Blaming Workers Isn’t a Sound Plan to End a Strike
David Miller should know better. He’s the Mayor after all. You can’t blame workers for a strike when the City demands for concessions is the sticking point. The strike isn’t about wages, it is entirely about concessions. Concessions workers voted overwhelmingly to reject. Concessions that coming from City Council re-define hypocrisy.
David Miller is as defiant about re-opening his own entitlement to a pay increase as he is about refusing to budge in negotiations with workers.
The City’s position will not withstand arbitration, and the Mayor knows it. His strategy at this point can best be described as a ’starve them out’ approach to labour relations. By allowing the strike to go on indefinitely, the Mayor and Council hurt all Torontonians, especially the vulnerable. They hurt the workers who lose 2% of their annual income with each passing week (4% has already been lost).
The Mayor has ruled out asking for ‘back to work legislation’ – his out if he seriously wanted the strike to end. He doesn’t. That’s the problem. Back to work legislation would mean the City losing on the sick pay issue. His Council’s ability to find $400 million in less than 24 hours, totally discredits the argument that $250 million being paid out over 20 years would somehow harm the City’s financial position.
There isn’t an arbitrator in the Ministry of Labour that would side with the City’s position. The Mayor knows it, so do the workers. Ladies and Gentleman this Mayor, and this Council have brought you a summer without pools, day camps, trips to Centre Island, garbage pick up, or access to all the municipal services covered by the doubling of the land transfer tax, promise breaking property tax increases and new fees like the vehicle registration. You’re paying the bills and getting nothing for it.
I agree with David Miller that ‘enough is enough’. He can end the strike.
He needs to pull the sick pay issue off the table; strike a three year collective agreement and form a working group made up of union reps and city officials to explore alternatives to the sick pay issue over the course of the three year collective agreement with the aim of introducing an alternative both sides agree to in advance for the next round of talks.
That would end the strike, get workers back to work, get garbage out of our parks, and parking lots and go a long way to finding a financially sustainable solution that works for both management and workers. That should the the Mayor’s priority. Unfortunately – he and his Council peers have decided to effectively ’strike’ in solidarity with their workers – canceling all of their responsibilities until workers go back.
Boy are they lucky they have a four year term, otherwise it is my belief many heads would roll this fall – who knows, next fall could still see the same result.
Tags: City of Toronto, City of Toronto Negotiations Update, City of Toronto Sick Benefits, City of Toronto Strike, City of Toronto Strike Update, CUPE 416, CUPE 79, David Miller, Daycare Strike, Garbage Strike, Sick Pay, Toronto
July 4th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Please – everyone go back to work!! I am going to lose my house because of this strike. We live paycheque to paycheque – and there is no paycheque due to this strike. My husband is the only one working in our family but because of the strike he can’t go to his city job. He is ashamed to say he works for the city. He did not vote for this strike to happen. I lost my job due to the recession and have yet been un-able to find another one. I read in the Sun paper that a worker can approach their manager to go back to work if htey fill out the proper forms and some people have decided to do this. Does anyone out there(including you John) know about this? From what I can tell if one does do this they are for-ever branded a “scab” and after the strike would most likely lose their job.
Is there any truth to this? Please help. I am unable to find any answers from anyone, Union,city, etc. as no one is willing to answer my questions. Please we are desperate!! Does anyone know the answer?
July 4th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Also, John, I feel you should be the mayor next time around. What you have said in your most recent post about eveything is wonderful. Miller does need to pull the sick pay issue off the table and strike a 3 year collective agreement. As I said, PLEASE everyone back to work. The kids need to work to fund their education for September and the adults have to pay their bills!!! Do as John says and from a working group to explore the sick pay issue further over the next three years. The citizens of Toronto are fighting each other. Everyone should grow up. Also I am still looking for answers to the “scab” issue. Help ?
P.S. John for mayor!!!!
July 4th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I will try to find you an answer on whether your husband is able to cross the line and return to work during the strike.
I know unions do publish the names of employees who do not participate in strikes on their ‘blacklist’, and that it would make for a bad relationship with the local itself, but I do not believe unions are in a position to have anyone fired for crossing the line.
Is your husband currently doing strike duty? If he registers with the local and participates in picket lines he would receive strike pay of $200 per week. I know it’s not much, but it keeps some money coming in.
You may also be able to re-negotiate with your financial institutions surrounding payment terms and amounts based on the work stoppage.
When I hear back about if employees are allowed to cross the line, and what the impact would be should an employee do so, I will contact you and let you know what I find.
