The mess left from "Sam's Strike" of 2007 has now handcuffed the city financially, according to NPA councillor Suzanne Anton

Remember the way in which 2007 City of Vancouver workers strike was prolonged for three months because the Mayor of the time took such a lackadaisical approach to solving the dispute?  Remember how he told the Globe and Mail that the strike wasn’t his “top priority”?  Remember how he tried to play hardball with striking workers, creating a hostile and antagonistic negotiating process against a backdrop of other municipalities signing deals one after another in close succession?  Remember how a city under siege of uncollected garbage and no services like child care prompted a rich payday for workers in a negotiated settlement via a mediator? (the terms of which are listed below)

• A 17.5 per cent pay hike over five years
• A $1,000 signing bonus, whistleblower rules
• No loss in seniority
• Vacation pay and sick pay during the strike
• Limits on contracting out by the city

Well, now lone NPA councillor Suzanne Anton has admitted that this deal is partially responsible for the precarious financial position that the City of Vancouver currently sits in:

“VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The City of Vancouver says jobs will be lost and services will be cut as it faces a huge budget shortfall in 2010.

City Council has between now and December 15th to come up with a plan to deal with the $60 million budget gap, and that will include public consultations.

Many councillors point to the economy and a lack of revenue for the financial crisis, NPA Councillor Suzanne Anton says the deal reached with workers in 2007 is also to blame.

Mayor Gregor Robertson says part of the plan is to combine duplicate services within different departments. “We should be able to find efficiencies that way, and there are some layoffs involved, some of them may be retirements that we are able to have happen here, but we’re looking at all these different options, city staff has a lot more homework to do.”

Robertson says city hall will do their best so taxpayers won’t have to pay any more, but Anton believes a hike in property tax is almost certain.

City staff have submitted over 1,000 ideas on where the city might be able to save money.”

This admission should mute Anton’s inevitable attacks on the Vision administration in the coming days (although, as per usual, this does not apply to the volume level she prefers to employ within Council chambers).