April 2005

Each time I have to sprint for the subway I seem to lose the pen in my pocket. This happened the last time as well but this time it was a company pen. Not worth a lot but I liked it. It had a nice feel to it. At least I didn’t lose my phone or my notebook. That would be far worse than simply losing a pen.

While we were shopping on Yonge Street on Sunday we were in this stationery store and there was a guy there looking for pens. He said “I don’t want a pen that will be fashionable in 20 years say but I do want one that will still be fashionable in 5 years.” I could just feel the clerk’s eyes roll.

I’ve never been more happy to take public transit as I was this morning. I’m so glad they reached a deal last night. Assuming it gets ratified by the union on Thursday we should have regular transit for the forseeable future (3 years I’m assuming). Hooray!

TheStar.com – TTC to be on strike Monday: Union

Let the headaches begin.

Here’s the latest on the TTC labour negotiations (from my inbox):

FOR RELEASE 10:45 A.M. Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Transit workers set deadline. Strike on Monday morning if no acceptable offer by Friday noon from the TTC. RICHMOND HILL - The following statement was made this morning at 10:30 a.m. by Bob Kinnear, President of the Transit workers Union – ATU 113, to a press conference at the Sheraton Parkway Hotel in Richmond Hill: Thank you all for coming this morning. I have an important announcement that will be of great interest to the people of Toronto and the GTA. Let me take this opportunity to thank the thousands of people who have visited our new website, www.WeMoveToronto.ca. Many visitors have left comments that are very supportive of our members. Many have written on the importance of public transit and why it deserves more public support. Some of them, on the other hand, have made critical comments that I would not exactly call supportive. But we welcome all comments, positive or negative, and we are doing our best to answer everyone. Let me also pay tribute to some people who deserve a lot more recognition than they get – our 3,800 members in the Maintenance Department of the TTC. They do amazing work and much of the safety and efficiency of the system rests on their shoulders. Did you know, for example, that a bus in Toronto is in service about twice as long as the exact same bus would be in large cities in the United States? That’s due to the great skill of our members in Maintenance. They save riders and taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year. You can learn a lot more about our members at We Move Toronto.ca and you can also enter our contest to win a free Monthly Metropass. We’re awarding one every day. The big question today is this: Even if you win, will you be able to use the Metropass? Last Thursday, the last day of our three-year collective agreement, I gave our union’s commitment that we would give the bargaining process more time. I pledged that we would continue providing full TTC service up to and including today, even though we were not legally obliged to do so. We have met that commitment. We have lived up to our word. We have done everything we could to resolve some difficult issues. We wanted to arrive at a settlement that we could recommend to our members as fair and equitable. Unfortunately, I regret that we have not done so. I respect the people who are on the other side of the bargaining table; I want to make that clear. However my impression is that they simply do not want a settlement as much as we do. Or at least they don’t seem to want a settlement that both sides can move forward with, that both parties believe is fair. Progress has been too slow. They have been dragging their heels on issues that they absolutely know are key to a settlement. Their strategy of delay, defer and ignore no longer serves any useful purpose. The people of Toronto want to see this settled, and so does the Transit Workers Union. We have therefore made a decision, which we hope will achieve that goal. We will continue to negotiate with the TTC for another 49 hours. We will go around the clock if necessary. We invite the Minister of Labour to sit down with both parties if it helps. We want to reach an agreement without withdrawing our services. Here is what that 49 hours means. We will accept from the TTC a proposal for a new contract up to noon Friday, April 8. If no offer is forthcoming, or if an offer made by that time does not adequately address our important issues, we will be on strike as of the first shift this coming Monday, April 11. What we hope is that an offer is made by that time that we can recommend to our members. If that happens, will then hold a ratification vote next Wednesday and count it immediately. In the meantime, service would remain uninterrupted. I need to emphasize that 12:00 p.m. Friday is our first and only deadline. Some in the media have left the impression on the public that today was our settlement or strike deadline. That is not true. I stated last Thursday that we would reassess the situation today and advise you accordingly. But let there be no confusion here. Friday is the deadline. If the T.T.C. fails to come through with an acceptable offer by noon, we will cease negotiations until at least Monday and we will be off the job until we have an offer that is ratified by our members by secret ballot. We have chosen Friday afternoon as the deadline because that would give people and businesses more time to prepare and make alternate arrangements. But again, this is not what we want. Less than an hour ago I spoke with Mayor Miller and advised him of what I have just told you. I can tell you that it was a friendly and useful conversation. But it is not for me to tell you what he said to me. I have great respect for the Mayor and he can speak for himself. I also spoke with Howard Hampton, Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. I called him because of the key role he played in the quick settlement of our two-day work stoppage six years ago. We sincerely hope – as does he – that his intervention will not be necessary this year. I am also communicating directly with our members. Right now, phone calls are being made to all 8,400 members of Local 113, telling them of this decision. Since most of them are at work right now, they will likely get my message on their voice mail when they get home tonight after their 12-1/2 hour shifts. In my message, I ask them to continue to provide good service to the travelling public until Monday morning, and hopefully beyond, without interruption.

So Monday morning we could be in a real mess. Here’s hoping that the next 4x hours are productive for all involved.

The subway I took this morning was plastered with We Move Toronto advertisements. I wonder what the commission thinks of these ads as they’re essentially trying to sway the public in favour of the transit union in the ongoing labour negotiations. I like the ads though – they feature regular workers telling a story about how they contribute to a better life in Toronto through their job. I haven’t heard much on the progress of the labour talks but everyone’s saying that the two sides are still speaking positively about the situation so that’s a good sign. I don’t want to have to consider what I’d do if they went on strike. It would be very difficult to get to work.