Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
In a 23-22 vote City Council just defeated a motion that would have declared the TTC an essential service. Essential service designation would have, if approved by the province, prevented TTC members from striking legally. The declaration was originally considered and rejected at a meeting of the Executive Committee under the leadership of Mayor Miller despite widespread public support for the measure. Councillors Jenkins, Palacio, and Thompson have been spearheading a campaign to overturn that decision, collecting signatures and publishing editorials to build support. The major argument in favour: the impact of a TTC strike is economically and socially unsustainable and outweighs the union's reasonable right to strike. The major argument against: declaring the TTC essential is cost-prohibitive (contracts for essential service employees tend to be higher than others); moreover, wildcat strikes and work-to-rule actions would still be possible and have occurred in other jurisdictions where transit services have been declared essential, rendering the designation substantially ineffectual. Both TTC management and the union leadership opposed the declaration, as did Councillors Giambrone and Mihevc, chair and vice-chair of the TTC, respectively. Council did pass motions asking that the province designate the Wheel-Trans division of the TTC essential, and require that the union give 48 hours notice of any strike action.
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tl;dr but my first impression follows: Booooooo.
Anyone got a list of which councillors voted yay and which voted nay?
uuuuuggggghhhhh
People in this city are far too prone to declare anything that might inconvenience them if it isn't there "essential." Is anyone going to die if the TTC goes on strike, outside of some very contrived circumstances? Unless they are, I don't see why they should be declared "essential."
Is it inconvenient if the TTC goes on strike? It sure is! That's the whole point of a strike! But if your life becomes so unmanageable without them, then instead of saying "force them back to work" how come no one ever says "why don't we ensure conditions are such that they don't have any reason to strike?"
If the city is "economically and socially unsustainable" without the TTC, then the city should be willing to pay what it takes to keep it running without resorting to forced labour.
Driusan, I'm not sure that approach works in a context where funds aren't unlimited.
Funds don't need to be unlimited. Is the economic impact of it not being available during a strike greater than the funds that are available?
If so, and the employees feel the need to strike, then it's underfunded.
If not, then it's definitely not essential.
I think they will strike whether or not it's legal.
Good call Council. If declared an essential service, TTC contract negotiations would be subject to arbitration, and more often than not, that process favours the union.
Of course we could tender out parts of the transit system to the low bidder; even the union could bid. But the socialists, union supporters and left wingers would be up in arms about their entitlement being left to the market to decide.
Haven't they been on slowdown for the last decade?
i take the ttc every day. i do not want to ride vehicles operated by, inspected by, maintained by, built by, and administered by the lowest bidders. my experience working with low bidders in govt is that you get what you pay for. you seriously want the quality of the ttc to get even worse?!!
Andrew - I'd happily buy tokens and passes from someone staffed by a company that bid the lowest, in a station cleaned by a company that bid the lowest.