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Leather Pass Chronicles News Views and little known truths from the Canadian Rockies... |
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E-NEWS NOW ONLINE
Canada Day - with a French accent!
Jasper is a Creative 'City'
21 Caribou
Living on Sunshine
FEBRUARY 2007 CN
Jasper Community Mission Impossible
Jasper in January The Year in Review, in advance!
Victorias Secret, Caribou and Indian Giving
Ah, November - its all about the weather
Community museums are key to culture
The Who, Trailer Park Boys and Mel Hurtig Tom Thomson and the Pine Beetle
Is that a Mexican Flag on the Banff Springs?
Green Party on the right track
Neufeld Watchel and Watchel
UNESCO's Indigenous Peoples Day
Heritage Day
From Fiddler on the Roof to Fiddler on the Rails Traditions made new again, First Nations art Bikeology and Caribou MAY 2006
On MountainTop Rock
COMING SOON Foothills Mens Chorus Artists on Rails
Cowboy Poetry Gathering
SPECIAL Jasper Volunteer Fire Dept in action Other VideoLogs by DTMI
Webcasts will be available on line for a limited amount of time. They will be archived and available upon request after that.
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FEBRUARY 2007
Family Day, Canadian National and Marshmallows Remote Community often means Family is more than blood
Updated: February 19th, 2007 JASPER, Alberta - As family day approaches it becomes apparent to many in smaller rural communities that family is not necessarily the people who we grew up with. Rural families are a wonderful occurrence in most remote neighbourhoods and one of the reasons that many people have been drawn to the Pass.
ON FAMILY DAY 2007 over 100 children, spouses, business owners...came out to support the local UTU members...press the arrow to play. Another version is available at YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoWc-AVDNrg
press arrow on left to play
Because we did not get comment from CN management the clip was declined by local media stations...guess I should have filmed the cameras in the rail yard for comment as management is thousands of kilometers from this community!
Updated: February 9, 2007 Since moving here in the mid 80's it is apparent that one of the larger 'families' in Jasper is the CN family. While no longer able to call themselves Canadian National they still play a huge role in defining this small town - a town that would be a very different place if it weren't for the presence of the railroad.
While you may not know a 'railroader' you have probably seen one this weekend as they are publicly picketing outside CN properties - a strike resulting from an immense majority vote to do so.
A CN brochure that I picked up in the Post Office reads, "CN's outstanding railroaders...close to 90% of unionized employees were assessed as SKILLED or OUTSTANDING RAILROADERS." CN quarterly report to employees January 2007 Interestingly enough that is almost the same percentage of employees who have voted to do this strike. The brochure goes on, and shows a 15% increase in operating income between 2005 and 2006. "Record Revenue. Record free Cash Flow. Record operating ratio." January report brochure
So how does a company show increases like that? Better service? The brochures shows a 2% decrease in 'Service Carload Trip Performance'. I wouldn't think our railroaders would walk out on a company that is great to work for - proven by the stat that 90% are outstanding railroaders - I imagine it has to do with conditions and schedules and wages...
And as if working under CN scheduling and conditions weren't enough - the new corporate owners of Canadian National located south of the border have decided that the strike is unauthorized (if you authorize a strike is it a strike?!) and therefore illegal and they are threatening to sue union authorities for loss of revenue - and strike pay and legal assistance will be denied! Union officials in Canada believe the strike is legal because according to the Canadian labour code, employees were in a legal strike position. (a position that obviously had nothing to do with ankles and grabbing - sorry I dont know where that came from - someone has been on my keyboard again!)
Well, as with any down and out family member - I wish our CN family well. Our rail yard is an industry that has offered no end of amusement, new friends, eerie night sounds and community strength.
Its 20 below tonight, maybe as a good sibling I should take them some cocoa or marshmallows. Ah - the long arm of Uncle Sam!! No marshmallow stick for you.
Have something to say about CN or Canadian National? - support or otherwise EMAIL US - we'll share it (edited, of course, if required - this is a PG site)
In keeping with the spirit of 2007- Jasper's Centennial - we at DTMI are collecting this years events and organizations doing what they do best throughout the year. If your club or class is doing something that brings community together - honours the people and the place in this special year - we want to know! These visual stories will be prepared into a CD/DVD format for a YEAR IN REVIEW.
Become a part of history in the making...contact us! dtminc at shaw dot ca
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