Blaming Workers Isn’t a Sound Plan to End a Strike

by John Laforet
posted on July 4th, 2009 at 11:51:15 am

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.