The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

i p4 tribune september 4 1991 st stmiffville 5 v x if s ryyyy rv a post office must be essential t t is starting to have an a effect the postal dispute is now into its second week and after canada post tabled an offer on the weekend cupw leader jean claude parrot said the latest round of negotiations were regressive regressive is a word for all such labor disputes that put the public wellbeing at risk residents in this area often speak of a tax revolt well why not a postal revolt perhaps we should all lobby the government to make the post office an essential ser vice business in the area should go along with this idea as they are the ones hardest hit economically aside from seniors that is oh and wel fare recipients and single par ents and just about anyone else who relies on the mail the post office must be deemed essential just as the medical profession is now ii mis i hleeb a postmans leg- ismlilfiil post office i postal strikes should bejqutlawed by ottawa as the two sides in the postal strike trade shots the ones who seem most affected are merely spectators it appears as if the innocent have been caught in the labor melee since contract negotiations broke down between canada post and the canadian union of postal workers cupw it is hard to believe little more than a week has passed since workers began rotating strikes but it has been a week of name calling firings organizational mayhem and picket line violence is there any wonder little progress has been made at the bargaining table but in the midst of all this those who appear to be hardest hit by the conflict are neither management or employee they are those who merely wait for the mail the general public from the small business owner and local resident to the pension er and welfare recipient the strike has been everything from an inconvenience to a crisis across the greater toronto area last thursday people lined up for hours at temporary depots to collect their mail many of those people were senior citizens cuing to collect canada pension cheques others were withstanding the torrid 32 degree celsius weather to receive view point roqor belq welfare paymentssome even succumbed to the heat and required medical attention perhaps local residents were lucky the announced temporary depots here failed to open thurs day even when the depots opened a day late some residents couldnt get their mail at many locations only canada pension cheques were available those looking for personal let ters or unemployment insurance cheques were turned away empty handed many arrived to pickup mail fearful of crossing picket lines and lengthy waiting periods under the sun while neither threat material ized some people stilled left dis- appointed ive driven five miles to hear that my mail is not here one lady said angrily she was told to come back and check for mail the next day but she indicated she had no inten tion of returning i think the whole strike is ridiculous i think its pretty unnecessary she concluded i would have to agree with that point if the government ever needed tangible proof how essen tial mail service is it need look ho farther than the events of the last week its time the powers that be stopped leaving us at the mercy of canada post and its workers every few years its time the feds passed legislation making postal strikes illegal stouffville tribune publisher editorinchief editor advertising director business manager promotionsdistribution operations manager patricia pappas jo ann stevenson andrew mair debra weller vivian oneil mgr jennifer hutt pam nichols bad luck is the onlv luck i have staff reporters tracy kibble enzo di matteo jute caspersen roger bejgrave photographers sjoord witteveen sieve somerville real estate joan marshman classified doreen deacon debbie amundson uxbridge retail sales joan marshman doreen deacon sieve randall uxbridge dis tribution arlene maddock published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd markham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 second class registration number 1247 the stouffville tribune published every wednesday at 6244 main slstouffvilie is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicoke advertiserguardian georgetown independent kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist and sun milton champion mississauga news newmarket era oakvifle beaver oshawa- whitby this week peterborough this week richmond hcllthomhilwauflhan liberal scarborough mir ror topic newsmagazine wiuowdale mirror and uxbridge tribune metroland printing publishing and distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 6402100 6405477 fax f v wjfv it ave you ever noticed how some people are naturally lucky and others never seem to find the win ning combination every summer when my mother comes to visit we buy lottery tick ets and every summer we dont win a nickel we spend hours com ing up with lucky numbers calcu lated on family birth dates address es and ages and we play them faithfully and unsuccessfully until mum goes home weve tried quick pick and scratch and win we scratch but we lose we could paper the walls with those little bits of paper which say sorry try again under the silvery part occasionally we may win a can of root beer but that hardly compensates for a first prize of a jaguar xj 12 or a 40 megabite com- puter with color monitor and free software members of my family are good losers probably because theyve itxvw tlfjrtnr ji livsfv kates corners 1 had lots of practice at the end of last year my brother booked his 1991 holiday he wanted a new and exciting destination he chose yugoslavia in the days before the recession my husband used to go to an annual business convention where at the end of each session everyone was presented with an executive gift some people received fine china others vintage wine my husband came home with a fire extinguisher i hare to appear ungrateful but its difficult to wax lyrical about a fire extinguisher it didnt even match our decor knowing our luck though it will probably come in useful were not total losers however we have won but not taken advan tage of numerous four day holidays in florida just give us your credit card number and claim your prize and our name has been selected as eligible to win many a readers digest contest with a cash prize of 10 million some years ago when i purchased basil my late lamented austin mini the old man and i were pre sented by the dealership with iden tical tshirts emblazoned with the legend economini part of the solution the car broke down the first time we took it out looking on the bright sidej we still have the shirts you win some- you lose some and who knows next time i buy a tshirt maybe theyll be giving away a free car to go with it