And the Ontario Liberal party who will either cave in to demands or do nothing.
enough

Jeez, you think Miller will call in the troops like Lastman did.
Troops
In our streets
Shoveling snow
In Canada
'Cause we don't know how

LOL

I think that the management that makes the decision to switch people to permanent graveyard shift for the good of the company should also switch to permanent graveyard shift. Its like chickenhawks giving orders in war--they don't know what the ---- they are doing,except it looks good on paper, of course.

I'm sure if the transit strike would have happened in Vancouver the CentralCanada Broadcating Corporation would have also had this as its lead story on its website. Oh well, at least we get a RoadShow a couple of times a year with Mark Kelly and a few dozen stories each year about the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

Director's mug shot here: Free. (Enjoy your stay,in TO, terrorists included.).

Honk if you support janitors and terrorists. ...

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The ATU is committed to improving the working conditions and the quality of life for all of its members through education, training and lobbying.

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Thank you for visiting our site and I hope that you enjoy your stay!

Yours in solidarity,

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Steve D.: the story presented in the CBC report does not give the complete story in context (surprise!). There is more to the story about shifting the workers to the graveyard shift...as I recall, this was debunked months ago by pointing out that the union had originally agreed to or proposed the switch...now, of course, they claim to the contrary. Perhaps my memory is wrong on this point, though.

Plus, I believe that the REAL dispute is on driver safety and the maintenance workers illegal strike is the excuse that is being used at the moment by the union.

Maybe,just maybe,now is a good time for thinking Canadians to see our public sector unions and their illegal strikes for what they really are.
With memories of the Caledonia standoff fresh in our minds,I can't help but recognize many similarites.We have a self-interested group illegally and deliberately disrupting the lives of INNOCENT Canadians,using blockades as at least one tactic,to force the government to come to terms in negotiations.Oh,and don't forget,nobody goes to jail for their ILLEGAL actions and the taxpayer is on the hook for any costs.
May I humbly introduce the term "Caledonia-style"!?

Stevie D

Maybe I am a facist capitalist pig but what the f**k are you talking about. The TTC runs on the whims of the janitors? The guys in charge have to check their decisions out with the guys cleaning the stalls? Sorry, but it is a public service heavily subsidized by the oublic purse. If you don't like the nightshift, quit.

You won't get a good unionist to quit his job. It's too cushy. Why not just bellyache and complain and have a illegal strike and see if you can "organize" and illegal pay raise. I just love the double standard the union guys use to justify their existence.

Fire 'em all! It worked for Reagan.

Ah, a beautiful picture of unions doing what they do best: nothing.

Torontonians should take this time to reflect that the traffic today isn't all that much worse than it was yesterday, and by Friday should be nearly normal strike or no strike. They might also wonder how much their property taxes would shrink if they just shuttered the whole TTC and fired the lot of them.

The rest of Ontario has been wondering that for years. We don't get to ride the Red Rocket, we just get to pay for it.

The union wants to rewrite the bus drivers ($80K /year) job description to include "let everyone ride for free that wants to".
This is already the unwritten policy that dominates after dark here in the socialist capital of North America.
That, however is not good enough if it can be parlayed into a few days off in the summer.
Then the union strikes when there is a rumbling of opposition to this.
Fire them, or at least put David Peterson on an obscene retainer!

Memorial Day long-weekend to boot, this ought to help bring back tourism.

Sorry, I've forgotten. Can someone remind me what the basis for public sector unionization was -- protection from what exploitation exactly?

The public sector should not be unionized. Pay and conditions should be referenced/indexed to average industrial wages BUT slightly lower due to greater security -- just as government bond yields are always lower than corporates.

Is Al Gore going to fly in to Toronto on his private jet, and blame Stephen Harper for the giant ozone hole that just opened up above the CN Tower this afternoon? I suspect, at the very least, that Jack and Olivia will somehow link this to a lack of funding for public transit, while ignoring the emissions of a couple hundred thousand additional cars idling for hours.

Anyone that tried to get to work via car in Toronto today is a moron. Judging by the photo......

I take the TTC to work, so today I'm working from home.

I just saw that yutz David Miller on TV saying it's Bike Week, so it could have been worse(!).

Miller is completly oblivious to the fact that people from outside of Toronto commute downtown. It's no wonder that the banks and other major firms are setting up shop in the 'burbs; Toronto under Miller is disfunctional.

Another reason that I'm so grateful I don't live in the GTA! It looks the worst place in the country to spend spring or summer.

As an aside, does all that smog affect their ability to think reasonably?

Mark,

What do you want them to do? Take the bus?

Quitting doesn't solve the problem of ---hole management. Besides, why should the little guy quit. If the little guy is so angry he is willing to forgo a day or a week or a month's pay don't you wonder what could make these guys so angry they give up pay to make their point.
This didn't develop overnight. These things simmer a long time before they reach this point. Any time management allows things to get this bad its bad on them. If anyone should resign it should be management because they didn't do what they get paid to do, manage. Does management lose pay because they have failed to manage effectively? Hmmm? Never. Bad management lives to badly manage another day.

