Labour negotiator Gerry Bell is going to be missed

“We’re right where we should be.”

That’s what Gerry Bell always used to say when we were in the middle of bargaining with our union and we’d hit what seemed to be a rough patch.

Gerry did a lot of labour relations for this newspaper when he and his brother Dan were running Western Industrial Labour Relations. He was a cool customer at the bargaining table — he had to be.Bargaining can get pretty heated at times. Occasionally, things break down into a lot of “f—- you” talk, and sometimes there are walkouts. Gerry could play the game, but he always had things under control, never letting it get personal. He loved the dynamics of the bargaining table.

“What the hell was all that about?” we’d ask when we were sure things were going off the rails.

“We’re right where we should be,” Gerry would say with a smile.

Gerry Bell died Thursday at the age of 68. He’d had cancer for quite a few years.

He was a bit of a legend in B.C. labour relations circles. And when he wasn’t working on somebody’s labour contract, he was doing things in the community, such as serving as CEO of the Blazers up until a few years ago.

Gerry was a good guy. A lot of people are going to miss him.