The Toronto Star is reporting that there will be no TTC strike this week:
The union representing Toronto transit workers said today that its members will not walk off the job in the next 48 hours.
However, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 president Bob Kinnear warned that time is running out for a negotiated contract settlement, and said Toronto Transit Commission drivers could issue a 48-hour ultimatum some time next week if no progress is made.
photo by Christine Mullen
19 comments
I thought it was rather clever of Kinnear to request that Adam Giambrone take over the negotiations…a thinly veiled attempt to make it seem as though the TTC management is botching the process. This way when they do strike the union can point to this request and accuse the TTC of not “going the extra mile” to complete the negotiations in a timely manner.
It also allows them to control the pace of the negotiations, as Kinnear might feel as though he could beat up on the young Giambrone at the bargaining table or at the very least cast doubt upon the leadership of Gary Webster.
ATU 113 has so much work to do with their image that they’re going to need every trick in the book to come out of the impending strike smelling rosy. They’re going into it smelling a bit like skunk.
Where are the people from Streets are for People? Shouldn’t they be protesting the union trying to suck even more transit money into paying overpaid employees?
More money for a toll collector making $60K/year certainly doesn’t add to our “car free culture.”
I’ll wait for the signed-all-over protest car to be on Bob Kinnear’s lawn…
Don’t know about what toll collectors do, but as for the drivers, I know a few, and based on what I know of their working conditions, hours, and training required, I don’t think they are overpaid. Of course, the frontline staff are the part of the system most visible to riders so any anger or resentment over increases in fares gets directed to them personally rather than to the TTC corporately.
What does it mean to be “overpaid”. I’ve never been overpaid before and no matter how much I make in my life, I’m certain I’ll never feel “overpaid”.
What do we accomplish by begrudging an individual for making whatever they can? Isn’t that the goal of our free society; that every person should be able to make as much as they can honestly make?
Any issues with how our taxes and fares are spent are systemic. It’s wrong to belittle the average working men and woman of the TTC by putting the blame on them…they just work there.
I do think that certain TTC employees are overpaid relative to fair market rates. Bus drivers are certainly paid fairly, since it is a tough job and furthermore there is a shortage of them. The demands of the union for 100% pay to employees injured on the job is reasonable. On the other hand, collectors and janitors are overpaid – replacing the collectors with vending machines and contracting out the janitors to the private sector would save quite a bit of money. We do have to realize that when employees are paid above-market rates, everyone has to pay more for their subway fare.
Andrew’s point is exactly my point.
The key question is what is the market rate for each position, and anything above that market rate is a choice on the part of management to choose to pay employees more while draining money from actual transit routes.
If I was Streets are for People, I would be demanding that the TTC outsource its janitorial and collection services so that it can help build a “car culture.”
The unions are asking for benefits equivalent to the Toronto EMS services, from what I am told, they get 100% of their salary if they are injured on the job. I won’t debate whether or not the job is “stressful”, but there is one distinctive difference with the TTC workers, they, unlike the EMS services have the right to strike. EMS services are usually regarded as “essential services”.
However, the TTC should be treated as an “essential service”, given the impact of a TTC strike could do to the Toronto economy. Too many people especially lower paid people rely on the TTC to get to and from their place of work. Even left-wing rags like the Star, Eye, and Now magazines say that the TTC should be declared essential and their contract requests be sent to binding arbitration.
God forbid that the Toronto EMS services cry foul over the TTC getting better benefits while retaining the right to strike.
I agree with Andrew and tdotg. People should be paid fair market rate for their wages, and there should only be the number of employees needed to perform a given job. The TTC should definitely outsource janitorial work, basic maintenance such as escaltor repair (which seems to take forever at TTC stations, but when was the last time you saw a mall escalator out of service for more than one day) and decrease the number of collectors by increasing vending machines. Of course this is hard when the TTC is against “smart cards”, which would be a lot easier to sell and manage through vending machines than the current system of tokens. All the savings should be put towards service improvements, such as GPS tracking on buses and streetcars to ensure that drivers are keeping to their schedule instead of hanging out at the end of a loop, as well as to help monitor bus and streetcar travel through heavy traffic to design better flow routes.
Just a few thoughts.
You guys so don’t understand the down side to contracting out janitorial duties. Not to say that the TTC is a bastion of cleanliness but if the TTC contracts those jobs out then it loses the abiliy to deploy workers as they’re needed. Instead, the TTC gets a hard-to-enforce contract that stipulates the number of visits a cleaning company will make on a daily basis. Libraries are way cleaner than TTC stations but they’ve certainly suffered since cleaning was contracted out at amalgamation.
Frankly, as a PUBLIC SERVICE any and all should be deemed essential. Those that can’t abide should find another job.
