EDITORIAL: Time to end latest strike

Hopefully the fact that Bombardier officials and striking workers have agreed to return to the bargaining table is a sign the seven-week stalemate might have an end in sight.

The rhetoric being thrown around in the media by both sides is not pretty. Workers are taking to Internet comment boards and bashing the company, its vice-president Aaron Rivers and all things Bombardier.

The company, and Rivers, have not won any friends either, drawing line after line in the sand, essentially baiting Unifor Local 1075 members with veiled threats of what’s to come.

At some point each side is going to have to give something. Workers have lost millions in salary, money they’ll never regain.

At some point, with summer at an end, they’re going to start feeling it in their wallets.

In fact, most probably already are.

But Bombardier can’t play an endless waiting game.?The company has obligations to meet and customers expecting delivery. Expecting management and other employees to cross the picket line and properly complete the work is unrealistic and unsustainable.

But until both sides look in the mirror and realize they each have a lot to lose and get serious about negotiating a deal, there’s no end in sight.

Play the blame game all you want. Both sides are equally guilty here.