The Striking Drivers Occupy YRT
Today—day 45 of the York Region transit strike—saw a new tactic employed by the drivers against the public. After first picketing at Richmond Hill Centre this morning as they have done the last couple of days, the drivers began boarding the 99 bus headed to Finch Station, filling the buses so they couldn’t take regular passengers. For those not familiar with our transit system the 99 serves the southern end of Yonge Street, connecting York Region to Toronto, and is one of a few critical bus routes still operating. It has seen overcrowding since the strike began and the occupation
of these buses—which, according to CP24, was intended to last for hours—would have made this morning’s commute impossible for many riders.
So the drivers have found a powerful new way of hurting their former passengers, and we are only halfway through the week. The union promised we would see picketing every morning. What could it have in store for tomorrow and Friday?
As maddening as this is, once again I urge everybody affected by these actions to stay calm and remain patient. The union is trying to anger you into demanding intervention from the regional government, whom it is desperately trying to get involved in negotiations against the councillors’ interest and our own. If you do this, you are proving to the union these picketing tactics work. And like the screaming child in the toy store who gets his way, this will only encourage more of the same behaviour down the road.
The Status of Negotiations
On Monday the Region announced the three contractors would be reaching out
to the union in an attempt to resume negotiations, and it called for the striking drivers to return to work immediately while the two sides seek an agreement.
The union has responded, saying it is willing to return to the table but will remain on strike until an agreement is reached—or until the contractors give up and agree to arbitration instead, an alternative the union is, of course, still enthusiastically promoting.
Interestingly, both sides are accusing the other of having broken off negotiations first. From an article on YorkRegion.com Monday:
It’s kind of a ridiculous statement,Veolia spokesperson Val Michael said.We’ve been asking them all along to sit down and negotiate (and) we’re still ready.
From the union’s response, quoting Local 113 president Bob Kinnear:
We tried to resume negotiations weeks ago but were rebuffed by the employers, just so the record is clear on that point.
I’ve been assuming the contractors have been willing all this time to resume talks. Was I wrong? It’s against the contractors’ interests to agree to arbitration, but they’re also not getting paid while the buses are off the road. It seems natural they would have been eager to get discussions going again. What would they have been holding out for?
It’s likely the two sides have much different expectations for negotiations,
though, which might explain the finger-pointing. The contractors already know how much money they’ll be receiving from the Region; their compensation is fixed once their contract is awarded. I understand that as a result, negotiating
for them mostly involves adjusting the allocation of a fixed budget for labour among wages, benefits and whatever other compensation the drivers receive. They are simply changing how the compensation pie
is divided up.
This is not what the union wants: It wants a bigger pie altogether, in order to bring the compensation for York Region drivers closer to that of drivers in the surrounding areas. Consequently, the union is likely to blow off (or describe as not serious
) any offer from a contractor that doesn’t provide a significant increase overall. (We’ve been told it is demanding a 16% raise in wages this year, for instance.) But the contractors are equally unlikely to take seriously any request along these lines. In the meantime, both sides say the other just isn’t cooperating.
This means while it’s tempting to view this new call for negotiations as a sign of progress, it seems unlikely much will come of it. Mr. Kinnear shares my skepticism. As reported by Newstalk 1010:
Kinnear says he remains hopeful that a deal will be done, but that he’s not holding out hope a deal will be done soon.
OK, even I think this is bananas…
The next 2 weeks are going to be critical for the union, because come the week of 19th, a lot of people are going be disappearing, and people will be all but gone for about 2 weeks.
That’s 2 weeks of no one paying any attention, another paycheck come and gone, and to boot, Christmas/Channukah/Secular Vacation. I can see the employer conceeding to ~2-5% increase, but nothing more than that.
SImon, and everyone else. Please do not keep grouping all the drivers together. First off, there are 2 unions involved here.. 113 and 1587. It was Local 113 that was doing the “occupy YRT” movement this morning. I don’t even believe that 1587 was out there today at all! Each local and each group of drivers (with each contractor) all have different demands – which I won’t get into.
My biggest peeve is that the grouping of drivers into one group causes the public and riders to think that all the drivers currently want to be on strike and even the ones that agree with the strike at first, don’t agree with it now, or there are ones that agree with the reasoning behind the strike, but don’t like the way it’s being handled (eg: picketing that blocks buses).
So I hope and ask everyone to not judge all drivers as one, and realize that there are many innocent drivers who are getting grouped into the same group as those drivers fully using their striking rights! In addition, when the buses are finally back on the road, I hope that the public does NOT “backlash” against drivers as some people have mentioned because you may be back lashing on that innocent driver who was always on the side of the rider and was completely against the way the union is handling this.
Please think about that when you post/comment/tweet and think about that when the buses are back on the road and you think you may want to “backlash” on the HUMAN driver.
Thanks!
@YRT Driver: If Local 1587 would like to distance themselves from Local 113′s actions, they are free to announce they are doing so. As are any drivers, of either local, who disagree with the actions their union leaders are taking.
So far, the message to the public has been one of “solidarity” among union members. Should we no longer believe this? You cannot possibly expect the public to distinguish among the different factions of the ATU when they do not publicly do so themselves. I note even you, who seems to be having a change of heart, have decided to post here anonymously. How would you propose we distinguish you from this morning’s picketers? How can we take your message seriously when you, too, prefer to hide in the crowd?
