I'm not sure if anyone other than our Ottawa residents have been following this or not but the transit strike will now come to an end. I'm not familiar with the usual results of binding arbitration in Ontario but in other spots in Canada it has had decent results for fair contracts. Personally I thought that some of the unions demands where ridiculous (able to pick shifts and routes) and at points it seemed like they were just continuing with the strike to spite the city. Whatever the reason I'm happy it's over. Traffic was a nightmare the last fifty days and a number of people lost their jobs because they could not get to work.The end of Ottawa's 51-day bus strike had commuters and transit workers celebrating Friday.
"Thank God! That's all I have to say," said Dore Charbonneau, who added getting up at 4:30 a.m. to carpool to work was taking its toll.
"Yesterday, with the snowstorm, I was done."
Officials from the City of Ottawa and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 announced late Thursday afternoon that they had reached a tentative deal to send all outstanding contract issues to arbitration, with no preconditions. But it could be a week before some transit services are running and months before they are back up to full service.
Maggie Bernt, Charbonneau's fellow carpooler, credits the deal to the announcement that U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Ottawa on Feb. 19.
"If it hadn't been for that, I think the strike would have continued…. I don't think either side would have given and I think both of them need a slap on the behind," she said Friday morning while standing outside an office building on Bank Street with Charbonneau.
But the friends had no hard feelings against the bus drivers.
When Charbonneau was asked what she will say to the bus driver the next time she boards a bus, she responded, "To be honest, it will probably be 'Welcome back.' "
Her neighbour, Linda Dodd, said she might even give the bus driver a muffin.
'Can't wait to get back': driver
Bus drivers were every bit as excited about the end of the strike.
Ali Moser, who has been an OC Transpo driver for six years, heard the news on Thursday afternoon and said he thinks all the striking workers are happy to go back to work.
"Because not only the public was suffering, but we suffer, too."
His colleague, Robert Dubois, said he's feeling great.
"I'm glad this is over with. It's been a long strike, which nobody wanted," said Dubois after he heard the news Thursday afternoon.
Dubois has been a driver with OC Transpo for 23 years.
"I can't wait to get back on the road and serve the public like we've done before," he said. "I know the public has been hurt with this."
But when asked if he thought the strike was worth it, he said he didn't know.
"It's a hard question to answer."
Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
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Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
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Re: Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
Both sides were douchebags in handling the negotiations but I found mayor Nosferatu to be more on the idiot side than the union. The strike made my job a lot harder but I think the city didn't really care as they were saving money from the strike and with a 20% increase of cars on the roads and not enough parking, the city is just raking it in.
Though the strike may be over, it means nothing to me as the bus service will not be completely restored until I have moved to Ohio.
Though the strike may be over, it means nothing to me as the bus service will not be completely restored until I have moved to Ohio.
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ASSCRAVATS!
"Whilst human alchemists refer to the combustion triangle, some of their orcish counterparts see it as more of a hexagon: heat, fuel, air, laughter, screaming, fun." Dawn of the Dragons
ASSCRAVATS!
Re: Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
And this coincides with the end of the York University teaching assistant/contract faculty worker strike via back-to-work legislation, which means the students can now salvage what's left of their school year. The Ontario NDP (who predictably seem to think no union can ever do wrong) also attempted to hold up the bill, and were rightfully lambasted for it.
This also reminds me of the last time the TTC had a transit strike, which that time happened more because of petty internal union politics than any issue with the contract. It only lasted two days (before the provincial government ended it with BtW legislation), but was incredibly disruptive: I don't know how essential OC Transpo is to Ottawa (having not been there in years), but Toronto cannot function for any length of time without the TTC, and so the the question was then raised again that if police, firefighters and EMS were classed as "essential services", why not transit? I recall some study was published at the time that basically predicted that doing so would cost more money in the long run, and based on that report the city elected not to have the province declare the TTC an essential service. I'd be interested to see if someone here could comment on the methodology of that report, since I have no idea how accurate it is.
This also reminds me of the last time the TTC had a transit strike, which that time happened more because of petty internal union politics than any issue with the contract. It only lasted two days (before the provincial government ended it with BtW legislation), but was incredibly disruptive: I don't know how essential OC Transpo is to Ottawa (having not been there in years), but Toronto cannot function for any length of time without the TTC, and so the the question was then raised again that if police, firefighters and EMS were classed as "essential services", why not transit? I recall some study was published at the time that basically predicted that doing so would cost more money in the long run, and based on that report the city elected not to have the province declare the TTC an essential service. I'd be interested to see if someone here could comment on the methodology of that report, since I have no idea how accurate it is.
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Re: Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
Wow. A transit system that makes the TTC look competent and reasonable? That's frightening.
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"These deadly rays will be your death!"
- Thor and Akton, Starcrash
"Before man reaches the moon your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to England, to India or to Australia by guided missiles.... We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."
- Arthur Summerfield, US Postmaster General 1953 - 1961
Re: Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
[quote="Cpl Kendall]
I'm not sure if anyone other than our Ottawa residents have been following this or not but the transit strike will now come to an end. I'm not familiar with the usual results of binding arbitration in Ontario but in other spots in Canada it has had decent results for fair contracts. Personally I thought that some of the unions demands where ridiculous (able to pick shifts and routes) and at points it seemed like they were just continuing with the strike to spite the city.[/quote]
Not to take a side in a conflict where the devil is in the details, but the Union had the ability to pick shifts and routes before, and the city wanted to take away that ability. Apparently this ability is very important to the Union, so they naturally refused to enter any contract without it, so really it was the demands of the city that caused the strike rather than the demands of the union.
Of course, that's not to say the City isn't right in wanting to dictate shifts and routes themselves. Again, I don't know the details but the city believed that the service was suffering due to the City's inability to control routes.
I'm not sure if anyone other than our Ottawa residents have been following this or not but the transit strike will now come to an end. I'm not familiar with the usual results of binding arbitration in Ontario but in other spots in Canada it has had decent results for fair contracts. Personally I thought that some of the unions demands where ridiculous (able to pick shifts and routes) and at points it seemed like they were just continuing with the strike to spite the city.[/quote]
Not to take a side in a conflict where the devil is in the details, but the Union had the ability to pick shifts and routes before, and the city wanted to take away that ability. Apparently this ability is very important to the Union, so they naturally refused to enter any contract without it, so really it was the demands of the city that caused the strike rather than the demands of the union.
Of course, that's not to say the City isn't right in wanting to dictate shifts and routes themselves. Again, I don't know the details but the city believed that the service was suffering due to the City's inability to control routes.
Re: Ottawa Transit Dispute Goes To Arbitration
I know that it is standard practice to continue to ask for what you already have in the contract, I don't really blame them for that. What bothers me is neither side seemed willing to explore any other options. For example it's common for a company to offer to "buy out" a clause in the contract, could they have offered each driver a set amount of cash in exchange for giving up that right?TheKwas wrote: Not to take a side in a conflict where the devil is in the details, but the Union had the ability to pick shifts and routes before, and the city wanted to take away that ability. Apparently this ability is very important to the Union, so they naturally refused to enter any contract without it, so really it was the demands of the city that caused the strike rather than the demands of the union.
Of course, that's not to say the City isn't right in wanting to dictate shifts and routes themselves. Again, I don't know the details but the city believed that the service was suffering due to the City's inability to control routes.
Maybe I'm not looking in the right spots but I was not able to find much in the way of info to support either side. The city claimed that it was costing them money but it would be nice to see some support for that.
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