"Constantly" late.

Yes, I also fail to see how this is right-wing in any way. It seems I have a lot to disagree about with you, Mr. Goldsbie.

I think the graffiti is simplistic but on-the-nose more than anything. The ATWU needs constant reminders what a bunch of thugs they are and while this doesn't accomplish much, it's still funnily true.

I think you need to broaden your understanding of what right wing and left wing means.

Ok, I'll chime in with a rude and unhelpful story.

Yesterday my morning queen streetcar stopped at university, and a girl with luggage in tow tried to get off after everyone else had, but the driver had already disabled the doors even though the light wasn't anywhere near changing. She yelled up for him to open the door, and he replied on the speakers by yelling "why don't you wake up next time!!"

On another note, I'm with Sammy.. What's left-wing right-wing got to do with anything?

Taggers don't do stencils, dave, they tag.

I can't think of any examples of TTC drivers or other employees being dicks in my presence, I agree they shouldn't be paid $25+/hr to sit in a booth handing out tickets and passes. McDonald's slaves make a third of that (or less) and do a hell of a lot more work with no job security.

It is important to note that for bus drivers in particular, GO Transit and the other regional transit authorities are desperate for drivers so in terms of wage pressure it's probably counterproductive to look to reduce theirs at a time when TTC is trying to expand. Clerical workers on the other hand might be worth taking a hard look at.

TTC unionised employees don't pay the Ontario Health Tax - the union won an arbitration so TTC pays it for them ($6m p.a.) When you factor in stuff like this and benefits, $26.50 is only the start.

Now, when you get pumpkins thrown through your bus window, it mightn't seem to be quite so much, and there was that ticket collector guy whose booth was set on fire at Lawrence West. However, I doubt this Toronto council would endorse the concept of "danger pay" for TTC workers in certain neighbourhoods.

tyrannosaurus_rek, don't they both deserve a living wage? I would not call TTC employees wealthy by any standard. I especially wouldn't if a given employee was raising a family.

Making comparisons to McDonalds is a joke. That is no baseline for comparison as a decent job.

"I think you need to broaden your understanding of what right wing and left wing means. "
- I was half-joking Beth. I understand all too well what the right-wing is about...and it's not what they would have us to believe.

The reason, to me, they made this a right/left wing thing (perhaps jokingly) is that the sign says what most right wingers say about people who work with/for the public.

Do people think these drivers are overpaid?

What would you do that job for? I don't recall ever having a pumpkin thrown through a window at me, or my cubicle being set on fire.

I think it's obvious here that Jonathan Goldsbie is taking a bold stand against the hooliganism frequently practiced by the left. The right wing should hold itself to a higher standard, rather than adopting the practice of vandalizing public and private property.

Goldsbie, I think you need a vacation. Your last three posts have been confusing and/or included erroneous statements. Does anyone edit this guy?

"Goldsbie, I think you need a vacation. Your last three posts have been confusing and/or included erroneous statements. Does anyone edit this guy?"

No. That's kinda the point of Torontoist. Editors merely encourage posting frequently, and adhering to the style guide.

Individual voices are not edited for content except in extreme cases (libel, etc).

The lateness is right at least... The northbound 6 Bay bus often seems to run on a 96 Wilson schedule!

I'm with ya' on most things rek, but I gotta say, I partially agree with what you're saying but...

I try not to say who is or isn't overpaid unless I've done their job for a week. Are there people who probably make too much for doing little? Sure. Are there people who make too little and work their asses off...definitely. When someone comes home from an office and says, "I worked hard today", well, maybe you did, but somewhere, someone also went half a mile into a coal mine in the ground for half of what you made today. Someone picked up your' trash for less than you made today.
I know there is some corruption, but for the most part, I'm pro-unions...I think more vocations need them and I just cringe whenever someone says that "trimming" needs to be done on the payroll at the worker level. I'm sure there is much more waste at the top. And it seems to be the people in the trenches who always end up getting the abuse.
I'd rather my taxes go to a working person who is making their way or their families way as opposed to redecorating a CIO's office or a golf trip.
You take it out on the drivers, booth operators because you see them everyday...they're on the frontline but they are one face of the TTC...put yourself in their place.
McDonald's is a private corp. and a whole other (notice I didn't say whole `nother:- ) story. I will say though, I had a friend who owned a restaurant (not McD's) and I helped him out sometimes, and yes, restaurant workers work way too hard for too little. but then, look at what a teacher makes compared to someone who can catch/throw a ball or read a teleprompter on TV.

