Today Mon Tue
It is forcast to be Chance of Snow at 10:00 PM EST on February 12, 2012
Chance of Snow
-1°/-4°		 It is forcast to be Clear at 10:00 PM EST on February 13, 2012
Clear
4°/-3°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Snow at 10:00 PM EST on February 14, 2012
Chance of Snow
6°/1°

12 Comments

news

Bob Kinnear isn’t Greg Kinnear

By David Topping

gregkinner_bobkinnear.jpg
We probably don’t need to tell you that we made this image ourselves, from this and this.


Bob Kinnear is the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113—a perennially unpopular head of the TTC employees’ union back in the news after members hinted at a work-to-rule campaign in response to their being “harassed” by riders who were taking their photographs. (Kinnear, never one to shy away from making things worse, told the Star that “We’ve got 13 and 14-year-olds that feel that they have an entitlement to film our operators in the performance of their duties, and that’s not acceptable.”)
Greg Kinnear is a famous American actor, whose films you have seen.
They are not the same man. And yet people do sometimes still get them confused, a tendency which turns a small handful of the criticism intended for the union leader—criticism back in full force now—into accidentally hilarious slams against the guy who played Meg Ryan’s boyfriend in You’ve Got Mail before Tom Hanks won her away instead.
Cheap and easy laughs ahoy!


A Digital Journal op-ed in the wake of 2008′s strike, about what a jerk Greg Kinnear is for ruining your weekend:
gregkinnear_digitaljournal.jpg

SkyscraperCity members discuss Greg Kinnear’s long history of misplaced advocacy for transit workers:
gregkinnear_skyscrapercity.gif

“mr. weather,” Premium member of DSLreports.com, has had it up to here with Greg Kinnear’s shit:
gregkinnear_dslreports.jpg

And “Darth Obvious” is altogether unimpressed with Greg Kinnear’s management abilities, and shocked he still has his job as head of ATU Local 113:
gregkinnear_randomblogpost.jpg

Meanwhile, Eye (in an article since changed) emphasizes Greg Kinnear’s name in bold, as it should be:
gregkinnear_eye.jpg

And, finally, members of Urban Toronto really, really hated As Good As It Gets:
gregkinnear_urbantoronto.gif

Filed under: , , , , , , ,

Report error Send a tip

Comments

  • http://undefined CanadianGirl

    Poor Greg… how did no one realize this?? lol

  • http://undefined W. K. Lis

    But Dad, they took pictures first!
    Personally, I don’t care who started the bad behaviour. Act your age and be responsible, both of you, union members and the public.

  • http://undefined thelemur

    I have long thought that we’d be better off replacing Bob Kinnear with deceased English actor Roy Kinnear

  • http://undefined Patrick

    It’s also important to note that the Globe, who originally reported that TTC workers were considering work to rule, cited as their ONLY source “someone named Ruth posted on Facebook around 8 p.m. last night”. That’s it. Then the Star goes to press with the same story, citing “media reports”. That’s some grade-A crappy journalism right there.

  • http://undefined Andrew

    With this many references to Kinnear *(either of them) I had to comment. Bob Kinnear (the union boss, not my uncle from BC) is giving us Kinnears a bad name. Greg Kinnear on the other hand (again, no relation) is a decent actor and deserves more leading roles.
    My Blog has the only Kinnear you should be listening to. Seriously.

  • rek

    Could the TTC become enough of a blight that the province and/or feds step in to fix it?

  • http://dandmb50.tumblr.com/ dandmb50


    I think the TTC Union guy is going a bit too far the same as the public with snapping pics everywhere but then the world is a changin and you better get on board or you miss the bus.
    Which all of us have been doing too long
    Daniel ……… Toronto
    http://dandmb50.tumblr.com/

  • http://culturepopped.blogspot.com Popped Culture

    Cheap and easy laughs are the best laughs. Nice compilation, David.

  • http://undefined Darren

    How? Will they water it down further in return for finally picking up the operational shortfall from the fare box?
    The best way for the province to help the TTC out is give its management teeth. Remove some of the political elements so we dont have ward vs ward bickering that led to the Sheppard STUBway and such greatly used items like Glencairn station. The TTC should also be given any funds received from future toll zones in the downtown. The MTA in NYC runs the subways/buses and the toll bridges. I cannot trust the TTC and its union for much, but hopefully we can clean out the bad apples and focus on delivering service at the best cost possible.

  • http://undefined Subo23

    Maybe the government could help resolve the situation by funding the damn thing properly.

  • http://undefined Chris Orbz

    It’s all about the Vancouver model: no drivers, just security and maintenance. A buggy malfunctioning computer (11056103C 120 AA! 32K RAM! 11056103C 120 AA! 32K RAM!) would be lightyears ahead of a TTC employee in terms of customer service.

  • Amber

    All these people complaining about transit are missing the point about what a dick Greg Kinnear is.