A missing museum chief and an unhappy union

pbest@globeandmail.com

Well, it's one way to deal with a labour dispute. When many of the 420 striking workers at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum barraged museum CEO Victor Rabinovitch with e-mails in early September requesting that he negotiate a fair contract with them, they received an unusual e-mail back: an automated "out of office" message because the top executive was away from the office until Sept. 22.

Yesterday, the museum workers "welcomed" Mr. Rabinovitch back from his trip with a huffy press release. Talks between management and the Public Service Alliance of Canada broke down in August and the museum workers voted 92 per cent for strike action on Aug. 27.

Last week, management and union members spent three days with a federal mediator to try to solve sticking points, including issues on salary and contracting out.

One museum employee, Melissa Ferland, who is an actor and interpreter, told Nobody's Business: "His negotiation team reports back to him just like our team reports back to our local president ... Perhaps it wouldn't have made a difference but ... when you have 420 employees it's pretty appreciated when you're there for them."

The museum's public affairs spokeswoman, Chantal Schryer, told us Mr. Rabinovitch was in Japan for the opening of a major exhibition of Canadian aboriginal artifacts and also met with Japanese museum leaders to sign an agreement on collaboration.

"It was hugely important for us to be there to open the exhibit," she said, adding he was "on top of things" by phone every day. She said the museum CEO was in Japan for five days, plus the weekend and travel. "I don't have the exact days."