@beth: I can see the case for the collective spirit of Torontoist as a blog but when said voice is writing tripe and making strange unsubstantiated claims, it doesn't reflect well on the publication and crosses into the realm of unprofessionalism.

I think the title of this post is very misleading. I consider myself a bit of a leftie and totally agree with the sentiment of the sign.

Most of the TTC employees aren't explicitly rude but their attitude to the job and the way the TTC seems to be run in general seems totally lacking when compared to other transit systems. And I have never worked in McDonalds but did work for two years as a busgirl and waitress in a "nice" coffee shop during which time a brick was thrown at and broke a large window, I was verbally harassed by a man who appeared to masturbating while calling me a c**t, and I unlocked the bathroom to find a man slumped against the door with a needle in his arm. I wasn't earning $26 per hour and I wasn't mean or lazy towards the customers. Maybe there is an argument that TTC employees deserve their wages but I'm not setting their booths on fire or being abusive yet I'm still expected to tolerate rude service, having family visitors sworn at because a TTC employee couldn't make out what they were saying and being cat-called by a TTC staff member in uniform on a subway platform. That just doesn't sit right with me, especially as I have never experienced customer service like it anywhere else but on the TTC.

Is that 30?

Wait, ked - the TTC workers aren't getting a "fair wage!" If they were only being paid $100K per year, they *might* just consider being more friendly.

WBT:

"-Fine, you do it then. "

I would, but I have skills that allow me to make more money doing other things.

And as I mentioned, it's not about putting profits over people. Profits ARE people. Profits are bonuses for employees (at all levels), profits are what pays for the retired teacher's food and rent (Ontario Teachers Pension is one of the largest owners of companies in Ontario). There's nothing wrong with making a profit.

And I think we need to help single moms live lives of dignity. We have welfare as one part of that; efforts to get them back into the workforce are a second part of that.

I would, but I have skills that allow me to make more money doing other things.

Well, there you go...and good for you. Some, through no fault of their own (sometimes) don't have or cannot obtain those skills. We can't all be captains, and the world needs rowers too. And, I am not wishing ill will on you, but what if you had some type of accident or incident where you could no longer perform those skills? I am not saying this is always the reason, and there are those who abuse the system (at ALL levels).
You said profits are people, but that is hardly reflected in this economy of sending jobs overseas. Small towns and even some cities are drying up because of this.
No, there is nothing wrong with making a profit...but good grief, do CEO's have to make 3,000 times as much as their employees? There's profit and then there's just plain ridiculous.
But, I'm with ya' on some of what you say.

I'm just careful of who I accuse of being over/underpaid is all, or who is lazy and who isn't, or someone's "value" to society. Whomever sprayed this sign could be accused of defacing public property and wasting tax dollars for cleanup. (is it whomever or whoever?)

The headline was certainly meant to be provocative, but it also happens to be what struck me most about the graffiti on both visits I paid to it. Like my OCAP/CCTV post from earlier today, I wanted to explore a disconnect between medium and message -- not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. I was genuinely curious how commenters on Torontoist would respond; how would people feel if they agree with the sentiment but not the way it was expressed, or vice versa?

As to why I used "left" and "right" distinctions to refer to the medium and message, respectively:

"Right": The particular way the message was phrased (specifically, "willing to waste tax payer money") is entirely consistent with right-wing rhetoric. Not that the left wants to waste taxpayer money, of course, but the debate over salaries of TTC employees (and all public employees for that matter) falls very clearly along left-right lines, within City Hall, anyway. While most of the sentiments expressed via this piece of graffiti aren't indicative of a conservative ideology, I would say that the last one likely is.