Hey Warwick, long time no speak.

How about calling their bosses and telling them that they won't be in, like Missisauga Matt?

The general point is that it is pointless to try and get downtown.

nice picture of the Centre of The Universe

maybe they should add up all the CO2 emissions and then send an invoice to the Union for the cost of the Kyoto credits needed to offset their little temper tantrum.

Mark,

Yup, not going is an option for some, but lots of people won't want a (usually) unpaid day off cause some jackasses shut down a service they rely on.

The union should be de-certified for illegal strikes and their workers should be fined if not fired. This is vital service and strikes shouldn't even be allowed at any time. Mid-contract is unacceptable. They should also be liable for a class-action suit to recover costs lost from either a day off or the additional costs to drive for a day.

I don't think it's about safety; the union is using that as an up-front guilt trip.

It certainly isn't about management either, unless you mean the management of the union.

Remember, unions are a business. Their income is derived off the wages of the workers; they are, yes, parasites. In order for the union to increase its profits, it has to increase both the numbers of workers in its corporation and the wages of the workers.

Fifty to one hundred years ago, unions had a constructive role. Now, most of their original tasks such as wages, hours and safety, have been taken over by the government. Unions are now, in my view, a completely parasite corporation. They increase costs, they decrease the net value of wages, but, they do provide an income for the union management.

Steve D,
Maybe you should ask what gives the "little guy" the right to break the law. Next time you take the TTC tell them you're not going to pay for the ride because it's just a law and people don't have to follow the law.

You also said:
"If anyone should resign it should be management because they didn't do what they get paid to do, manage." And what exactly is it that workers get paid to do....hmmm could it be to work?

ET wrote "Remember, unions are a business. Their income is derived off the wages of the workers; they are, yes, parasites."

Absolutely. I am bombarded daily with glitzy ad campaigns from the nurses, the power workers, and other unions. Nice to see my hard-earned tax dollars at work.

But I don't suppose anyone will be making a sequel to The Corporation where the focus is on big labour.

You know, one of these days, Toronto will wake up to this garbage.

No. Wait. This is Toronto forget that. A hitchhiking, I go!

Those poor frustrated workers. I will be thinking of them on my 10-km walk home with the 40+ degree humidex and the crap air quality.

Now I've got to run and go clean the toilets, because as a manager, I would be a 'chickenhawk' if I forced the janitor to clean those. Because as we have all learned from a certain comment above, it's wrong to pay people to do something you don't want to do.

Hope Dullard McSquinty is taking deep breaths of that fine Toronto air in preparation for taking on the wildcat strikers as stridently as he put down the Caledonia insurrection.

Right. Toronto (where I live) is governed by the 'latte-crowd'. The ones who govern this city have not, for the most part, used public transit for decades. If ever.

I mean that. There are a lot of people in 'the governing class' who have never, ever, ever, used public transit. They have at least two cars and, if they are not using those cars, they'll use a taxi. Public transit is for 'others'.

That's why Miller can make the utterly ignorant suggestion to 'find other means to get to work'. For him, that means 'get a taxi'. He has no idea that the cost of a taxi (30, 40, etc) can mean food for a week.

Don't we have laws anymore?
We get Caledonia, with people burning bridges, barricading roads - and, rather than acknowledge these acts as illegal, we actually accept them as an 'articulation of protest'. They aren't; they are destruction of public property.

A strike that is illegal is illegal. Why does one have to go to court?

And why does a parasitic corporation, aka a UNION, have the right to act illegally? They should be fined, heavily; the workers who obeyed that strike should also be fined.

If legality is reduced to mere perception, and the perception depends solely on the perceiver, then, there are no laws.

Ahh, so many brilliant conservatives, so little time.

This is not a "strike" in the sense that the union okayed it.
It is a "strike" in the sense that both union and management didn't pick up on the fact that the "workers", the ones actually doing the work, are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore. Whatever IT is, has to be fixed. Maybe someone with authority AND intelligence is out there picking up on this.
Ask yourself what would it take to make me stay off without pay from my job, breaking the law on top of it. If you say you'd do it in a flash, well you probably don't need the money. If you say never! Ask yourself, what if they started changing this and that over time? Never? Maybe if you were a slave you would say never. But I think most working people could visualize a point at which they would lay down their tools and say, enough. Even a conservative has to have that much imagination.

"Ahh, so many brilliant conservatives, so little time."

Steve, you should save that for the moment when you stumble and accidentally say something intelligent. Up until now your stuff has been comic relief.

