez's suicide attempt. He had to repeat himself numerous times to be understood by the operator and appeared to have had difficulty providing the correct phone number and address -- even stating the centre was in Burnaby, not Richmond -- according to a recording played during the inquest. He told the inquest his previous role at Genesis was directing traffic at the airport.

-> Li testified that in total he spent roughly $400 on first aid and security training for the job, including half the cost of his bulletproof vest.

-> Li had also paid out of his own pocket to upgrade from the job's required occupational first aid level one course to a level three certificate.

You get what you pay for.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/10/07/Priva ... ign=071014

[Rwede]

At least they showed up for work. The unionized guys would have called in sick, trying to use up those sick days that they are "entitled" to.

[A_Britishcolumbian]

so in your mind, showing up for work, then not doing the work and falsifying records to say you had done work that was not done is better than someone who does not show up for work?

[Type_O]

How you can possibly connect this tragedy as pleasing to "all the anti-union people" is a travesty.
What a shame.

[wanderingman]

so who is LI? it does not say in your post? and second off are you seriously saying that because your in a union your automatically going to be smarter and better trained than non union??
This Mexican girl had already been deported once? what part of this did she not understand?

[A_Britishcolumbian]

maybe she believed that her keepers were competent and knowledgeable.

maybe she she figured she would be 'caught' attempting suicide, by an employee that either cared, or was actually doing the job they were getting paid to do.

it would seem there is much more to this story than is being told to us.

why is this being covered up?

how 'knowledgeable was the employee(s) that allowed her to die? did he/they do so on purpose knowing the company and 'government' would 'cover' for them after?

[flamingfingers]

It is simply a case of incredibly poor management. Something we see in the contracting out of so many of our services under the 'privatization' scheme. Lack of training, lack of competent management oversight, no care being given to providing appropriate service.. Only the 'privatization' which only enriches these contractors to benefit by lucrative government contracts that actually cost us more monetarily and decrease the 'services' we receive.

Highway maintenance anyone?
Ferry services anyone?
Hospital cleaners anyone?
Hospital food services anyone?

The list is endless....

Thanks Gordo. Thanks Christy. Your privatization scheme is an abandonment of the responsibility that you swore to undertake for the people you are supposed to serve.

[Daspoot]

At least they showed up for work. The unionized guys would have called in sick, trying to use up those sick days that they are "entitled" to.

[wanderingman]

Just to be fair and put all arguments in proper prospectus here/! being a union person or a non union person has NO bearing on the quality of a person or the training this person obtains and retains

[LoneWolf_53]

It is simply a case of incredibly poor management. Something we see in the contracting out of so many of our services under the 'privatization' scheme. Lack of training, lack of competent management oversight, no care being given to providing appropriate service.. Only the 'privatization' which only enriches these contractors to benefit by lucrative government contracts that actually cost us more monetarily and decrease the 'services' we receive.

Highway maintenance anyone?
Ferry services anyone?
Hospital cleaners anyone?
Hospital food services anyone?

The list is endless....

Thanks Gordo. Thanks Christy. Your privatization scheme is an abandonment of the responsibility that you swore to undertake for the people you are supposed to serve.

If your post is meant to suggest that a unionized work force doesn't suffer from incompetence, or the endless list of other ills that accompanies such, you oughta go and give your head a shake.

What utter stupidity!

As I recall, those responsible for running the Queen of the North aground and killing a couple of people in the process, were in fact unionized labour. Nuff said!

[Type_O]

Just to be fair and put all arguments in proper prospectus here/! being a union person or a non union person has NO bearing on the quality of a person or the training this person obtains and retains

Being a caring, human being would be the place to start.

[my5cents]

so who is LI? it does not say in your post? and second off are you seriously saying that because your in a union your automatically going to be smarter and better trained than non union??
This Mexican girl had already been deported once? what part of this did she not understand?

Actually my post of this topic was directed at illustrating a couple of points, non of which you picked up on.

The point is, if you pay your employees $15 an hour, you are likely not going to keep good employees, as they will move on to a "high" paying job of $20 or more.

Requiring an employee to buy or "kick in" to buy equipment required to do their job is another factor that would discourage qualified personnel from employment or remaining with an employer.

Who is LI ? I included a link to the entire article.

[simnut]

Actually my post of this topic was directed at illustrating a couple of point, non of which you picked up on.

The point is, if you pay your employees $15 an hour, you are likely not going to keep good employees, as they will move on to a "high" paying job of $20 or more.

Agreed.

Requiring an employee to buy or "kick in" to buy equipment required to do their job is another factor that would discourage qualified personnel from employment or remaining with an employer.

Agreed.

[Rosemary1]

Sorry, paying more does not guarantee work ethic or better quality of work or reliability of work. Especially in union environment where wages set y contracts and seniority is sacrosanct with little accountability or meaningful merit based renumeration . Been on all sides (union, non-union and management). There are flaws in every environment!!. And guess what, money alone is not what makes the best and most dedicated and responsible workers. There are plenty of studies and surveys and statistics on this subject that may surprise.

BUTthis was a tragedy. Lets not politicize this into a pro-union or anti-union diatribe

[my5cents]

Sorry, paying more does not guarantee work ethic or better quality of work or reliability of work. Especially in union environment where wages set y contracts and seniority is sacrosanct with little accountability or meaningful merit based renumeration . Been on all sides (union, non-union and management). There are flaws in every environment!!. And guess what, money alone is not what makes the best and most dedicated and responsible workers. There are plenty of studies and surveys and statistics on this subject that may surprise.

BUTthis was a tragedy. Lets not politicize this into a pro-union or anti-union diatribe

Yes, but paying poor wages does virtually guarantee poor work ethic and low quality and reliability of work. Not to mention high turn over, creating a lack of experience in the tasks required.

You fail to mention that many union contracts contain clauses that permit skill and ability to trump seniority. But if skill and ability is equal, seniority counts. What's not fair about that ?

This was a tragedy but I would have given greater odds at this not happening, had the remuneration been higher, thus attracting and requiring more qualified employees.

Consider:

- Correct number of staff not present
- Staff couldn't verbalize the location of the emergency to 911 (communication skills)
- Staff didn't know the location of the facility
- Staff lied on documentation surrounding the incident

Taking the above into account, what do you think the odds would be that if she was discovered sooner, the staff would have likely been unable to save her with their knowledge of first aide ?

A statement attributed to the CEO of Genesis Security Group, Camil Dubuc is very telling :

All Genesis guards take a Basic Security Training course, he said, and are placed in anything from guarding construction buildings to events at BC Place, he said.

"That's the first step we do with those people," he said. "If we discover that people have a higher level of experience or potential to be a police officer or that sort of thing, we give those people a second training that we call the Advanced Security Training. It's a bit more advanced, it's another 24 hours of training … definitely, with the type of job we do there's a lot of hours of training."

"Advance Security Training" another 24 hours of training ???????????????