Sunday, April 27, 2008

How I survived the great strike of 2008

So we all survived this nightmare -- a whole 36 hours without the TTC. Truly a harrowing ordeal. I know I barely survived it.

(And before you email me telling me I'm being an asshole, I'll point out that I had to work extra shifts and work twice as hard this weekend because co-workers couldn't make it in. I'm exhausted, cranky, and understand exactly how inconvenient the strike was. Does this change my perspective? Not really.)

Some thoughts:

1) Should the TTC be an essential service because (some) nurses (sometimes) take the TTC? The implication of this argument seems to be that multi-million dollar institutions who literally employ full-time PhDs somehow are baffled by the concepts of "phone tree" and "car pool". Ah, but you say, nurses are treated like crap and their employers aren't going to pay for car rentals so they can all get to work.

Indeed. Perhaps they need a better union.

2) There have been something like 8 strikes in the TTC's history -- the last major one shortly before I moved to Toronto when I was a kid -- and some of them lasted more than 3 weeks. If I recall correctly, hospitals have employed nurses throughout most of this period. Apparently, after the inevitable epidemics broke out when nurses couldn't get to work, all mention of these horrible plagues was erased from the history books. Anyway, the TTC wasn't an essential service then, but is now. I think this buttresses my argument: we're now a city of infants.

[Seriously. Do people actually think history didn't happen, or isn't written down?]

3) If a local labour dispute can motivate the Provincial government to act within 24 hours and find a legislative solution that garners cross-party support within 32 minutes, what about all the other shit that's wrong in this province? Find me a solution to climate change in 32 minutes, and I'll have Dalton McGuinty's baby.

4) Look out teachers. You're next.

5 comments:

Flocons said...

First off, I'm glad TTC is back in service. I hope you do too.

Next, I want to thwart your perception that hospitals have millions of dollars on hand to arrange last-minute alternate travel for their employees. They don't.

In terms of how many nurses take the TTC and how dependent they are on their service, I suggest you ask any nurses you know, and you will find the answer. If hospital workers made as much money as TTC workers, the world would be a little closer to a sanity.

Finally, I'm not anti-union. Do nurses need a better union? Sure, why not? Does the public lash out at teachers when they go on strike? Heck no, teachers work like mad and put in a lot of extra unpaid hours. When it comes to the TTC union, I simply cannot extend them the same respect as these other unions. To do so would insult nurses and teachers.

john said...

"Does the public lash out at teachers when they go on strike? Heck no"

Excuse me? We were in different grades, I'm sure, but do you remember the public reaction against the teachers' strikes during the Harris years? Of course they lashed out, like the public does every time there's a strike that inconveniences them.

And I'm confused to see that the TTC is so essential that it needs to have it's legal rights removed, but also so useless that you think comparing them to teachers or nurses is insulting.

And it doesn't take millions of dollars to arrange a car pool. Large hospitals already own fleets of automobiles, as do the provincial and city governments. If there were an actual risk -- and I see no evidence of any, just hypotheses -- the city and province could work with hospitals together to reduce it for the duration of the strike.

Instead, we turn the provincial government in to strike-breakers.

john said...

Oh, and the last time there was a teacher's strike the Harris government explicitly stated they were considering making teachers an essential service and removing their rights. Nothing, nothing happens in isolation.

Flocons said...

Just to be clear, I never said TTC service was useless. My point was quite the opposite.

I am saying that the TTC union and it's members conducts itself in a manner I find distasteful. The biggest distinction is that I believe teachers and nurses are well aware of their responsibilities to society, and conduct themselves responsibily. More importantly, the public perceives them as "hard working".

The public does not perceive the TTC as "hard working". They do not see them as aware of their responsibilities to society. Now if the TTC could change my mind about this, I would start to support their union actions.

Saskboy said...

"If a local labour dispute can motivate the Provincial government to act within 24 hours and find a legislative solution that garners cross-party support within 32 minutes, what about all the other shit that's wrong in this province? Find me a solution to climate change in 32 minutes, and I'll have Dalton McGuinty's baby."

Simply a brilliant comment!