I have a hard time believing that in this day and age there is even a mild disagreement over whether police cars should have winter tires. In Canada, New England or any province or state that sees regular and persistent snowfall and low temps.

Such was the case in Edmonton, where police have waged an annual war with city fathers over police cruiser safety. Last week, with winter rearing its ugly head once again, entire public debate came to a head. Eleven inches of the white stuff rendered some squad cars useless – they couldn’t even get out of the station parking lot. Conducting any kind of a chase or reaching a dire emergency? Forget it.

“This weekend for officers was brutal all the way around,” Sgt. Tony Simioni, the president of the Edmonton Police Association, told the Edmonton Sun. “We want the proper equipment. Since we’re on the road so much, we need to have the equipment necessary to do the job.”

Seems now that they are going to get their wish. Sort of.

Edmonton police vehicles will soon be sporting all-weather tires. While not full-blown winter tires, the Nokian WRG2s have impressed both beat cop and captain alike.

The force is doing a “gradual phase in,” with tires on the city’s 210 cruisers and other support vehicles being switched over in phases, according to the Sun.

Four different tires were tested by the force before they settled on the Nokians. They were reportedly impressed by the improved snow and ice traction and braking distances and the dry pavement traction and wear.

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Not a lot has been written about the off-again, off-again union negotiations between Titan and the USW. To recap what we know, of Titan’s three unionized U.S. plants, only one (Des Moines, Iowa) has ratified the terms for a new three-year contract. Workers at the other two plants – Freeport, Ill., and Bryan, Ohio – are working under the tiremaker’s last, best offer.

From all accounts, there hasn’t been much squealing from the union side. And this despite USW grumblings that Titan’s claim of an impasse in negotiations is quite questionable. Remember that the union agreed to extend its last contract and continue working while negotiators did their thing. And while that was going on, there was none of the usual grumbling, groaning and public outrage typical when union and corporate desires are not close to meshing.

Less than 30 days after agreeing to extend the contract, Titan locked all of the union workers out of the plants and told them to accept the contract or move on. Now, I am no union sympathizer, but really? With that, the USW stumbled about and mumbled something aloud about having a vote that week (not the best move possible here), and when the two locals voted the proposed contract terms down, Titan declared an impasse and enacted the “last, best offer.”

One cannot simply claim “impasse” and slap the union with whatever contract terms they chose. But for a labor body well-known for its histrionics, this silence is shocking. I would have expected a full-court major media blitz by now.

Which makes me wonder a bit. Even while Leo Gerard and his team are dislocated shoulders patting themselves on the back for the tariff on China-made consumer tires and lying through their teeth about all of the jobs the tariff has created, they know that within the rubber industry portion of their vast enterprise, the jig is pretty much up.

There are few rubber jobs to go around in this country, and the number will not be growing anytime soon. Throw all of the tariffs and countervailing duties you want at the situation, the future for the USW’s rubber group is not bright. So instead of “fighting for new jobs,” the USW is “scrapping to save jobs…any jobs we can.”

We poke fun at Morry Taylor from time to time, but there is no disputing Morry’s earnestness. While it is sometimes difficult to see, Morry does care about his employees, and he doesn’t want to see them bamboozled by the over-paid, over-perked boys in Pittsburgh, who will gladly go to the mat with any employer because it doesn’t affect their pocketbooks.

At the same time, Taylor will not let the USW run Titan or tell him how to run Titan. At any level. If so challenged, Morry will fire the whole lot and replace them, and then let the courts sort the whole mess out. Setting all of the rhetoric aside, the USW cannot win an all-out war here, so why bother?

Not saying that it’s right or wrong. That’s just the way I see the cards.