Steve d.: if you think that this was about workers being "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore", you're crazy. This is an age-old story - a public-sector union showing complete contempt for the public, because they know their bosses (the government) will buckle. A private-sector labour force would never pull crap like this. With publicly-owned-and-operated businesses, this kind of crap is absolutely inevitable, no matter how overpaid and underworked the staff is...

ahh, our local illiberal, who insists he knows, for example, exactly what Harper is thinking and why he does whatever - and now, he also knows exactly what the union is thinking and why they are doing - whatever.

steve - it is an illegal strike. It isn't an ad hoc walkout by a few workers. It's a total strike. The union ordered its members to stay away from work. Got that? The union ordered its members to stay away from work.

Our modern day unions operate as an unaccountable Shadow Management. Unlike the regular management, which is paid by the government, the Union management takes its income from the wages of the workers. It's a very good business. It has no competition, its income is guaranteed; every other year, it increases its income but provides no extra or better services for this income. This income provides hefty incomes for this Union management, and, hefty investment returns. So, all in all, it's quite the corporation. Remember, it provides no services.

And, when this Union Management, of which you MUST be a member or you aren't allowed to work for the 'Other Management', when this Union Management orders you, the worker, to do not go to work, you can't go to work. And if you don't obey the Union and instead obey the Other Management, the Union Management will ensure that you lose your job. OK?

It isn't the workers who are 'mad as hell'. It's a power play by the Corporation, known as the Union, that Corporation that gets all its income from the workers..and from the investments it makes with that money. What a neat corporation!

Mayor Miller, holding news conference now. When asked about consequences to lawbreaking strikers: "Not sure, we'll be consulting the lawyers on that...". Why can't we have a mayor who would simply say: you better believe there will be consequences!!!

Polls
A Toronto couple celebrating their 13th anniversary is dead, their 7 yr.old daughter is orphaned after the latest drag racing crash. Police say 2 vehicles were racing 140K when one of them broad sided the couple’s car.

PM Harper is right - mandatory prison time for drag racers - it should be a criminal offence
89.3%

Current laws are satisfactory & allow judges to use discretion based on age & record of the offender
9.77%
Other (email mornings@cfra.com)
0.83%
Total Votes: 2148 ... cfra.com

There was an illegal strike in New York last year. Result? Fines in the millions for the union and jail time for the union leaders. That's the way it should be here. But with our spineless mayor and premier, nothing will happen.

Illegal action is illegal. I am fed up with people taking the law into their own hands, and asserting that this is an 'act of protest' about..whatever.

And yes, more people killed by street racing in Toronto. A seven year old child left an orphan. I recall our local liberal, steve d, sneering at Harper's action of criminalizing street racing.

What is illegal is illegal. Don't try to redefine reality.

Steve D, OT but a few quotes for you to keep in mind while you extoll the virtues of socialism:

"The substance of the eminent Socialist gentlemen's speech is that making a profit is a sin. It is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss!"
–Winston Churchill

"How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."
-Ronald Reagan

"Any man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still a communist at the age of thirty is an even bigger fool."
George Bernard Shaw

"Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff."
–Frank Zappa

Miller is a Dipper in bed with the Unions. He said we’re lucky it happened during bicycle week, what a twit. I hope we can replace him in November with Jane Pitfield, she’s smart and has a lot of common sense.

The TTC, like all unionized Government jobs, is a duel monopoly. Therefore management behaves like the monopolistic kings that they are and they mirror image the unions. Neither side tries very hard to compromise. Sooo … let’s outsource.

If the outsourced contract came up say .. every 5 years, the owner of the maintenance crew contract would painstakingly try to keep his work force happy and not go out on strike for fear of losing the next bid. The fact that it is a bid would keep the costs down. This creative tension would be healthy.

We’re facing a demographic labour shortage in this country. We’ll need to pay market to attract the right level of skill at a fair wage. But with a monopoly we don’t know what a “fair” wage is unless we put it to the market test. A unionized worker will never voluntarily agree to this but the fact is: an outsourced contractor would treat the labour force with much more dignity than the monopoly kings in TTC’s management.

First we have to dump McGuinty and Miller, and then we need Jane Pitfield and John Tory to campaign on “outsourcing” so that we can get value for our escalating taxes. It’s hard to think of anything the government does that should not be outsourced.

Steve D:

You just posted a collection of statements that lacked any specific fact.

Smell and texture buddy.

ET
The union says it was a 'lockout'. Something tells me you don't believe the union though. If its a strike or illegal walkout or lockout, if there is a union involved there can only be one instigator and that has to be the union. See, you don't even have to answer, I answered for you. Not because your answers are predictable, well not ONLY because they are always predictable, but because I know you so well I can go right inside your brain. On most issues. Come to think of it I can do that for most people who blog here, scary eh? I know, you can see my pea brain too. Right? Well we'll see. I don't think I am as predictable as some.

Steve, baby, push that crayon back up your nostril - it helped Homer Simpson, and it can help you too.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board declared the strike illegal and has ordered the "workers" (why is it that those who work the least are the only ones referred to as "workers?") back to work.