Your appeal to the riders reminds me of a bully who punches a kid in the face but later bursts into tears when he is confronted by the teacher. The time to appeal to the public’s sensitivity is before you lash out at them, not after. If as you say there are drivers who are unhappy with what’s going on, let’s hear from them! Under normal circumstances they like to threaten us with their willingness and ability to take action. Let’s see some! Until they are willing to stand up for themselves, why should we stand up for them? It is not only unrealistic but profoundly offensive for you to be placing the responsibility for maintaining good relations on the public your precious “brothers and sisters” are right now busy attacking.
If anyone wants proof that not all drivers are on the side of the strikers (unfortunately with unions it’s always majority rules), one simply needs to look at the numbers. For example this morning, 200 union members took part.. but yet there are over 600 drivers/mechanics/cleaners that are currently off the job. Simple as that. And the reason with “hiding in the crowd” is one due to being part of the union, knowing how much the strong ones in the unions tend to “stick together” for their “brothers and sisters”. The minority with these strikes and job actions do not have that type of voice as the majority. And if we were to speak up, who knows what would happen, we choose not to take the stance of worrying when it comes to not “siding with your brothers and sisters” as the union were to put it. Some drivers are just sitting idly by hoping this ends soon, others are out for the long haul and fighting with all their might, other drivers are moving on and trying to get jobs elsewhere. Don’t be surprised if the buses get back on the road and there are missed trips because there aren’t enough drivers to cover the runs!
JUST TO CLEAR THE AIR:
via cp24.com
“After staging rallies and picket lines off an on during the seven-week strike, workers represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 crammed onto some YRT buses that haven’t been halted by the strike,”"
“ATU Local 113 officials told CP24 they bought transit passes and planned to ride certain buses for several hours.”
“Employees represented by ATU Local 1587 don’t have any plans to picket Wednesday, officials told CP24.”
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111207/111207_yrt_strike/20111207/?hub=CP24Home
YRT driver et al (the regulars)
The issue here isn’t as black and white;
YRT, the unfortunate reality is that a lot of riders are going to be looking to vent wihen the strike is over, and a good chunk of people are going to feel that it’s justified, whether that particular person was involved in the picketing or not;
I don’t agree that it’s rational, but people aren’t always rational.
Still I don’t think that it should boil down to “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality from the public.
Yeah, I’ll give it to Simon that you and people who didn’t exactly agree 100% with your union didn’t go out of your way to make public announcements that you do not condone the striking, but if you didn’t participate in the tactics either I can’t really blame you for just waiting it out.
Even if you did speak out, I don’t see how it would change public opinion in general (or help you for that matter); No one would go up to you and say “thanks for not picketing”; more than likely it would just be vitriol. Similarly, your own union would probably shank you…
You’re asking individual people to sympathize with individuals who for 8 weeks have been representing themselves as a collective; that is the downside to belonging to an organization like a union.
Thems the breaks I guess
Alright, I think I see what’s going on here.
Today Local 1587 is starting to distance itself from the actions of Local 113. It seems particularly worried it might end up sharing the blame for the “occupy YRT” antics this morning, which suggests it, too, realizes how bad a PR move that may have been.
How appropriate you would post a link to that CP24 article, YRT Driver, as moments before I read your first comment above I had read the comment by “Adam” on that page, who shared a similar message. And when I tweeted that article around 9 am this morning (http://twitter.com/#!/simonsouth/status/144411938280050688) I’m pretty certain it didn’t distinguish between the two locals as it does now. Perhaps it was edited at Local 1587′s request—it looks like it was updated around noon today.
Is this what’s happening? If so, it’s a pretty big deal. Are we witnessing a breakdown in the “solidarity” of the union members? Will we notice future media stories carefully distinguishing between the two groups? Are the drivers starting to genuinely worry what the blowback of some of these tactics might be?
@YRT Driver: Now that you’ve magnanimously “cleared the air” for us, would you like to return and post your own, true thoughts about what Local 113 is doing for your public image?
You know what amazes me? How Local 113 is painting this strike about the dangers of privatization yet through their tactics is showing just how *beneficial* privatization has been for York Region, since a strike doesn’t- or at least shouldn’t- cripple the whole system as a public system would. I think even Alanis Morissette would have to call that “ironic”.
The good news is that the public isn’t- so far- giving in to the Union’s demands, judging by the comments on the article at CP24. Let’s hope it stays that way.
I am completely fed up with this. This morning, waiting on Major Mackenzie and Bayview for the 4A bus to come (along with 10 others) for over 45 mins. Called YRT, was told that the strikers were all picketing preventing buses to leave again. The thing that gets under my skin is, 1-called the YRT# at 6 am to see if there were any delays…said on schedule 2-phone operator advised me to call the UNION to complain HA HA HA. Are you kidding me? 3-these selfish inconsiderate workers, are affecting INNOCENT people! Everyone at the bus stop were calling their employers to let them know…one woman works with CHILDREN and parents were already dropping their kids off and she wouldnt be there. Someone needs to step in! The world cannot work like this, and I agree…we cant give in to their tantrums. BUT other options need to be added. This strike is saving MILLIONS of tax-payer dollars right now…so why not ADD some buses to the routes that are still running? Something! I cant even go do my Christmas shopping this year because of the unreliable service.