CablePulse 24 has issued a highly speculative report suggesting that the City of Toronto may be preparing for another wildcat strike tomorrow [link to video report on CP24]. This news has not been taken up by either the Toronto Star or CBC Toronto, and if you read between the lines of the report, it seems likely that TTC management may be taking steps to ensure that the commission is better prepared should a wildcat strike occur at some undetermined date. Throw in an unsubstantiated rumour by streetcar driver Faye Budree, and you have an alarming report to cross your inbox late on Sunday evening.
I would have to say that, while I am no more able to read the minds of the TTC union than anybody else here, at this time it feels far less likely that there would be a wildcat strike tomorrow morning than it did this time last week. We would have more rumours at this point, and more consternation.
But if I may be allowed to step away from my attempts to maintain a balanced viewpoint on this transit news blog, I believe that union president Bob Kinnear made a serious tactical error when TTC employees illegally walked off the job last Monday (read the Star’s “Toronto’s Most Hated Man” in Sunday’s paper). Whatever support the general public had for the real and serious issues drivers have regarding workplace safety evaporated because of actions that can be called criminal, not to mention immature. Whatever gripes the union has with its management, Torontonians deserve better, and they will demand better if they’re pushed. It would be unwise for the union to push Torontonians further.