The union tried to get the Board to overturn its ruling, but the answer was "no dice."

"Bob Kinnear, president of the 8,500-member local of the Amalgamated Transit Union ... said the walkout was not organized by his union, but Toronto Mayor David Miller said it was too well organized to have been anything but. "

Geez Louise Steve, if Miller can figure it out before you can, you really are spoon-fed.

First, steve, it wasn't a lockout. It it were a lockout by the city, the city wouldn't have to get a court order to order the workers back to work. If it were a lockout by the city, the Ontario Labour board wouldn't have ordered the workers to go back to work; they'd be ordering the City to end the lockout. Get it?

It was an illegal strike, and it was ordered by the union Management. You may be unwilling to acknowledge reality, but that's your problem.

And, speaking of your problems. Apart from your ideological devotion to socialism...

You are showing clear signs of megalomania. You insist that you know everything; you insist that you can tell what everyone is thinking. You've been informing us for some time that you know precisely what Harper is thinking, at all times, in all places, even though you've never met or talked with him.

Now, you are asserting that you know what everyone who posts here thinks. That's a personality disorder. Here's the definition:

"Megalomania is an unrealistic belief in one's superiority, grandiose abilities, and even omnipotence. It is characterized by a need for total power and control over others, and is marked by a lack of empathy for anything that is perceived as not feeding the self.

Although megalomania is a term often ascribed to anyone who is power-hungry, the clinical definition is that of a mental illness associated with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)."

Now, your focus on power, your insistence that all that any politician wants is power, your insistence that you know exactly what every political leader is thinking, and now, your insistence that you know what each and everyone of us is thinking...hmmm...steve...I think this is a pretty straighforward diagnosis.

What do you think? But why am I asking? After all, you already know what I am thinking, and knew that I would suggest that you have this problem...

There must be some way for the MSM to blame our Prime Minister for this illegal strike.
Luckily I work in downtown Toronto but live in the 'burbs and now will have to contend with the masses of people who want to get home because my GO train line actually makes 3 stops within the confines of the GTA.

Heat Alert: It's his fault, no doubt.

In the meantime,"the city was forced to issue a heat alert". Forced by him, of course.

"many jostled for taxis". His fault.

"hopped on their bikes". His fault. The mayor was on hand as its "bike week" in TO...

"many ... walked". Participaction? There oughta be a law 'gin walking in TO....

"Temperatures rose to at least 30 C by early afternoon and the city was forced to issue a heat alert as many jostled for taxis, walked or hopped on their bikes to get to work. cnews

ET
Well, I think you would get perhaps a tidge of disagreement about my ability to control others.
Harper is a politician in a minority government. He wants very very badly to have a majority in less than two years. In that sense, he is predictable yes.
This is a conservative web blog. A lot of conservatives come here to recieve confirmation of their views. Are conservatives predictable in their views? ah often, yes. On a whole range of subjects.
Does that make me a meglomaniac? Naw, not quite doctor ET but maybe I am getting there who knows, oh I forgot, you know. Hmmm, you know quite a bit. What does your analyst say about your astounding knowledge of so many things? How come you have this intimate understanding of meglomania?? I am going to get a cheque for your diagnosis? Are you really as qualified as you claim? So many questions.

Far and away, the best simple explanation of modern unions that I have ever read!! Bravo ET, I am going to email this out to many people today, hope you dont mind!!

'Our modern day unions operate as an unaccountable Shadow Management. Unlike the regular management, which is paid by the government, the Union management takes its income from the wages of the workers. It's a very good business. It has no competition, its income is guaranteed; every other year, it increases its income but provides no extra or better services for this income. This income provides hefty incomes for this Union management, and, hefty investment returns. So, all in all, it's quite the corporation. Remember, it provides no services.

And, when this Union Management, of which you MUST be a member or you aren't allowed to work for the 'Other Management', when this Union Management orders you, the worker, to do not go to work, you can't go to work. And if you don't obey the Union and instead obey the Other Management, the Union Management will ensure that you lose your job. OK?

It isn't the workers who are 'mad as hell'. It's a power play by the Corporation, known as the Union, that Corporation that gets all its income from the workers..and from the investments it makes with that money. What a neat corporation! '

Sanctimonious Ubertroll Steve D could help us all understand reality better by explaining why it is being reported that Mayor Miller is happy to report that the "wildcat strike" is over. Even the Red Star is referring to it as a "wildcat strike".

What's that you were saying Steve D? It was a "lockout"?

Or is the Red Star now part of the VRWC?

If I choose to go on a taxpaying strike is it likely that the government will be as forgiving as it is for unions and Indians?

ET:

I find it ironic how you accuse steve d. of knowing everything , then you go on and pontificate about unions, how they work and what the actual reasons for this strike are.

