Global Workforce Optimization. That’s what Bombardier calls 7,000 layoffs, almost 3,000 in Quebec. Global Workforce Optimization. Why don’t they just say what they mean? Own it and stop trying to sugar coat it. Global Workforce Optimization. It means fired.
George Carlin put it best.
"You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area. So, many people are no longer viable members of the work force."
Let’s face it, Bombardier is a mess. The C series is $2 billion over budget and years behind schedule. This company has been, by most reports, run with almost unbelievable incompetence. It’s a company with an obsolete share structure that keeps the Bombardier-Beaudoin family in control, and that is kryptonite to outside investors. The company this week announced it lost more than $5 billion last year.
So, what to do? Bombardier and its predecessor Canadair have survived only thanks to taxpayer’s largesse.
But Bombardier employs 17,000 people in Quebec, and that’s a big deal. On a day when 7,000 jobs are gone, 7,000 lives turned upside down, the company tries to bury its Global Workforce Optimization with news that Air Canada has signed a letter of intent to buy some planes. That is great news, unless you are one of the 7,000.
Quebec has given Bombardier $1 billion USD and now Ottawa is considering whether to do the same.
It’s almost surreal that we are giving public funds to a company that is cutting jobs.
Giving money to Bombardier is like kissing your sister.
The stakes are too high, do we want Bombardier to become the next Blackberry? But Ottawa and Quebec should demand something in return, like ownership. Let’s pray this thing will fly, but make it clear that this trip to the trough is the last. Point finale. We can call it Canadian Taxpayer Optimization.
Ticket quotas have got to go
We love quotas in this province. Dairy quotas, egg quotas, chicken quotas, maple syrup quotas, all designed to protect producers and make us pay more… and of course the great ticket quotas
The police union revealed that bonuses for senior officers were based at least partly on the number of tickets issued. Other criteria include the number of arrests and response time. In other words, things that any right thinking citizen would consider part of the job. The union president says since the beginning of the year, officers have been pressured to give out more tickets.
I think tickets should be a function of public security and public security only, not to fatten the pay of people who chose public service for a reason (and that reason is usually not to make money). Quotas are wrong. We end up paying, but most importantly, it undermines whatever trust we might have in law enforcement. Not very smart, but then again, there are the clown pants.
Taxi drivers' behavior is off-base
There are ways of making a point. But Montreal taxi drivers are way off-base with their childish behavior. Many of them are acting like school yard bullies.
This week, these guardians of taxi purity plastered an Uber driver with eggs and insults after luring him to a downtown location. The driver says he was frightened by the goon-like tactics and has filed a complaint with police.
At the National Assembly, lawmakers are trying to figure out how to make the two sides play together, because Uber is here to stay.
As I fear, so will be the morons who did nothing to help their cause this week. In fact, very much the opposite.