John Laforet
July 4th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Have you calculated how long the city needs to keep the strike going to make up the $400 millinon.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Hi Kathy,
Good point. I have not. Wages are something like 21% of the City’s operating budget, so it would take many months to get there.
The city’s argument about not being able to afford the 250 million in sick pay benefits is overplayed though because that is the total possible payout over an extended period of time.
If they banked the wages these workers are losing during this strike, and didn;t raid that fund – these first two weeks would go a long way to covering the next couple of years.
Even without this – the affordability argument is weak because the City should not have raided the reserve fund set aside for workers benefits in the first place. Especially when they’re raising their pay and keeping a very generous severance plan for their own position intact.
The kids not learning to swim, going without summer camp or daycare, or the home owners without garbage pick up should be outraged that services they pay for aren’t being received because the City’s decision to turn it’s fiscal incompetance into a fight with workers.
July 5th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Thanks John – First time I have read anything that calls mayor Miller out.
I think Miller knew from day one that existing contract take backs would cause the union to strike.
Possibly for his political gain.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
The strike is a total political game for both the Union and Miller.
Think about this…both Miller and the Union will look like the heroes at the end of this.
I say get rid of the Union, it’s really gets me upsad when a garbageman can make as much as a mid-level management at private company…this is just wrong…
i know someone will ask us to trying working outside…well, my respond to you guys is, I went to highschool and studied hard and get into university so that I earn an income with my brain not muscle, what did you guys do in highschool??
July 5th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
You give the city too much credit in finding the 400 million dollars. They charged the new LRV’s to the capital budget, and they are finding 400 million dollars in other capital projects to charge to the Federal Government (TTC, water, roads, etc). There is the genuine question of why the city didn’t charge these capital expenditures to the Federal government in the first place…
City operating budget is a very, very difficult one to play with. It is probably one of the tightest, most scrutinized budgets in the province. The sick days issue is a unfunded corporate liability worth millions. It looks like the city has put its foot down and says it can’t afford it.
The city might be able to re-open the operating budget and find the necessary money, but I can see this being very difficult. The city will either have to cut a service to pay for the sick days, or raise taxes. Neither is a popular option.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
John, you are a very well spoken individual who definitely is tapped in to the saga of the City vs. Union. I agree with your comments and thoughts on this matter. I understand those who feel frustrated that the City’s services are unavailable to them and I also feel for those Union employees who’s wallets are feeling the pinch. One way or another this strike is affecting everyone in T.O. But, let us all remember this is NOT a GARBAGE STRIKE alone! There are approximately 24,000 people on strike and out of those garbagemen/ladies are only a fraction. It drives me crazy to hear so many UNEDUCATED Torontonians speak on a matter they know very few facts about. People should stop with the tunnel vision and look at the whole picture. i.e. our Councillors who are not willing to back down from any of their “perks,bonuses,pay increases etc.” Also, has anyone ever wondered if the City was to contract these services out for a “lower” cost to the City who would see the benefits? The Taxpayer? I highly doubt it. I don’t think anyone’s taxes would be adjusted accordingly. People need to look at the whole picture. Think before you speak!
Keep up the good work John.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
As a Local 416 member currently walking picket lines and taking both physical and verbal abuse on an hourly basis, I’d just like to thank you for taking the time to think through this situation and come up with a real analysis, instead of just spewing dogmatic “angry taxpayer” vitriol.
First, @Early – I studied hard in highschool. I was a straight A student, and continue to be one in university. I am lucky enough to have a seasonal job with the city which HELPS to pay for school in the winter months, along with scholarships, OSAP and a second job.
When not on strike, I work 50+ hours a week … Together with my common law partner, who also works full time, we can *just* afford to rent a modest downtown apartment, we ride bikes/ttc for transit, and are both pursuing post-secondary education, which pushes each of us into debt despite our working hard and living modestly.
Most of the people I work with in the summer months have children, car and house payments, etc. etc. None of them are rich. What we are payed is a living wage, and the overwhelming majority of people I have worked with at the city are good workers who appreciate what they have. Sure there is the occasional slacker – but I’ve worked in non-union environments with slackers all the same. Many of them sat behind desks and told everyone else what to do.
The “superiority” of earning a living with “brain not muscle” is a shallow and false idea. I’ve met braindead office workers with MBAs, and brilliant sanitation workers who never graduated highschool. Believe it or not, the brain is a muscle too, and can be applied to the improvement or detriment of any activity. You might want to consider that the next time you decide to assign such a one-dimensional “standard” for the value of labour.
