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Insult And Injuries: TTC Union Walks Away From Talks

 
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:20 am    Post subject: Insult And Injuries: TTC Union Walks Away From Talks Reply with quote

Insult And Injuries: TTC Union Walks Away From Talks As Tuesday Strike Deadline Looms

Tuesday March 25, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
It's not entirely about wages and benefits, although both are major areas of contention.

Instead, what may be behind the next strike by TTC workers is fear over their safety. With just a week to go before members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 are in a legal strike position, they've walked away from the bargaining table with no immediate plans to return.

What's upsetting the collective? They're angry that the TTC docks workers 25 per cent for the time they miss when they're off due to injuries - wounds they claim employees suffer when doing maintenance or being attacked by passengers. And they don't intend to resume talks until the issue is dealt with.

"We are calling a halt to negotiations until management does the decent human thing and removes the financial penalties for losing time due to being attacked or otherwise injured on the job," demands union boss Bob Kinnear.

"I can tell you that each and every day of the year we have at least one assault ... Our maintenance members are working in tunnels that are very confined areas. Heavy machinery, hundreds of feet below ground. So we think it's very, very reasonable, and the right thing to do for the TTC to ensure that there is no further financial penalties to our members."

He accuses management of being in a 'public relations game' that his members will no longer let them play alone, suggesting the powers-that-be want you to think greed and higher fares are behind their actions - something he insists isn't true. "This is a major deal-breaker," Kinnear claims, calling it a "moral issue."

The city is refusing to respond in kind, maintaining it doesn't negotiate in public. "The only way you're going to get a collective agreement is not through the media but through dealing with the issues at the bargaining table," answers TTC Chair Adam Giambrone. "We want to get back to the bargaining table. We think the Ministry of Labour can help us do that through appointing a conciliator."

All this comes as a three year deal runs out and the city looks to secure a four-year pact. The original offer is said to have involved a two per cent pay raise a year every year for the length of the contract, but it was overwhelmingly rejected by union voters on March 12th.

Now time is running out, and while many riders are sympathetic with the attacks on workers, most are simply fed up with the constant uncertainty over a transit system they can't rely on. About 1.5 million people depend on the system, and many have no other way to get to work.

They're already worried about what happens if a walkout comes first thing Tuesday.

"It would really be a shame," one woman observes. "It would really put a big crimp on just basically most people getting around."

"Our city's going to be paralyzed if they aren't working, so I don't know," another contends. "I think we should try to help them out."

The last time T.T.C. employees went on strike was in May 2006. The wildcat walkout only lasted one day and while the union claimed it had to do with safety issues, the city was adamant it was a power play involving shifting some janitors to later hours. The union had to be ordered back to work amid much acrimony from passengers, many of whom didn't side with their plight.

The union has undertaken a P.R. campaign in this go-round, introducing TV ads designed to remind you of the importance of what transit workers do on a daily basis and how hard their jobs are.

But if millions are cut off from being able to get around, some believe that sympathy will quickly turn into anger.




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Previous TTC Strikes And Lengths

1952: 19 days

1970: 12 days

1974: 23 days, the longest in the system's history

1978: 8 days

1989: Workers stage a slowdown that, while not a strike, severely impinges on service. Strategy includes following every rule to the letter and subways crawling in and out of stations with agonizing slowness. It does little to endear the union to passengers, who take a hostile attitude towards their actions. It lasts 41 days.

1991: 8 days

April 1999: 2 days

May 29, 2006: One-day wildcat walkout ends with buses running by the afternoon rush hour, but the subway staying shut for the rest of the day.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20950.aspx
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