I want to preface this rant with a bit of background information on myself. I am somewhere in between Liberal and NDP, certainly have a lean towards the Left. I mostly have nothing but support for the rights and protection of workers. This being said, when it comes to strikes, I sit on the fence. Everything depends on time and place. And I have little tolerance for greed - from unions or from governments. Think twice about who you are hurting before you walk out on your job.
Okay....Couldn't not go here for the first official rant of the blog.
This strike in Toronto is really starting to grind my gears. For many reasons. Sooooo many reasons!
Today is DAY 18 of the labour dispute which has been plaguing the city of Toronto. It is bringing out the ugliest in Torontonians - the garbage the is piling up on the streets and in the numerous dump sites is enough to make the strongest willed stomach queasy. It is baffling! The amount of garbage our city is producing is embarrassing, not to mention disgusting. Having recently returned from India, many people asked me about the "cleanliness conditions" which I experience. Hell yes there is a lot of garbage in India (aside from the fact there are ONE BILLION PEOPLE THERE) but there is not more garbage in India than in Canada - we are just much better at hiding the stuff in the ground. But no more, our dirty little secret is out and the whole world knows or at least those who are visiting us. I am saddened by the dump site along the lakeshore west, which would be a primary entry root from Pearson into the downtown core. As a resident of this glorious city I was horrified, imagine what an impressionable tourist would think! I am even more saddened by the garbage pillin' and stinkin' up the downtown core.
Aside from this whole garbage mess, the children of Toronto are high and dry - literally! Most the pools in the city are closed, a whole whack of recreational programs are canceled and the city daycares are on strike. How ridiculously selfish can you get? This is only one aspect of this strike that outrages me. The list of affected services is astounding - from availability of wedding chambers to public libraries to animal services! The FERRY to the Toronto Island has stopped, imagine the implications of such a thing on the businesses of the island. (Or read this)
What really gets me is the whole reason this strike is happening in the first place. Canadian Local 79 and Union 416 are asking for job security, better pay raises and secure benefits. They are holding off until they are ensured their demands are met (David Miller's offer today of a 2009 freeze and 2010 1% increase was rejected). It is a very similar story we hear from city workers every few years or so...the difference is that this year we are plum smack in the middle of a RECESSION...say it with me now, folks:
R-E-C-E-S-S-I-O-N! R-E-C-E-S-S-I-O-N! R-E-C-E-S-S-I-O-N!
Or did I just imagine that whole media whoring, election causing (and near election causing), job costing, salary cutting, house losing, United States economy crushing global recession? Of course a union wants job security, EVERYBODY wants job security! You are asking for pay raises in a time when people are having to accept pay cuts in order to keep their jobs! It is astounding, truly, that the union would choose the poorest possible time to gain public support for their strike. Hell, they could write the book on pissing off Torontonians. The Canada Day fireworks were canceled! The unions gambled on taking advantage of an NDP Mayor, David Miller, who they know is a supporter of workers' rights and union protection. Frankly though, the City of Toronto is broke as a joke anyway, not to mention is falling victim to the recession fears...he ain't gonna budge much on giving you want you want.
I find my Indira Gandhi side coming out when I imagine what I would do if I was Mayor...
Fire 'em all and privatize everything. And if people have a problem with me cutting jobs during a global recession, I'll remind them why you can't strike for job protection during one and try to shut down a city.
I know Miller will not and cannot ever do something like that though, and I am petrified at what this means for Toronto and the summer of 2009. Enter the Provincial Liberals and Mr. McGuinty...time to exercise a little bit of back to work legislation.
In the mean time, my advice to the Unions: the only bigger mess you will have to clean up when you go back to work than the hundred of piles of garbage is the public perception of you. So buck up and wise up!
For more information on the strike, visit:
http://www.toronto.ca/labour-relations/index.htm#plans
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I couldn't agree with you more - I understand that their contracts were up and the union wanted some adjustments made, but really? Asking for job security in the middle of a recession? Let's just slap all the people that have lost their jobs in the last year right smack in the face.
ReplyDeleteAn especially touching story that I've recently come across is that of my dad's friend, the owner of the pro shop at Scarlet Woods Golf Club. Her course has been shut down, causing her to have to let go all her summer employees and refund thousands of dollars to people that registered for her summer clinics. She's attempting to give private lessons out of Centennial Park but few want to travel that far. My dad told me last week that she's going to have to sell her house just so she can survive the summer. Sadly I'm sure that's not even the worst story out there.
I just hope the union workers are fully realizing how this strike is devastating the lives of many hard working Torontonians.
Have I told you lately how much you rock, Maeve?
ReplyDeleteSigh.
I can't understand why the union thinks that this was a good idea, or good timing. Maybe Ken Lewenza's got his fingers in the pot.
I watched a YouTube video of a striking worker throwing trash at a small child who had been brought to the park by her grandparents to pick up pop cans - to teach her that littering was wrong.
With such high unemployment and yes, being in the middle of a recession, why doesn't the major fire the ENTIRE union, and publish 25,000 job postings? With things the way they are, the number of people who would apply would most likely be staggering, and cheaper than the extortion of the unions right now.
*RAGE OVER*
Maeve, did you catch the interview on CBC this afternoon with Mayor Miller? A crafty move on his part - going public with the terms of negotiation. Sounds like he's ready to stand his ground. For every child who's missing out on daycare, summer camp or a dip in a municipal pool the support for union workers drops like a bag of garbage in a public space.
ReplyDeletekeep up the good rants.
The one thing that worres me, Maeve, is this concurrent strike that has been going on for much longer in Windsor. McGuinty hasn't budged on that strike either (which has been on since April, I believe) so I don't think he'll be forcing Toronto back to work. It would not bode well for any hopes he has of getting reelected/winning seats in the province's regions that already feel they get a sour deal from Queen's Park.
ReplyDeleteI can hear it now: oh, there's that McGuinty the Toronto lover. Let's vote that for that no-name leader of the Conservative Party! They've treated this province well!