This is one
busy week for the TTC. The commission’s regular monthly meeting is
set to go ahead Wednesday, with votes expected on many issues that
could affect riders long into the future. Items include the future
of the streetcar fleet, plans to put bike racks on the front of TTC
buses, and final approval to place controversial message signs in
all subway stations.
At the same
time, negotiations between transit management and the TTC’s
unionized workers continue -- likely until late Wednesday, according
TTC chair Howard Moscoe. “We won’t know until the very end when we
get down to the tough monetary issues. Tough monetary issues won’t
be decided until the 11th hour,” says Moscoe.
The transit
commission, made up of eight city councillors and Toronto mayor
David Miller, oversees the contract talks, which are undertaken by
TTC management representatives. Moscoe holds out the possibility
that he may actually be at the bargaining table on Wednesday. The
TTC chair projects that “Wednesday night we’ll make our final
offer,” after which, he says, the union bargaining team could decide
to “recommend it or not recommend it” to the system’s unionized
employees.
Says Moscoe,
“The bargaining’s going reasonably well -- everybody’s working
toward that deadline. So, while I can’t predict 100 per cent of
what’s going to happen, my sense is I think we’re going to get a
settlement.” The Amalgamated Transit Union local 113, which
represents most TTC workers, is not making any comment on
negotiations until at least Wednesday.
Should you make
plans for a complete stoppage of TTC service? In the case of a
shutdown, there are not many alternatives. Traffic would be heavy
across greater Toronto, and other transit agencies will have to deal
with heavy congestion and the fact that many of their routes
terminate at subway stations. GO Transit, Mississauga Transit and
York Region Transit have all released contingency plans in case of a
TTC strike. Check their websites via www.findtheway.ca.
Last week,
Metro Toronto asked readers, “What will you do if the TTC goes on
strike?” There were 367 responses to the poll which was available at
www.metronews.ca. 11 per cent indicated they would carpool. 22 per
cent chose “I will drive myself to work/school.” Almost 21 per cent
picked “I'll walk”, 5 per cent indicated they would take cabs, and a
majority (41 per cent of respondents) voted to “Stay home.”
Unlike the 2003
transit strike in Montreal -- where workers were ordered to provide
limited bus and subway service in rush hours -- the TTC shutdown
would be complete. Says, Moscoe, “We wouldn’t even attempt to
provide any modicum of service.” During the last TTC strike in 1999,
it took the then provincial Progressive Conservative government two
days to pass legislation forcing employees back to work. Moscoe says
that if a strike were to take place here, the Ontario government
could again step in. “They could do what they wanted” he says,
adding “They can then look like the saviours of the disrupted
system.”
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