Who Said What?Well, here's what the said, followed by what he now claims he said. (mp3 file link to VOCM: http://www.vocm.com/audioClips/508125_danny%20(web).mp3)
September 25, 2008
The premier says he was misquoted. Danny williams [sic] today emphasized he did not say the nurses (sic) union came to the table during the most recent session with a new list of fiinancial [sic] demands. We had indicated he said they were new. He actually said it was a list of proposals that.(sic) carried financial costs. Today williams [sic] made sure the union knew what he actually said. He phoned debbie [sic] forward.
You be the judge.
-srbp-
Almost immediate update:
After a bit of searching, your humble e-scribbler turned up the two original stories.
First came this one:
Premier Says Offer to Nurses Fair
September 24, 2008
Government has thrown cold water on hopes by nurses and other public sector workers that they might be in line for the same 35 per cent wage hike given to cancer specialists. The Nurses' Union walked away from the table last week, apparently unwilling to go along with the province's standard offer of twenty per cent over four years. Premier Williams says the situation with the gynecological oncologists was a special case and hence the 35 percent salary increase. He says the offer to nurses of 20 percent over four years is fair. Williams says recent conciliation ended because the nurses brought a long list of new financial demands to the table.
The VOCM story containing Debbie Forward's reply is also pretty clear:
Nurses' Union Fuming Over Premier's Remarks
September 25, 2008
The president of the Nurses' Union is fuming in the wake of comments from the premier on their dispute with government. This week the premier said recent conciliation talks ended because the nurses brought a long list of new financial demands to the table. Debbie Forward says the union brought no new items to the table when they met last. Forward says they were hoping to get a response to proposals the union had brought to the table earlier this year, but that didn't happen. Forward says her members are very upset about the premier's comments.
A transcript of the original voice clip from a VO story on 24 September was included in a news release from Conservative candidate Craig Westcott that took issue with the Premier's comments as reported by VOCM yesterday. Westcott's been working hard to get a rise out of Danny the past couple of days, including likening him to a mafia godfather.
Anyway, the transcript of the original clip is important because the version here contains some words that aren't in the revised VO version:
"(The Nurses' Union) came in with 27 or 28 financial asks, one of those being obviously the salary template, but other financial increments. So, 26, 27 other items. Now we can't deal, we can't negotiate on that basis. If we can get down to a realistic shortlist that we can address, then maybe we're able to address some of the concerns…"Was he misquoted?
You be the judge.