I simply can’t understand the back-biting logic that dictates “Why should you be paid a living wage to do a necessary job when I am not?” If no one is paid a living wage to do necessary work, there is no precedent which other workers can point to in order to justify a living wage for themselves. Instead we compete against each other, dragging each other down in a self-righteous, resentful race to the bottom, and the only people who win are employers, quietly chuckling to themselves as their profit margins increase and their bonuses grow. We can’t all be employers, after all. Workers deserve a fair shake for their sweat, mental or physical.
That might include *GASP* a sick bank, which is NOT the only issue we are out over. I am slightly on the fence over it, but folks might want to consider these points:
http://www.local416.org/files/file/Why%20we%20are%20on%20Strike.pdf
July 6th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Just realized I didn’t enter a name. There it is.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Kimmyts – I have a number for your husband to call for more information on crossing the picket line.
I will email it to you now.
John
July 6th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Hi John,
I want to know more information on crossing the picket line. Could you pls email my the number as well?
Thanks
Cynyi
July 6th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
This is not just a garbage strike.
The East York Kiwanis pool was closed all last summer due to a poor choice of a CONTRACTED company that the CITY MANAGEMENT chose which ended up going out of business and therefore didn’t complete the job.
From the sounds of it-it won’t be open again this summer.
Privatization isn’t as good as some of you seem to make it out to be.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:51 am
On it’s way Cynyi
John
July 7th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
thanks for the # john, will give it a try
July 10th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Thanks John
I’m tried of hearing all of the blame being put on the City workers.
However, the media doesn’t seem to be help out the workers.
I think someone like yourself should try and get this informaion out to the public.
We are a one income family as well with 3 children and believe me we don’t want and can’t afford to be off work. How is this going to help Ontario through a recession when people start to loss their cars, homes etc.
I think people need to realize that not all City employees are for this strike but what choice do they have. NONE
July 12th, 2009 at 12:53 am
It is so refreshing to hear someone’s well thought out analysis of the strike..and further to read something positive about the Union. I am sick and tired of ill-informed taxpayers [as well all are] spewing forth about the uneducated, unskilled, selfish, greedy 416 and 79 employees.
We are educated, we provide a lot more services in this city than just garbage, we are public health nurses, welfare workers, engineers, building inspectors, licensing clerks etc etc.
We are ALL skilled, we are all educated to varying degrees. Just as the police and firefighters…actually we are more educated.
Secondly, let me say this…while I sympathize with those who are out on strike I have NO sympathy for anyone who would cross the line. If you are going to lose your home after missing ONE paycheck then you are in serious trouble that has little to do with the strike. I am disgusted by those who have already crossed the line and watch while their co workers stay out…fighting for them to achieve the best possible collective agreement. I wish there was a way we could just cut those people loose of the union altogether and let them negotiate their own salaries and benefits. Good luck with that. You are scabs and you are disgusting.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
John, I know most of this blog is old news but I was reading through to see what comments were like. I felt compelled to advise tohose who are considering crossing the picket lines of the following.
1) They must put the request in writing to thier managers.
2) If there is work for them to do they can begin to cross the line, work and receive compensation.
3) Upon the completion of the labour dispute any and all names of those who did cross the lines would have their names forwarded to CUPE National where under the Union Charter, the crossing employee will receive a fine of up to $10,000.
4) If the employee refuses or cannot pay this fine they will lose their membership in the union thus making it illegal for the city to continue to employ them, unless of course the city promotes them to a management position
As you can see crossing the line can be treacherous for your employment and should they actually pay the fine the treatment by other staff may be difficult to bear.
In 2002 I was aware of 1 person who crossed the line, received and paid the fine and shortly thereafter had to resign because employees in her department made for a strenuous day.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
To Crud,
I have heard that approx. 500 have crossed the line. Will they be sending a fine to 500 people? Also I am getting alot of mixed comments on the “crossing the line thing”. It is very hard to determine which comments are correct and which ones are not. I actually do not feel any father advanced than I did when I first tried to gain some info on this topic.
July 17th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Crud:
In the federal public service strike of 2004, many employees also chose to cross the picket lines to work. Although the unions imposed heavy fines against these workers, the courts ruled that unions have no power to collect these fines or otherwise punish members.
The unpleasantness in the work environment from militant colleagues may be a real consequence. But the financial penalties are unenforceable.
PS. You made your point clearly and without rhetoric, Crud–good on you. There are legitimate arguments on both sides in the current municipal strike. But to resort to insults such as the term “scab” is infantile.