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Union leader mellows as style matures

 
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:14 am    Post subject: Union leader mellows as style matures Reply with quote

Bob Kinnear's rhetoric in his second contract talks shows a more measured approach, colleagues say

Mar 27, 2008 04:30 AM
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation reporter

Two years ago, TTC workers brought the city to its knees by staging a one-day illegal strike.

In less than a week, the 1.5 million people who rely on transit daily could be in that position again as the 12:01 a.m. Tuesday strike deadline approaches.

Bob Kinnear, the tough-talking union president who walked away from the bargaining table Monday, says that's the last thing his members want. They understand better than anyone how overcrowded and underserviced the transit system is. "The last thing we want to do is compound that frustration with a work stoppage," he says.

At the same time, he says, no other transit workers face "the traffic and loads, verbal and physical abuse" that TTC workers encounter.

Talks have faltered over the issue of pay for workers injured on the job. Kinnear said he's frustrated by the TTC's refusal to budge from its bottom line on the contract.

But there's a more measured tone to Kinnear's rhetoric in this, his second, contract negotiation, something his colleagues attribute to a maturing leadership style – a sign he won't pull his members off the job in a fit of temper.

When he was elected in 2003, it was against the wishes of the local's executive board. Kinnear's impatience with what he calls the "inertia" of his predecessors did little to quell that opposition, and his willingness to speak publicly through the media didn't help.

"It was a bull-in-a-china-shop sort of thing," says Frank Grimaldi, the union executive closest to Kinnear, who advised him to get more experience before taking a run at the job.

But acting on what associates call an uncanny ability to read the membership, Kinnear ignored that advice and won a clear majority over the incumbent.

Grimaldi says Kinnear, 37, may appear a loose cannon, but he can predict almost to the last vote how any issue will be decided, and most of his moves are well considered.

"Bob doesn't predetermine what he's going to do," Grimaldi says. "He takes his time."

Kinnear is particularly adept at reading people and situations that have the potential to become confrontational, says Bill Reno, who does public relations for the union.

"He'll peg (a) person and say, `Here's what he wants or here's where he's bluffing.' I have come to rely on his ability to determine what someone's strengths or weaknesses are. It's very difficult to fool Bob Kinnear."

Some of that skill may reside in Kinnear's DNA. His father, Larry, spent 12 years as the local's executive vice-president and now sits on the union's international board.

The connection has led to speculation that Kinnear, who admits to being a workaholic, will soon follow his father to a statesman's role in Canadian labour.

"I think he might go on to bigger and better things," says Jamie Pereira, the bus driver who was shot on the job and left blinded in an eye two years ago.

The union leader a newspaper once dubbed "Toronto's most hated man" showed up at Pereira's house at Christmas with presents for his kids.

According to Pereira, Kinnear is a "charismatic and dedicated" leader, the best the union's ever had. "I think he actually cares, where I don't think his predecessors did."

It's an opinion shared by TTC chair Adam Giambrone, who agrees with Kinnear that TTC-union relations have softened a bit in the last year. Kinnear faces high expectations from his members this time, says Giambrone. "He does his best to try to come to the table to represent his members."
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