How can any reasonable thinking individual, union or company agree to paying a ‘starting’ position the same as an experienced position. With that logic Kinnear should be paying each of his union employees the same salary he gets. Such nonsense, yet this to him is a worthy strike issue.
The union, and not just this one, has clearly outlived its once created usefulness as has the archaic military management style of orgs like the TTC.
And let’s not exclude council. How can Miller possibly fix anything when he starts every year with a minimum 3% increase in salaries for every employee? Add to that COL increases, benefits, etc.
Its time to introduce the concept of earning one’s salary and performance increases with accountability from the top down AND bottom up.
No service, no performance, no pay. Just like the rest of the population.
Transit workers have been deemed essential in some jurisdictions. But regarding making TTC workers essential (either all categories or specific subgroups), I’m sure that is road the TTC, the City and the Province will try to avoid going down. Why? Because once a job category is made essential, the result tends to be generally higher settlements for the workers.
I don’t know about maintenance and collector staff, but my understanding is that the TTC is facing some real challenges in terms of attracting, training and retaining qualified drivers. Most of the public probably sees this as a job that any chump could do but from what I know, the training program is very intensive (over a month I think) and a significant number of candidates do not make it through. And if the candidate does not make it succesfully through the training AND stay employed with the TTC for a certain duration of time (eg. because they are not happy with the working conditions or flee to what they think are greener or less stressful pastures), then the TTC’s training investment in that individual has not paid off…ie it has been wasted.
The entire government is overpaid. The entire system is set up to make as much cash disappear .
Why be surprised that the TTC would want it’s piece of the pie.
Let’s face it , government and the church suck as much money as they can away from needy people as they can. This has been so since organized civilization began.
Whats the oldest profession……..prostitution ….well at least you know what you paid for. Religious organizations and government are a tie with prostitution but are set up to benefit the upper class while screwing everyone else. Bend over in unison Canadians and let the rich or the political and religious do what you do or don’t know they are doing to you.
“Because once a job category is made essential, the result tends to be generally higher settlements for the workers.”
As a right winger, I am aware how this might be the case for essential services. But the big difference is that the right to strike is taken away. This means that I won’t have to worry about commuter chaos when I go to work during a TTC strike. And my fiance does not have to worry about finding alternate transportation to work. And millions of people who rely on the TTC to get to work and for other amenities of life do not have to worry about what they are going to do in a strike.
It’s a tradeoff, even for a right winger but it is one I am willing to live with if it means that the public does not have to fret each time the TTC goes on strike.
I have been reading some of the coments by both sides of the fence on the ttc strike and it is sad that more truths do not come to light. One thing you should know is that I am happy to be working for the company and enjoy the people(passengers) and think yes we are paid very well. After working 37 years I have decided not to retire just yet because there is never a dull moment and maybee I can still make someone else smile or laugh before I leave. Some things you might think about as drawbacks before your life sentence at the ttc. Do you want to be home for Christmas Day in the next 15 or so years? How about for the bith of your children or would you like to have wednesday off for your wedding and thursday for your honeymoon then go back to work the next morning. How about being physicly assaulted once every 10 years on average– Spitting and threatening you many times a year do not count. I kind of miss watching hockey cames or being unable to join a team because every 6 weeks if you are lucky you change off days and not to sat and sundays. I survived the traveling to different subway stations every day and calling work at 500pm monday to find out that I was working at 500am the next morning on the other side of the city where I had to take a taxi too because there was no service and I could not park my car there. I have only had my car vandilized three times while parked at work. Theese are a few things of many to think about but yes if I had to do it again I would.
greedy bastards. nuff said.
They make more money than most middle class people. Other people also do get harassed at their jobs for exmaple, sales people they get cussed out all the time and I’m not talking about those telemarketers but those people running around on their feet. Nurses, cashiers, business owners they all get harassed sometimes by crazy people and the sad thing is that they don’t get as much $$ than ttc employees.
I know friends who just graduated from universities with osap loans to pay back and they don’t even make as much as the ttc employees.It’s just telling us that it’s better to quit school and work for the ttc instead.
Boo hoo waa waa. No one held a gun to your friends’ heads to borrow money for their studies. And maybe they’ve learned that blue collar wasn’t such a bad career path after all.
What is an employee worth? In the private sector, the lowest amount of money that they are willing to work for. In a collective agreement environment, the highest the employer is willing to pay.
Not at all happy! The union made it seem last week that the 3% annual increase offer was a good one and should be accepted by the members. To do an about face; and say that angry threats from members of the public clearly frustrated about the possibility of at strike is why the strike needs to happen is despicable.
Send them back to work and resolve this a ‘better way’.
$26 an hour for a guy who sits behind bullet proof glass, hand out tokens, and generally be unhelpful when you ask for directions (I’m new to Toronto) is MUCH more then overpaid.
Plenty of people sit on there ass all day and hendle money. In much more dangerous and stressful places. You know what they make?
Minimum wage