"The union ordered its members to stay away from work." Do you have proof of this? Normally members have a vote on such issues. Unions are actually a democracy, something you conveniently ignore.

"And why does a parasitic corporation, aka a UNION, have the right to act illegally? They should be fined, heavily; the workers who obeyed that strike should also be fined." It doesn't, and they will be. The membership knows this before it goes out...so it's highly unlikely that they went out over something trivial.

"Our modern day unions operate as an unaccountable Shadow Management." More nonsense from know it all ET. Elections are held every two or three years and members vote for their executive. Thus they ARE accountable to the membership.

Etc.

Stick to subjects you know something about.

...if you look hard enough down Young street you can see the centre of the universe...

Shaken
If you want to know what the Taliban are thinking do you ask George Bush?
If you want to know what the union is thinking do you ask management?
It is humourous how the right wing media never talks to the "other side". Maybe they are afraid of what they will hear.
The lawyer for the union said it was a lockout.
No media has gone to ask the obvious questions eminating from that lawyers statement. I for one wonder why. I know you already know. But some of us want to hear it directly. I am still waiting all these hours after the fact.

Here’s another example of what ET calls a “neat corporation”. CUPE, is Canada’s largest union (that would like to bring you a monopoly of Day Care) is now dabbling with what should be debated in Parliament rather than brought to its membership by prejudiced union thugs.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8ab8ed08-42c0-4150-99db-14df1dff31b1&k=61344

The money quote:

"Steven Schulman, Ontario regional director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, called the vote "outrageous."
"For a respected labour union to engage in such a vote, which is completely one-sided and based on mistruths, is shocking," he said.
He charged that CUPE Ontario's press release about the vote "reads like a piece of propaganda." He said Israel has recognized the Palestinian right to self-govern and has been engaged in a peace process."

What on earth does this have to do with the daily life of a diversified work force? This is hysterical propaganda out of a Marlon Brando movie in the 1950's. Unions belong in another era.

Um, Steve, leaving aside the "right-wing media" howler, the union and their lawyer, if they're still sticking to the lock-out story, are lying.

It wouldn't be the first time for a union and a lawyer to do so, and it certainly won't be the last. In fact, it's what they both do best.

"No media has gone to ask the obvious questions eminating from that lawyers statement." Not sure what those obvious questions are, aside from "what in the hell are you smoking?"

But tell you what: why don't you slip on the old fedora, stick a Press card in the brim, and go show the right-wing media what investigative journalism is all about.

What the hell does the Taliban have to do with a TTC wildcat strike?

Or, Steve D, are you aware of some connection we all need to know about?

Of course the lawyer said it was a lockout. Just like Miller and the Red Star said it was a wildcat strike. Who is correct? The lawyer?

"Right Wing Media". New readers, don't scroll backwards to read the original comment unless you've emptied your bladders first!

Iberia,
Your post describes how a union ought to operate not how it does in fact operate. Your point that the members do have the right to elect an new executive every few years is accurate. However, it practice it is very difficult to kick out the old guard. It's a lot like shareholders trying to lead a revolt to elect directors other than the slate proposed by management.

I found the following article on Neale News, which illustrates how the "democracy" of a union operates in parctice:

"Ontario wing of Canada's largest union to boycott Israel

The Ontario wing of Canada's largest union has voted to join an international boycott campaign against Israel "until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination."

The gist of the article is that the Ontario wing of CUPE representing over 200,000 members voted to boycott Israel until it recognizes Palestine's right to self determination (no mention of a boycott of Iran over it's non recognition of Israel's right to self determination, but I digress). Did everyone vote? No, only the 896 delegates at the meeting. Democracy indeed!

I thought all residents of TO were concerned about the air quality of said city. Too many smog days so stop the pollution, (from other Provinces only) Guess all those in TO will have to hold their breath at least 10 minutes/hour to clean the air of all the increased emmissions from cars. And, all Kyoto supporters say, take public transportation. At least one can depend on their car to get to work. Time for class action suits against unions for lost profits, non-smoking groups for lost profits, protestors of whatever cause, for damages, inconvienience and pain and suffering. That would be a start to get common sense back into our daily lives. Pass a law, and enforce it, that any illegal strike will result in huge fines and an equal number of days in jail that you were on stike. The nurses union in BC and AB both were punished severly for illegal strikes. Lets ban all labor unions.

ATU North America's Transit Union

Strike Watch: updated 5/26/06:
• Toronto: Janitorial shift changes could provoke ATU action

International Headquarters
5025 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20016 -
http://www.atu.org/

Aunty-American speaks again:

At the end of her comments, after most of the cameras were turned off, [ex-Liberal MP] Parrish said, "Damn Americans ... I hate those bastards." ... (Filter on?) Carl was referring to the late James Hoffa, Sr. Dig?

Hey boys and girls!

