TTC fooled us good
Well, around 11:10pm last night was when I found that the TTC was going to strike at midnight. Luckily I didn't need transportation but qicetrini was working last night and I wondered if she would find herself in a little adventure, but she came home before the strike commenced.
It turns out that 65% of TTC staff voted against the tentative agreement set out this past Sunday. While staff would receive a 3% pay increase every year, the maintenance workers had a problem with the fact that their job security was not mentioned at all in the agreement, especially since new buses will be arriving in the semi-near future. They walked out, the drivers went with them in support.
While I can see how the maintenance staff would be upset about this, the TTC staff reneged on their promise to the public that we would receive 48 hours notice of a strike. Bob Kinnear reasons that they didn't do it in order to protect the staff from any number of abuses from the general public in light of the last time they gave notice of an impending strike from last week.
While all of the above is reasonable in and of itself, the fact remains that we did not receive enough notice of this happening and in turn, not only were people on late Friday practically stranded downtown, anyone who works in a business that runs on weekends (e.g., like myself) has few or no means of getting to work. Mayor Miller has requested return to work legislation for the TTC starting Monday and Premier McGuinty said he would work on it at the "earliest opportunity." My translation: the politicians still want their weekends off and never mind those "few" who work during this time. M&M should be acting on this immediately if this truly needs to be dealt with; they should not start action for just nine-to-fivers like themselves, it should be for everyone.
While I do sympathize with the TTC staff to an extent (after all, they still have one of the highest-paying jobs in Toronto) and that they should defend their work rights, I do not believe that strike action should be available to them due to the inevitable consequences that it would incur to the general public. Not only is the city in a standstill, there are those who can only rely on the TTC to get to their doctors and treatments, and to their jobs in order to keep their homes and put food on the table. The TTC staff will have to rely on other methods to get their point across and to defend their rights, such as continuous bargaining until a real consensus has been reached and would not inconvenience those who need the TTC most.
I sincerely hope the Premier can get the more immediate legislation to return them to work, and makes the TTC an essential service so that they can never strike again.
It turns out that 65% of TTC staff voted against the tentative agreement set out this past Sunday. While staff would receive a 3% pay increase every year, the maintenance workers had a problem with the fact that their job security was not mentioned at all in the agreement, especially since new buses will be arriving in the semi-near future. They walked out, the drivers went with them in support.
While I can see how the maintenance staff would be upset about this, the TTC staff reneged on their promise to the public that we would receive 48 hours notice of a strike. Bob Kinnear reasons that they didn't do it in order to protect the staff from any number of abuses from the general public in light of the last time they gave notice of an impending strike from last week.
While all of the above is reasonable in and of itself, the fact remains that we did not receive enough notice of this happening and in turn, not only were people on late Friday practically stranded downtown, anyone who works in a business that runs on weekends (e.g., like myself) has few or no means of getting to work. Mayor Miller has requested return to work legislation for the TTC starting Monday and Premier McGuinty said he would work on it at the "earliest opportunity." My translation: the politicians still want their weekends off and never mind those "few" who work during this time. M&M should be acting on this immediately if this truly needs to be dealt with; they should not start action for just nine-to-fivers like themselves, it should be for everyone.
While I do sympathize with the TTC staff to an extent (after all, they still have one of the highest-paying jobs in Toronto) and that they should defend their work rights, I do not believe that strike action should be available to them due to the inevitable consequences that it would incur to the general public. Not only is the city in a standstill, there are those who can only rely on the TTC to get to their doctors and treatments, and to their jobs in order to keep their homes and put food on the table. The TTC staff will have to rely on other methods to get their point across and to defend their rights, such as continuous bargaining until a real consensus has been reached and would not inconvenience those who need the TTC most.
I sincerely hope the Premier can get the more immediate legislation to return them to work, and makes the TTC an essential service so that they can never strike again.