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)

A Councillor voting against the agreement, is in fact voting for a management lock out. It is plain and simple. Voting against the agreement means that you’d like it to fail, if you’re a Councillor and you want it to fail, its because you want a lock out. Let’s hope that the Councillors who disagree, at least are wise enough to slam the Mayor and company during the debate, but not vote against the agreement. Leave the Chamber if you have to, but don’t demonstrate irresponsibility by fanning the flames in favour of a management lock out. 

Citizens need their services back, they need garbage pick up, daycares open, pools, rec centres and parks open, clean and safe for children. Voting against what is a done deal won’t make it any better, and risks making it a lot worse. 

We’ll find out today what Councillors decide to do, let’s hope its the right thing. 

There are over 600 workers who crossed the line who need the City to protect them from expulsion proceedings that would see them lose their jobs for crossing the line, but the City seems prepared to risk the jobs of those individuals to go after some militant strikers. 

What the City should have done is called the police if there was objectionable behaviour happening on the line that they wanted addressed. Waiting until the strike has ended to decide to go after workers who misbehaved seems to me like a bad idea that both risks serious and irreversible harm to the City’s allies in both CUPE 416 and 79 and the City’s relationship with unions. 

I think all Torontonians want this strike to end, we want our workers back at work and our Council to get the job done – the City needs to get out of the way and let it happen. 

Let’s go guys, shake hands, agree to move forward together, and repair the relationship through a mutual protection of those each side would otherwise seek to punish. 

His threat to walk away from the table if the City didn’t get serious within 48 hours was well played for a number of reasons. One, it forced the City to get real and budge (to the degree we do not know). Two, even if it had failed, CUPE 416 stepping back from the table would have made it easier for McGuinty to step in and force arbitration as a lack of negotiations means the parties can’t solve it on their own. 

It was clear that Miller and the Union both recognized the City’s position was indefensible at arbitration, so Ferguson setting things on course to find it’s way in that direction represents the kind of arm twisting it often takes for an adversarial round of negotiations to come to an end. 

It is good news that CUPE 79 followed shortly after CUPE 416 penned the basis of an agreement earlier yesterday morning. My hope now is that Wednesday’s ratification among workers will go well, and end with a clear result. 

I do have a warning for Councillors who also need to ratify the agreement – if Councillor’s act out against the Mayor and try to defeat the agreement during their ratification vote, I expect the damage that has been done to the Mayor would largely be reversed as trying to lock the workers out after a 36 day strike would result in a total electoral revolt I expect against all current elected officials, the left for causing the first strike and the right should they defeat the agreement forcing a lock out. 

Everyone is going to need to act like adults, allow for things to get back to normal and for a process that will allow labour relations in this City to return to normal. An adversarial relationship between the City management and Union leadership can only serve to hurt Torontonians in the future and both sides have put residents through enough for many years to come with what has become the longest strike in the City’s 175 year history. 

CUPE 79 continued to negotiate throughout the weekend, but did not threaten to walk away if talks did not result in a deal. They still do not have a tentative agreement reached, but it stands to reason that CUPE 79 will follow CUPE 416 and allow for the strike to end within days. 

I have not seen the text of the tentative agreement, but it is promising that all members of the CUPE 416 negotiating committee voted unanimously to accept the deal. 

The next step is ratification, which would take place by allowing CUPE 416 members to vote to accept or reject the deal. Union management now needs to sell the deal to its 6200 members, and hope that a majority vote to allow the agreement to be ratified and return outside workers to work. 

I got an email from David Miller’s Director of Communications that was sent to all registered media who cover City Hall saying the Mayor will not comment on today’s developments until both unions have collective agreements. That in itself is promising as to me at least it seems like CUPE 79 will likely follow with an agreement of their own within a day or two, considering much of the inside workers leverage is gone when outdoor services resume. 

This is good news for all residents in Toronto. 

For Miller the strike is about economics, for the workers its about fairness. Miller has a chronic spending problem, and for political reasons will not use his new powers under the City of Toronto act to correct them. As a result he relies on handouts and now beating up on unions to make his a bizarre fiscal arrangement work. Spending has gone up $2.2 billion per year under this Mayor. That’s 34% in five short years. Workers didn’t do that, and this sick pay bank didn’t do that – this was the Mayor and his Council.

While I hope the City and CUPE 416 can strike a deal and get everyone back to work, should they fail to, I hope the Premier at least will call the legislature back and issue back to work legislation. Worker’s cannot go forever without a cheque, many are probably unable to pay their bills as it as. Residents deserve their services restored and because we have a Council unable and unwilling to properly manage our City, the time is here for the Province to step in, and at least referee this current fight until residents can do something about their Council next year.

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The Mayor presenting this as a good news story also seems to miss the point that allowing a strike to go on for over a month has hurt a lot of people including residents affected by service disruption and workers who are going without pay until the City bends from an unfair position even the Mayor now publicly recognizes could not pass muster with arbitration. 