Yonge Street looks like that most mornings! I drove my wife to and from work at Bloor and Bathurst today from west Toronto and the trips might have been 2.3 minutes longer than usual. The really tough trips were north/south where people opt for transit, but have cars. The people really screwed were people without cars (the poor, the elderly) in 34 degree heat. I have some sympathy for drivers who are attacked by young urban youth in "fare disputes". The cleaners who have to work nights will likely be supplied with nannies to help them through the experience.

Andy

Yes, us non-unionized country folk are looking real stupid now...

Who was that who mentioned "free fares" on buses? It's company policy in Vancouver that nobody has to pay to ride the bus.

Matt
Lookouts don't exist i suppose. Lockouts are a union plot i suppose. Hmmm, let me guess, you are right wing.
Management has never, and will never be wrong about anything. This goes double if there is a union involved. Is that about right, Mr.Rightwing? What a surprise.

steve - here's a quote from the Red Star

"In one extreme incident, passengers were ordered off a Don Mills Ave. bus when it stopped at Finch. A union representative boarded the bus, ordered the passengers off and instructed the driver to return to base and park the vehicle.

The wildcat strike continued when the union defied a labour board cease-and-desist order, issued at 7:30 a.m., requiring TTC workers to report for work immediately. "

The workers were NOT locked out. They struck. Illegally. On the orders of the union management. The city had to go to the Ontario Labour Relations to get them to issue a 'back to work' order. If the city had 'locked out' the workers, then, why would it go to the Labour Relations board to get a back-to-work order??? THINK.

steve - you ask some questions:
'If you want to know what the Taliban are thinking, do you ask Bush'? etc.
OK. Then, why do you constantly inform us that YOU KNOW what Harper is thinking? Is it the case that
'If you want to know that Harper is thinking, then, you ask steve d'.
Hmmm? That's what megalomania or narcissistic conrol means; it means that the individual feels he has to control the world, and one aspect of his ability to control, is 'knowing' what every powerful person is thinking. Like you know what Harper is thinking. What Bush is thinking. hmmm

Iberia - so what if elections are held every few years? The union executive is still unaccountable to the people who use the services provided by the workers. We transit riders don't get to hold the union to account. We get to hold the gov't, who manages the transit, to account. But, we don't get to hold the union to account.

And, no, it's only a legal strike that is voted on. This was illegal. But, no union worker dares to disobey, or the union will ensure that he'll lose his job.

Again, unions are parasites. They are shadow management. They get their money off the wages of the workers. The do ZILCH for the workers, except take their salaries. Negotiations? Increase the salaries? That's all. It hardly takes much time or work energy to come up with a negotiationos package to 'increase salaries and benefits and lower work requirements'.

You get a higher salary? So what? That means that you just pay more in taxes, and MORE IN UNION DUES. Your net goes DOWN. And, with union costs, the cost of services and goods increases. So, financially, unions in our modern age, decrease the financial power of workers.

Who benefits from unions? The union managment. It's a unique type of 'business' corporation. It provides no services, no goods. It has no competition. All it does, is sit down at the negotiation table every few years and insist on MORE. More salary, more benefits. Period. In between, the union management busies itself with what? Informing its members who to vote for in federal elections? How dare they. Meddling in politics? How dare they interfere with each person's right to think for themselves.

Remember, in our modern world, most pre-union and early-union services are now provided by the gov't. Not by the union.

Scrap unions and give financial and operational power back to the workers. Take it away from these fraudulent corporations, Unions.

Steve, lockouts DO exist. But this isn't one - everyone except the lying lawyer and lying union head recognize that. Why can't you?

Kindness amidst rider outrage
Toronto Star - 9 hours ago
Secret routes? Acts of commuter kindness? Need a place to vent?
Tell us your stories from the TTC walkout.

The solution has been staring us in the face for a long time. The TTC can no longer be adequately funded by government support alone. ...
google news

Matt
Everyone in management or otherwise in authority is in agreement, the union is wrong.
My take is that there is two sides to every story and we have not yet heard the other side.
So lets hear the other side before we convict them shall we? Even a murder gets to defend himself. Why not a union? There's a new concept!

Andy at 7:00pm - you are full of crap. Toronto does not look like that every morning. Commute times were not 2-3 minutes different. Lying is a horrible way to try to score ideological points.

Stevie, you have anything to offer except slurs? Bueller?

Everything I heard on the radio, tv, media, interviews says this was a wildcat strike and not a lockout. So is there any fact you have to offer at all in defense of your conspiracy theory.

capt joe
what does the union say?

Again: What exploitation justified unionization of monopoly providers of public services? At least private sector union members are disciplined to some extent my market forces, i.e., if too unreasonable they could assist the competition kill off their employer and hence their jobs.

Hey, according to this article the union asked the strikers to return to work.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060529/transit_strike_toronto_060529/20060529?hub=TopStories

"Without reaching an agreement, ATU president Bob Kinnear ordered union members to return to work at around 3 p.m. His decision was prompted by the ATU's failure to get the Ontario Labour Relations Board to quash the back to work order."

and at CBC : http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/29/ttc-back.html

"The union had been told in two rulings from the Ontario Labour Relations Board on Monday that its walkout was illegal."