"Left": Not counting messages scrawled on the inside of toilet stalls, it's fairly uncommon to see graffiti expressing a conservative view, and I can't ever recall seeing such a stencil before. Further, it's even rarer to see sharp conservative satire; satire is a powerful way to make a critical point, and there's no reason that it should be dominated by the left.

tyrannosaurus_rek: "ticket booth operators just do. not. work. hard. enough. to. deserve. $25+/hour. Period."

Uh, you need to do a teeny tiny bit of research about what the guys in the booth are responsible for before you label them as guys just "handing out tickets".

You seem a bit clueless about how people earn a living and what the going rates are for various occupations. But maybe you're 23 or a student or something.

i like jonathan's headline.

while the artist may not be a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, nor even self-identify as a "right winger", the statements made in the stencil reflect an anti-union, anti-tax attitude.

Are their instances of TTC employees being jerks? OF course. But find me a profession that is free of jerks. The truth is, most TTC employees aren't rude at all. i find ttc workers to be very friendly. and considering how underfunded the TTC is I think they are doing a great job of keeping the system running on time.

So, in my view, the artist is not being motivated by real conditions on the TTC, but rather by a political viewpoint that believes unionised public sector workers get paid too much to do too little. It's a classic right wing argument used to cultivate distrust in our public services.

Let me put it this way: The artist of that stencil did not vote NDP in the last election. Nor did he/she vote for David Miller. I'd bet on that. So what's wrong Jonathan's headline?

You wanna make TTC workers less grumpy? Let's start funding transit properly so their workplace isn't so dysfunctional. The irony here of course, is that it's the right-wingers who cut all the funding for transit. So it's a little hard to feel sorry for their complaints now. boohoo.

Am I being simplistic? Or is the situation just plain simple? Conservative politicians (using false majorities) cut public services, and when those services begin to suffer, the workers are blamed.

Jon's [lucid] explanations for politicizing this issue seemed too weak to warrant such labels to the message.

If I understand correctly, a single point (willing to waste tax payer money) is a political indicator strong enough to state that graffiti was the work of 'right wingers'

Is it possible that city hall is not a perfect microcosm of this city? Could Torontonians, regardless of political identitfication, share a feeling of disgust at the level of service provided at such a high cost? By the general tone of your critics here, I'd say you made an irresponsible conclusion.

Further to 43's general point, one would think that supporters of taxation to fund public works would be the most ardent critics of wasteful allocation of tax dollars, since waste of tax dollars (a) undermines the case for taxation generally and (b) reduces the amount of tax dollars available for (presumably) more beneficial expenditures.

A good demonstration of the intellectual gymnastics necessary to turn this into a left-right thing is given by 41, who I understand to be the muse of the specious "public space" "movement" generally, in making the argument that TTC workers would be less lazy, surly, etc. (though 41 doesn't see them as either, and therefore neither should you) if their institution were better funded through tax dollars (and thus 41's argument, if logically extended, makes the somewhat counterintuitive claim that the attitudes of TTC workers could be improved by a wage cut if the proceeds of the wage cut was reinvested in the TTC generally), all the time ignoring (a) that the money spent on the not-at-all lazy and surly workers could otherwise go to improving such working conditions, increase service, reduce pollution, and generally achieve the Left's political goals
and (b) the willingness of the public to support an improvement of the TTC generally through tax revenues is reduced by the fact that, historically, such funding increases are captured by union wage demands which crowds-out the very improvements everyone agrees is necessary.

The irony is, of course, that the Left's goals will never be achieved because they support the waste that undermines the case for support of public infrastructure through taxation and, I might add, attack the private sectors' reasonable contributions which have the effect of creating tax room to fund other worthy public investments on the most specious of grounds. Boo hoo indeed.

I have many friends who work for the TTC and I would hope I never have to drive bus for any reason. Split shifts just suck and the morons you have to put up with are unbelievable. So if you think they are over paid your not the brightest bulb. Why do people dislike it when others are paid a living wage? Just pathetic really. Them being late is what their fault? And in any company you have bad workers it should not reflect on all the others.

"Just because some people here are disagreeing with a label (right-wing) doesn't mean that that label is wrong. Jonathan explained the reason for that label pretty lucidly."

I really, really can't agree with that, David.