PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Midnight TTC strike strands riders
by stephen donahue Saturday, Apr. 26, 2008 at 11:15 AM

Shutting down public transit at midnight and without warning kills public support for union struggle

Last Sunday (April 20) the TTC and ATU Local 113 negotiators came up with a tentative contract. Local President Bob Kinnear said then that he and the Local’s executive board would be recommending a ‘yes’ vote. Prior to this Kinnear had said that the public would get a 48 hr notice of any strike.



About mid week the media began to report about grumbling within the ranks of Local 113 about provisions in the contract that would hurt mechanics. It was reported that the contract would open the door to contracting out some mechanical work – beginning with new hybrid buses still under warranty. More frightening was a report that some executive board members had also refused to endorse the proposed contract. Still the public was told to expect the Local to vote for the contract as it ha provisions calling for pay hikes and a special provision guaranteeing that TTC workers would always have higher pay than any other regional transit entity.



Last night April 25 at midnight TTC workers were ordered to strike by the union. The contract had been turned down by 66% of the union members. Instead of waiting until the end of regular service 2:30AM, TTC workers were given the dangerous task of telling riders in the middle of their journeys to get lost. With no warning riders got trapped in subway stations and riders were stranded at bus stops. All this at midnight!



The Ontario Parliament has been called to special session on Sunday April 27 and will vote on emergency legislation forcing ATU Local 113 back to work. TTC management and the union team have been ordered to resume bargaining.



Now my editorial rant:



Toronto needs a group like Save Our Transit here. FACT: ATU LOCAL 113 HAS LOST PUBLIC SUPPORT. Stranding riders at midnight at bus stops is no way to get the public behind you.



Pennsylvania policy makers and media pundits always used to accuse Save Our Transit of being a front for the ATU. We were not but we did always approach labor with a favourable prejudice. We had a preferential option for the union. We stayed out of union business while fighting to keep the politicians from playing the public against the union. We handed out fliers asking fellow riders to not blame the bus drivers for things like fare hikes and service cuts that were pushed on us by policy makers.



Let’s get real. A UNION THAT FUNCTIONS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR WILL BE MUCH STRONGER WITH THE PUBLIC BEHIND IT. The ATU Local 113 had been talking about job actions such as refusing to take fares. Actions such as these send a clear message to management while building support with the public.



I have refused to ever comment on internal union stuff. (Except when I was a SEIU Purple Ocean member and I called Andy Stern a jerk – he still is too.) But at the risk of butting in let me suggest to Mr. Kinnear that having us – the riding public on your side really strengthens your union power. Now you have lost many of us by shutting down at midnight with no warning.



How many union janitors, and other low wage service workers got sucker punched by ATU Local 113 last night? How many poor new comers to this country who have lousy low wage jobs in the suburbs at all hours of the day went to work yesterday on the TTC but got stranded at quitting time? Hey Kinnear, the rich riders of choice don’t use public transit on the weekend, the poor do. You really screwed them over good. Yea, way to build support for your cause – not!



Contracting out stinks! Many of us riders will endure hardship to help the union fight to keep their jobs. But you have lost us now. Hey, Kinnear, calling us riders “irrational” does not help your fight for justice. You lost the riders you fool. Now the public will stand with anti union policy makers who will shortly force you back to work and then just down the road enact legislation calling the TTC an “essential service” thus taking away your right to strike.



A strike in the public sector becomes the public’s business. Telling the public to stay out of union business when the union business strands the public is ludicrous. Public sector unions must always gage ways to keep the public on their side when they must fight the bosses. Sounds like a no brainer, right?

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