If it was a lockout, then why is the Union asking people to return rather than management. Sorry, I just don't see your case has any evidence at all. Unless you think the CBC is run by radical right wingers?

ET
You should know that the "red star" stops being red when the word "strike" is printed. Then they become your basic aristocratic upper class rag.

I know what Harper is thinking because he is an individual, public, has a long public history, gets a lot of press(even though he claims to distrust the media), his agenda is public, his actions are well covered in the MSM and blogesphere.
The Taliban, not so much, except the mantra that they are the bad guys. But that doesn't tell me much. I know they were strict, but so are other governments. I know Bin Laden was there. But the USA has a terrorist who is accused of downing a passenger jet flying between Venesuela and Cuba and they don't want to give him up for prosecution. So Afghanistan a sovereign country was invaded to "bring Bin Laden to justice" well, not really but its a good line. Then it was sovereign Iraq's turn because well, you know,... next?...Iran?...Venezuela?...Cuba?...Bolivia?...
I don't think Bush is a meglomaniac but I've been wrong before.
There are a lot of things that are beyond your control, unions are just one. Get used to it or get an analyst, or see your analyst more often.

The unions are losing their power don't worry. They are only about 12% of the work force, even less in the USA. We are in a global race to the bottom on wages or didn't you hear the news? In North America the workers are working harder than ever in history and still managing to spend more than they earn. Stay tuned.
I used to go to Human Resources and Development website to see the difference between unionized and non-union in the same fields. The union workers always made about $5 more than the non-union. The difference between paying your bills and not. Well, now its pretty much not. Stay tuned.

Hey NCF TO at 9:35 pm:

I didn't say Toronto was like that, just that part of Yonge. I didn't say all commute times were 2 - 3 minutes longer, just that mine were 2.3 minutes longer - the point being that within the city, things were fine. The big point is that we're in pretty good shape, even with the odd strike. Look at Cairo, where the population density is 34,000 people per km2, compared with Toronto's pretty lame 3,900 people per km2. There, they have real problems. And ... I don't have an ideological point. I just live here and work it out like anybody else!

Andy

the first thing I noticed in the picture was all the haze in the horizon. then the proliferation of cars emitting their exhaust adding to the haze.

sign of the times folks, sign of the times !!

Stevie, I responded but the response seems to have gotten stuck in moderation. I guess it was the quoting of the CBC that got it subjected to special attention (Just kidding, Kate).

I think your point about wages is specific to niche industries. It certainly isn't true of mine.

Speaking as someone who works in the computer field, I make way more money than friends who work for the government (since that is the only place where IT is involved with unions). The IT industry is a meritocracy (at least where I am). The more skilled you are the more you get.

capt joe
yeah well, keep your skills up. The only people who appear to be safe are the highly skilled whose physical presence is necessary to get the job done. Otherwise, its shipped off to India or some such.

steve d.
(who thinks the Taliban weren't so terribly bad)
has once again demonstrated to the following supplement to Godwin's law:

Every interesting thread eventually will be hijacked by some self-absorbed nutcase.

ET writes:
“So what if elections are held every few years? The union executive is still unaccountable to the people who use the services provided by the workers.” The union executive is only accountable to it’s members. The company is accountable to the people who use the services providd by the workers.

“And, no, it's only a legal strike that is voted on. This was illegal. But, no union worker dares to disobey, or the union will ensure that he'll lose his job.”Once again, do you have proof the union ordered this strike? Were you there when the order went out? I’m amazed by how much you know. The union WILL have to pay the price for an illegal strike. And by the way, unions cannot fire employees that work for the company. Only management can.

“Again, unions are parasites. They are shadow management. They get their money off the wages of the workers. The do ZILCH for the workers, except take their salaries. Negotiations? Increase the salaries? That's all. It hardly takes much time or work energy to come up with a negotiationos package to 'increase salaries and benefits and lower work requirements'.” Again, another load of crap coming from the great ET. If it wasn’t for unions, the labour class would still be working 12 hour days, 6 days a week with no pension, medical, dental or holidays. Neocons like you would love to return to those wonderful Dickensian times. You've made it quite clear in this and previous posts that society's hierarchy MUST be respected. (Damn those lower caste workers.) And by the way, when’s the last time you helped negotiate a collective agreement? How would you know how easy it is?

“Scrap unions and give financial and operational power back to the workers. Take it away from these fraudulent corporations, Unions.” Sounds like you’re reciting the newspeak from the NCC bible.

Paul from Van writes:

“Your post describes how a union ought to operate not how it does in fact operate. Your point that the members do have the right to elect an new executive every few years is accurate. However, it practice it is very difficult to kick out the old guard. It's a lot like shareholders trying to lead a revolt to elect directors other than the slate proposed by management.” In practice? Which union do you belong to? Give some examples.

