Breathing
easier? As predicted last week by TTC chair Howard Moscoe, the
contract negotiations were not wrapped up until the “eleventh hour”
-- less than half a day before transit service was scheduled to
cease. The entire city has just experienced an intense period of
emotional uncertainty. With a tentative agreement finally reached in
the hallway of a suburban hotel, the TTC’s largest union is set to
vote on Thursday.
Employees will
soon be able to look over the proposed contract and discuss it with
their colleagues and families. Until it is approved, riders won’t
know whether any changes will affect their daily commutes. Perhaps
it’s better we don’t know exactly what went into the months-long
process of bargaining, but did we heed the signs that things were
headed for confrontation?
Negotiations
were described as respectful, and many observers were surprised when
the TTC and its workers came so close to failing. It is possible
that brinkmanship was to be expected, caused by putting a group of
people together in a closed environment for a long period. Pressure
was considerable -- even before the intense media scrutiny over the
last week.
Yet is this the
way we want our transit system run? Tough bargaining and threatened
work stoppages may be the nature of the beast, but are there no ways
to tame things down? Because the TTC’s finances are severely
strained, there may appear to be limited room to maneuver in
bargaining, and the employees of a beleaguered transit system might
be expected to experience reduced morale.
The average
rider may also have other concerns than monitoring a list of
contentious issues between transit officials and union members,
including wages, pensions, schedules and contracting work. Despite
the fact that customers pay over 80% of the TTC’s operating costs,
we tend to leave the running of the system to those who are paid to
do so.
Nonetheless,
all the parties in the process appealed to the general public as the
drama reached its height -- that’s why so many details began to be
revealed in back-and-forth press conferences. Yet riders and
citizens were being asked to arrive at an opinion, even to pick
sides, all with only cursory knowledge of issues. Instead, faced
with a complicated range of factors and the threat of no transit,
the common response was largely driven by emotion.
Perhaps the
recent uncertainty was simply inevitable, but it’s pretty serious
that the functioning of the city appears to be at stake every three
years. There were hints that emotions were high amongst employees,
and the media may not have examined that soon enough. I for one
found useful background information only recently, even though it
had appears to have been easily available on the union’s website
since mid-March.
The issues that
brought us so close to a strike had been bubbling for months -- some
for years. Once this deal is signed and sealed, should riders take a
greater role over the next three years, to avoid a repeat
performance?