It has also been reported that the City will begin issuing refunds to the families that have paid for summer camp and recreation programs they have been unable to access. To me, it seems unconscionable to ‘hold cheques’ from residents when its clear the service could not be provided. In the mean time, these individuals have had to shell out again for another program, before receiving their refund. 

It seems to me refunding money to folks who have paid for things they aren’t getting during the strike should have been the first priority when surplus workers became available. Issuing building permits is a great way for City’s to bring in money however, and it seems pretty clear that the folks in the Mayor’s office want a long strike in hopes of saving up money to cover the massive deficit they have had no plan for in the upcoming budget. 

If David Miller believes arbitration would hurt the City, and a 12% pay increase would be crushing, then he needs to get the City’s negotiation team off it’s collective butt and working on a sensible plan, like say – meeting contractual obligations to date, and not retroactively taking money from workers. Who in their right mind would vote to take thousands of dollars away from themselves because some hypocritical City Council that is well stocked with rhetoric, but lacking leadership asks them to. You will recall David Miller refuses to allow Council to vote to take thousands of dollars they gave themselves this year back.

If Miller grandfathered in full payouts for the current sick bank, I’m sure he could get his way on the future treatment of sick leave and his proposed 7.2% increase, even if the year one and two increased represent just 40% of what Councillor’s just gave themselves this year and next.

I found it almost offensive that any company, especially a supplier of garbage bags, could somehow think making their product available for free in the streets of Toronto, would some how help remedy the impact the strike is having city wide. If they were handing out daycare subsidies or offering private garbage collection at home – they would have a point, but handing out free garbage bags and calling it rescuing the city from a thirty day municipal strike is laughable.

I am not in the loop on the supply chain management of garbage bag demand, but I highly doubt there has been a run on the stores, and unless the folks at Glad who make the bags are planning a strike, I don’t see how supplying bags for free in the streets does anything for anyone.

There never has been an issue in accessing garbage bags. The issue is getting people to pick them up and properly store our waste. This strike will certainly become more annoying to me if other companies follow suit, missing the impact and seriousness completely in the name of self promotion of their product.

What’s more Glad seems to have decided the six hundred thousand people in Scarborough don’t need free garbage bags and don’t seem to go east of Broadview in their distribution. As someone who is proud of his Scarborough roots, I find that to be awfully lame as well.

I’ve written about child poverty in Ward 43 before. Listening to resident’s stories during and after the campaign made this the kind of issue for me that it is difficult to see as anything but a social justice issue. Ward 43 has the highest rate of child poverty in Scarborough. Low income Ward 43 residents who are eligible for a child care subsidy have lost access to 97 of those spaces or approximately 10% of child care subsides available to residents since the 2006 election and without any consideration to the impact of the economic crisis that has seen unemployment skyrocket in Toronto to 9.6%.

I am definitely not your average child care advocate. I am male, young, single and without children. But – as someone who has run for public office, and been involved in politics in a community with the highest rate of child poverty anywhere in Scarborough; it’s an issue I’ve come to learn a lot about. Linking the availability of child care to a parents ability to provide a life outside of poverty for a child is a challenge I believe needs to be taken up if we are to unravel some of barriers to employment faced by especially single parents.

Because of this strike, of the 935 families that were able to keep their subsidies after the City of Toronto cut roughly 10% of the subsidies allocated to eligible Ward 43 residents, 25% of those families have found themselves without access to their subsidized child care spot for 29 days and counting. Because the City directly operates 226 spaces in Ward 43 that are available to families eligible for subsidy, and because those day cares are run by unionized workers, 226 low income families have 226 children without access to much needed, affordable day care.

If the other impacts of the strike wasn’t bad enough, these families are now forced to find unsubsidized options of childcare to ensure that they are able to continue going to work to maintain employment. Child care is not a service the City provides to enhance the lives of residents, it is one the City provides that is essential to allow low income earners to remain in the work force, provide for their families and have affordable, safe and accessible childcare for their children. The strike is now depriving them of that. 

Kids make bad political footballs. While garbage may be the most noticeable impact of the current labour disruption, the City shuttering its day cares and providing no alternative to parents whose children were receiving subsidized daycare in the public system is probably the most serious.

Somebody needs to start thinking about the impacts this strike is having on Toronto’s lowest income earners, their children and our future. Children without access to licensed, safe and affordable childcare are at risk. With each day this strike carries out, the 3000 or so kids whose subsidized care has been provided directly by the City are at greater risk. Their families financial situations further tightened, not to mention the tens of thousands of parent’s who rely on parks and recreation programming to provide summer time daycare through the summer camp programming run by the City of Toronto.

My hope is prior to any future labour disruptions, the City can reach an agreement with the unions to ensure that childcare and more importantly child safety isn’t compromised by a future strike. Better yet, the City could end this strike by removing the unnecessary and controversial issue of sick leave pay from the negotiating table, strike an agreement and strive to prevent a future strike by maintaining good relations with union officials and starting negotiations well in advance of the expiration of an existing collective agreement.