“Did everyone vote? No, only the 896 delegates at the meeting. Democracy indeed!” Isn’t that how Harper became leader of the Conservatives...through election by delegates.

Like I mentioned to ET previously: stick to subjects you know something about. Organized labour does not appear to be one of them.

Systems always function better when opposing forces act in balance in negative feedback loops. It's a pattern seen over and over in stable systems.

Unions developed as an opposing force in an environment in which governmental regulation and law was largely absent.

One small fragment of society demonstrates the leverage it has by denying its service.

What force opposes and counterbalances unions, particularly those with the leverage just demonstrated in Toronto yesterday?

It's idiotic to tolerate a system in which environment concerns go right out the window, fossil fuels are spent unproductively, and numerous small hits to the economy aggregate into a massive hit?

But then, there's also the attendant who relies on the TTC to get to the assisted living facility where he or she ensures the elderly are getting their first nutrition of the day. Or the social worker misses a meeting involving an abused child. Of course, that's all OK because the union is on the side of Right.

End the closed shop, and allow unions to compete for the provision of labor. We'll find a new balance soon enough.

het lank laas sulke traffic gesien ,robotte is seker stukkend.

het lank laas sulke traffic gesien ,robotte is seker stukkend.

New TTC Slogan: Take a Seat & Stay Awhile.

http://tinyurl.com/rkyfn

steve d.
Perhaps, based on the fact that you have been commenting here all day yesterday, you have a vested interest in the the TTC strike.
Perhaps, similar to the TTC worker shown relaxing yesterday, with nothing much to do, on the front page of today's Toronto Sun.
Especially since your comments stopped at about midnight, perhaps, you had to go back to work today.

Andy: Yonge Street does not look like that every morning! That's my commute to work, I would know. If you commute along Bloor, stick to what you know.

Iberia,
Actually the Conservative party doesn't use the delegate system to elect its leaders: it uses the one member one vote system. I could say "stick to something you know something about" but personal insults aside explain to me how you view unions as democratic. My experience with unions is much closer to ET's than your own, and by the way it is a subject I have some experience with. If you care to respond seriously to my previous post please feel free to do so.

I agree with the union, it's totally outrageous to ask essential service workers to work the "graveyard" shift. Goodness knows I'm fed up with it. So unless they -- mangement -- agrees to close the hospital from 6:00 in the evening to 08:00 the next morning, I'm going to wildcat!!!

Billyboot
Sorry, no TTC for me. Too much abuse from the public. No respect.

DrD--I am not sure but I would hazard a guess that a critically ill human being is not going to have the luxury of deciding when he is going to be in a life or death situation.
However, I do believe a janitor can clean anytime. I don't think it is life or death that he clean in the middle of the night. The bean counters and time management may think its important but they never calculate quality of life or the health of a worker, he is just a cost item to them.

Paul from Van:

I didn’t say that Harper WAS elected by delegates...it was a question. Regardless, other than leadership elections, the Conservative Party or any other large organization would be unable to accomplish anything if it was to rely on a referendum of all members for each item of business. Hence, delegates. Or MP’s/MLA’s. Is every government decision vetted by each and every citizen?

Rather then have me spend the night typing in order to explain to you why I think unions are democratic organizations, read this:

http://www.bcfed.com/Organize/Union+Facts/index_2.htm

In my experience, problems are only possible if the membership is apathetic. Meetings are held monthly. Finances are independently audited yearly. If a member does not attend the meetings, he cannot vote on the decisions being made. If someone doesn’t come to meetings, doesn’t vote, doesn’t participate in any way whatsoever, that person isn’t justified in complaining about the decisions being made without his input.

Unions are not perfect because they are run by people. What organization is perfect? In any case, my opinion is that arguing against the existence of unions is arguing for totalitarianism.

...sign of the times? Only sign I see is Speed Limit 50K

;-)

Let me get this right....in Steved's mind....management locks out its workers and then seeks a court order to get them to work?

I have seen his name all over the forums and generally skip what appears to be a grade 8 writing style including the ever present name calling. Taking a moment to read some of the pontification from his socialist mind...I was starting to wonder just where obvious delirium comes from...then I read this....

"but because I know you so well I can go right inside your brain. On most issues. Come to think of it I can do that for most people who blog here"

The guy believes he can read minds! Case closed. The man is insane.

Toronto Cops Hunt Pair Video-Taping Subway

Just how secure is Toronto's subway system from a terrorist attack? Two men skulking around Keele station with video cameras last week have police investigating -- once again raising that important question.

10 hurt in Toronto subway mishap

The Dupont subway station was evacuated and five people were treated for smoke inhalation Thursday morning after a mechanical problem aboard a subway car that was just pulling into the station. ...

via nealenews