The War on Passengers Continues
Here in the eighth week of the York Region transit strike the war on passengers rages, with what appears to be a series of roaming picket lines set up by union members this morning. The Region has warned of major YRT service delays
and apparently two bus routes were shut down altogether.
Yesterday (day 50 of the strike, a milestone I regretfully missed noting) saw another occupation
in the morning, with union members boarding buses on both the 99 and 77 lines to prevent their use by ordinary riders. The first time we saw this stunt Local 1587 members seemed eager to pin the blame on their brothers and sisters
in Local 113. This time, though, both groups were out and proudly harassing commuters:
Striking members of ATU Local 1587 and Local 113
occupiedseveral YRT buses on Monday morning. About 200 workers boarded the 99 northbound and southbound buses, preventing other passengers from boarding.
We’re doing it in a peaceful fashion… for about two to three hours,Tsuji said.
The article tells us Terry Tsuji is part of the Local 1587 bargaining unit, so we can assume its involvement comes from a high level. A fine show of solidarity, I must say. We can safely assume drivers of both locals are now in full support of these ugly tactics, regardless of what they say—otherwise they would have undoubtedly left the union at this point. These are, after all, grown adults we are talking about.
It’s unclear to me what the union has to gain at this point by picketing the riders so aggressively. Its leaders have said several times the purpose is to anger riders into pressuring Council to intervene, but it’s hard to see that happening now. Not only has Council formally declared they will not get involved, the Ontario Legislature is in recess until late February, putting any sort of back-to-work legislation two months away at least (barring an emergency session of the Legislature being called, I suppose). If the purpose were simply to show the union’s ongoing discontent, it could just as easily do that picketing outside its employers’ buildings. How can we interpret the union’s current actions as anything but a deliberate attack on the people it not only claims to serve but whom will be on the hook for funding the lofty new wages and benefits its members are seeking?
Ummm… one can’t just simply “leave the union”. You “leave the union”, you are leaving the job. And those drivers like their job and just want to work!
@YRT Driver: Yes, and clearly they have cast their lot, so why complain?
Late for work again because of all these IDIOTS.
Inconsiderate.
Rude.
Disrespectful, SCOUNDRELS!!!!!!!!!
You can’t leave the union without losing your job; If people could leave the union they would – probably during stressful events like this.
I think it’s an oversimplification to say that everyone who works in a unionized environment “likes it or they’d leave”; more along the lines of “Job pays well, i’m reasonably happy, items x,y,and z about the union are kinda annoying, but i’ll put up with it because it’s better than my alternatives”
2/5 days I don’t like my work and the rules that my firm has in palce, but the fact of the matter is they pay me exactly what it takes to keep me showing up everyday, doing my job well. It doesn’t mean I can’t grumble about stupid policies (um, excuse me IT, but a) why are you designing an utterly useless ap and b)why aren’t you making it also available for android, you studpid Apple fanboys)
Anyways, I’ve come today to raise the white flag – I am officially worn out from the striking.
I have some respite coming since work is out the 24th, but my Dec 15 resolution date seems to be mostly unrealized.
So far we haven’t had much snow, but it’s going to get worse in January, and a lot of students might be at risk of getting hurt if they’re trudging through the snow. While I think bargaining is good, a stalemate is not doing anyone any favours
I was well aware what leaving the union would imply when I wrote this post.
@Alyssa: I thought of you today when I realized it was the 15th. I’m feeling worn out myself and am getting tired of having only bad news to write about. Perhaps one good thing is we’re only two weeks away from your collecting on your December bet.
The point I tried to make in this post is that if the “concerned” drivers we keep hearing about were really concerned about what is being done to the riders and to their own relationship with the public, they would be trying either to stop what is going on now or to remove themselves from the situation. But they’re not, so we can hardly take their “concern” seriously. (Well, except that they are perhaps concerned about only one thing: Their own hide.)
It makes me angry to hear drivers say they’re worried about what the potential backlash from riders might be when they don’t also say they’re worried about what is being done to enrage the riders right now. YRT Driver said earlier he is afraid of how his union buddies might retaliate were he to speak out. I’m certain, though, that were the strike to be decided in the union’s favour he would have no problem finding the courage to accept the new wages and benefits bullied out of residents on his behalf. If he supports what the union’s tactics are meant to accomplish, should we believe him when he says he doesn’t support the tactics themselves? And if he does support these tactics, does he deserve our sympathy?
How can a person support what the union accomplishes yet say he doesn’t support its actions? And he doesn’t support the union’s actions, why does he belong to it? Because he has a God-ordained right to work as a bus driver? It makes no sense and it reeks of cowardice.
Oh believe me, quite a number of drivers have already been hired elsewhere and moved on, and others are going through the application process at a number of places. The ones that are staying though fall into 2 categories: 1) Those that prefer to work in York Region for whatever reason (closer to home, high seniority so why start somewhere else at the bottom, etc..) or 2) Those that are fighting because they have a full belief in trying to resolve the issues in York Region, so they are fighting not only for themselves, but for future drivers/mechanics/cleaners. (similar to the Toronto strike many years back that completely changed the compensation their employees are now benefiting from). I do say though, when the buses finally are back on the road, don’t get THAT excited, because I can almost guarantee that not only will some buses run late because unfortunately there may be immature riders who choose to be abusive or very irate that the driver will not move the bus until that passenger is removed from the bus, but also there may not be enough drivers to actually fill the runs!
Something is astir over the picketing;
There was info posted on CP 24 about ruling against picketing – Simon, can you follow up on this?
I’d in full-force Decemberitis at the office, so I can’t go picking through details!
@Alyssa: Hey, I missed seeing your comment earlier. I’ve been busy with December stuff myself but I’m starting to get caught up.
I know the Region sought a court injunction against the picketing, or certain aspects of it, as they had done in the last strike (as Michael Suddard pointed out to me). They announced this just as the union itself said it would be taking a break from picketing over the holidays, so people may have automatically assumed the injunction “worked.”
If I read the headline right ATU Local 113 is now claiming they put Veolia’s last offer to vote and it was rejected by the members, which I find very hard to believe but would be interesting if true. Gotta keep reading.
Hope you’re enjoying the holidays. Merry Christmas!