Ringing up another lockout

It might be the heat, Bunky, but have you noticed that everyone is either on strike or in some sort of a lockout or a lockdown?
Maybe Uncle Joe's supplier of hot dog buns is working 24-7, but there are others with August heading towards Labour Day that choose to belly ache about their job situation.
Normally, I ignore the malcontents, but on the weekend I couldn't.
Striding towards my Vernon drugstore, two "lockout" folks -- Jordan and Tim -- stood on either side of the doors with placards and pamphlets in hand.
What's this all about? I thought. I knew this wasn't about another "strike force" such as at Mother Corp -- the CBC -- so it must be the ringy-dingy dandies with TWU (Telecommunications Workers Union), the unionized workforce at Telus.
What's the big deal? I murmured to myself.
Before I could say: 1 ... 2 ... 3, there was a lockout update in my paws with the blaring question: How can I help save jobs and ensure good service from Telus?
1. Call Telus and cancel one or more of your special calling features (call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, smart ring, call alert, call display). If you pay your phone bill through automatic deductions, you could cancel that and request a printed copy of your bill and pay by cheque. To contact Telus and make changes to your special calling features, call them toll-free at 310-2255, or go to www.telus.com
2. Call Telus Mobility and make changes to your monthly cell phone plan. If you receive your Telus Mobility bill electronically, ask for it to be mailed to you instead. Cancel one or more of your special calling features, like call waiting, call forwarding or call display. To contact Telus Mobility, call them toll-free at 1-866-558-2273, or go to www.telusmobility.com
3. If you've experienced poor service or long delays from Telus, contact the CRTC and register an official complaint. Two years ago, when the elimination of thousands of jobs led to poor customer service, it was the complaints of thousands of Telus customers like you that forced the CRTC to order to act. To contact the CRTC, go to their website at www.crtc.gc.ca and click on "Complaints and Inquiries" or call them toll-free at 1-877-249-2782. To correspond with the CRTC email them at: info@crtc.gc.ca
Now, since I have related their solutions, perhaps, it might be a good time to play the numbers game, according to the TWU:.
Telus earnings, 2003 -- $324.4 million; Telus earnings, 2004: $658 million; Growth in earnings, 2003-2004: : 49%; Increase in Telus CEO Darren Entwistle's compensation, 2003-2004: 54% (to $6.55 million per year); Increase in Telus Mobility CEO George Cope's compensation, 2003-2004: 88% (to $6.74 million per year); Increase in Telus CFO Robert McFarlane's compensation, 2003-2004: 300% (to $4.05 million per year); Wage increases for Telus bargaining unit employees, 2001-2004: 0 per cent.
So now I was bogged down with a mass of figures, about the lockout that started in Alberta and B.C. on July 21, but what's the bottom line, Mr. and Mrs. TWU: "The members of the TWU have not had a contract since December 31, 2000 or almost five years ... The TWU would like nothing more than to sit and negotiate with Telus, but unfortunately Telus will not participate in this process."
POST-MORTEM: All weekend those TWU figures whirled in my brain; particularly the compensation data for the Telus heirarchy. Now, I really have a headache and that's what I went to the drugstore for in the first place: Some Tylenol.
FAREWELL TO 'UNCLE DUKE': There was a booming farewell for Hunter S. Thompson on Saturday night. Thompson, who was immortalized in Garry Trudeau's comic strip, 'Doonesbury' as "Uncle Duke," committed suicide six months ago at age 67. However, actor Johnny Depp and Thompson's widow, Anita, helped give him an irreverent sendoff in Woody Creek, Colorado. Some 250 relatives and celebrities, including Bill Murray and Lyle Lovett, gathered as Thompson's ashes were blown sky high amid a fireworks display. Thompson will be best remembered as the leader of "gonzo" journalists in which the writer becomes a central figure in their writings, such as Thompson in the highly-successful "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." "Uncle Duke" and others such as Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese pioneered this "New Journalism."
ANOTHER TRAGEDY IN NFL: Some four years ago with the temperatures hitting 110 degrees, Minnesota Vikings' Korey Stringer died of a heartstroke during training camp practice. Early Sunday, San Francisco OL Thomas Herrion died in Denver after collapsing in the locker room. Herrion was only 23. The cause of his death has not been announced, although Frisco spokesman, Aaron Salkin, was quoted as saying: "This is a colossal tragedy for the 49ers and the entire NFL community." There have been other deaths in the NFL besides Stringer and now Herrion. In 1979, tight end J.V. Cain of the St. Louis Cardinals died of a heart attack during training camp. On Oct. 24, 1972, Chuck Hughes, a wide receiver for Detroit Lions, died of a heart attack during a game between Detroit and the Chicago Bears.