Garbage Clean Up Begins, Service Restoration Underway as City of Toronto Strike Ends
Toronto City Council voted 21 to 17 to ratify the CUPE 416 and CUPE 79 collective agreements that will allow for City Services to be restored. By Tuesday August 4th, the temporary dump sites and street should be cleaned up and many of the City Services including day cares will re-open. City of Toronto summer camps will resume August 10th.
Toronto Island Ferry service has been restored in time for the long weekend.
I wrote Friday morning urging Councillors to act responsibly and not attempt to cause a management lock out that would have deprived Torontonians of services for an undetermined length of time and cause a more expensive arbitrated settlement. Watching 17 Councillors take a politically opportune but disasterous public policy position in trying to defeat the collective agreement was unfortunate.
They weren’t the only ones looking bad however. It was David Miller who turned the sick pay issue into such a big deal. Two months ago, most Torontonians had no idea workers could bank sick days. Miller educated residents, sought their overwhelming public opinion against this system, promised to end it and failed to. He failed because he could not have ended it anyways and it was a bad promise to make. His opponents on Council should be wise enough to understand they too could not hope to end the sick pay bank – and fighting blindly against this would result in an arbitrated deal that would see the status quo in place.
Miller did better at the negotiating table than could have been done at the arbitration table, but the bizarre left/right politics at City Hall has resulted in both sides being dishonest or misleading with the public about their positions.
Miller’s talk of millions of dollars in savings is based on a hypothetical raise of 3% annually, something the City had never intended to go for. It was money never spent, it was money that was never going to be spent making it an argument that isn’t rooted in fact.
The fact that six Councillors didn’t feel the need to attend the meeting is scandalous. This is probably the most important decision this Council had to make so far in 2009 and these individuals, duly elected, did not appear to have their voice or the voices of their constituents heard. There names are : John Filion (Willowdale); Gloria Lindsay Luby (Etobicoke Centre); Giorgio Mammoliti (York West); Cesar Palacio (Davenport); Kyle Rae (Toronto Centre Rosedale)
The following Councillors voted in favour of a management lock out: Paul Ainslie (Scarborough East); Brian Ashton (Scarborough Southwest); Mike Del Grande (Scarborough Agincourt); Mike Feldman (York Centre); Rob Ford (Etobicoke North); Cliff Jenkins (Don Valley West); Norm Kelly (Scarborough Agincourt); Chin Lee (Scarborough Rouge River); Peter Milczyn (Etobicoke Lakeshore); Denzil Minnan-Wong (Don Valley East); Ron Moeser (Scarborough East); Frances Nunziata (York South Weston); Case Ootes (Toronto Danforth); John Parker (Don Valley West); Karen Stintz (Eglinton Lawrence); Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre); Michael Walker (St. Paul’s)
Tags: Brian Ashton (Scarborough Southwest), Case Ootes (Toronto Danforth), Chin Lee (Scarborough Rouge River), City of Toronto, City of Toronto Garbage Strike, City of Toronto Strike, City of Toronto Strike Agreement, City of Toronto Strike Negotiations Update, City of Toronto Strike Update, City of Toronto's Offer to Unions, Cliff Jenkins (Don Valley West), CUPE 416, CUPE 416 negotiation update, CUPE 416 Tentative Agreement, CUPE 79, CUPE 79 negotiation update, Denzil Minnan-Wong (Don Valley East), Frances Nunziata (York South Weston), John Parker (Don Valley West), Karen Stintz (Eglinton Lawrence), Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre), Michael Walker (St. Paul’s), Mike Del Grande (Scarborough Agincourt), Mike Feldman (York Centre), Norm Kelly (Scarborough Agincourt), Paul Ainslie (Scarborough East), Peter Milczyn (Etobicoke Lakeshore), Rob Ford (Etobicoke North), Ron Moeser (Scarborough East), Sick Pay benefits in Toronto, Toronto Child Care, Toronto Strike, Toronto Strike Tentative Agreement
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I am left scratching my head with the “no show” of my councilor, Mr. Filion. I know he is a strong supporter of the Mayor and historically has sided with the Unions. I fully expected he would vote in support of the deal. So why would he not show up? My best guess would be, Mr. Filion did not have the support of his constituents for a ‘yes’ vote although that would have been his personal choice. Voting against his constituents could have been political suicide for him. Unable to vote “yes” and unwilling to add to the “no” votes, he decided not to vote at all. Coward!
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 am
I loathe politicians who use the ‘legislative flu’ as an excuse not to vote. We don’t elect folks to duck, we elect them to lead, especially on controversial matters. An effective politician can stand up and say what needs to be said without fear, knowing that if they’ve been doing an effective job, their constituents aren’t going to be in a punishing mood come election time.
Further, if you’re an elected official and you live in fear of your next date with the electorate, it’s time to seek new employment and give someone else the opportunity to try.
I would encourage you to write your Councillor and ask him why he was not present as Council decided this very important issue. Also – I’d encourage you to seek how he would have voted, had he been present. As a constituent each is a fair question.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I keep wondering if the ‘vote’ wasn’t by design. I don’t agree with how my Councillor, Brian Ashton voted, however, I have a feeling that he really did want the workers back to work sooner, rather than later.
The overwhelming message the vote sends to me is that Mayor Miller is a very weak and dismal leader. I wish he hadn’t voted himself a 4 year contract. We now have to wait an extra year before he’s history.