Thank goodness what's happening in Wisconsin could never happen here

[james_davis_nicoll]

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's government introduced legislation Tuesday afternoon that will strip unionized TTC workers of the right to strike.

Comments

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I don't theoretically have a problem with certain sectors being designated as an "essential service", as long as there are very strict and functional guidelines that go along with that designation that help to address the issues and concerns employees might have going forward.

A huge portion of the labour economy is not unionized, without the protections and guarantees and assistance that belonging to a union might provide. Does the software industry need unionization? It's not clear to me that it does (or does not).

And we also have existing sectors that are already working under this type of designation, so presumably we have a model for how to address transit workers' issues and concerns going forward. How well these systems works is open to discussion, of course, but it's not at all clear to me that a workers' union is a pie-in-the-sky-all-things-are-good solution either.

At the very least, I would hope that Dalton's legislation has very careful transition planning in place that would address these kind of questions. But wishes are fishes, really.

[jsburbidge.livejournal.com]

The counterpoint to this seems to be the Quebec Crown Attorneys (recently ordered back to work after a strike):

"The imposed settlement, which also covers about 1,000 other government lawyers on strike, is especially hard for the prosecutors to swallow because they had never sought the right to strike. During negotiations in 2003, the prosecutors requested binding arbitration, but instead the government imposed the right to strike. They exercised the right for the first time on Feb. 8, and after two weeks on the picket line – during which essential services continued to be offered — they were ordered back to work."

The worst of all possible worlds -- and it has happened with the TTC before -- is to have the putative right to strike but regularly have legislated back-to-work conditions which impose settlements below those which would be granted by arbitrators. The Quebec settlement seems to be particularly egregious given the gap between Crown salaries there and elsewhere, the lack of support, and the resulting difficulties recruiting new prosecutors.

[jwgh]

Meanwhile, the superintendent of the city I live in just decided to give every single teacher a pink slip for budgetary reasons.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

As someone who suffered (and I mean that, it's not ironic) through a rather lengthy transit strike, I know I'm biased in this. Still, I have to say that the ATU has a tough job convincing transit riders that bus drivers are not essential and an even tougher job convincing Torontonians that they're being hard done-by right now with the incredible PR faux-pas they've committed lately.* I'd also say that transit strikes disproportionally affect lower income households, especially those with mobility challenges, so the social left will be highly conflicted between workers' rights and social welfare.

Google turned up this argument on whether the TTC or any other transit system qualifies as essential. I find it interesting that under "essential service" legislation TTC workers would probably find better pay than they do today with the right to strike in place.

-- Steve just wishes there were fewer bad actors in the whole mess, on any and all particular sides of the issue.

* Specifically the dozing/texting workers bit, and that riders feel compelled to go public with photos of this happening instead of taking the issue up with formal complaints.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I assume that legislation will be introduced to repeal the voting rights of women and people who do not own land. It just makes sense if we are reverting to the 19th century.

On a possibly unrelated note, on Sunday I received a book as a gift.

http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780670067312,00.html

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Wait-- Ontario has a Premier?

[fsandow.livejournal.com]

There's really no comparison between the TTC situation and Wisconsin. The TTC legislation can be found here (http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&Intranet=&BillID=2453) and clearly provides for binding arbitration. That's the standard solution to the problem of essential services, and in my opinion is a fair solution as long as the arbitration procedure is fair. Just as with actual court litigation, the idea is to have the parties negotiate for a result they can both live with rather than submit to the uncertainty of the arbitration.

This is, as far as I know, broadly similar to how Ontario has dealt with its police officers, firefighters, emergency health services workers, and other essential employees for decades, without anyone criticizing it as an assault against democracy. The real issue in all this is whether the TTC is truly essential.

Regardless, Wisconsin is a totally different situation. The state is nominally leaving its employees with the right to collective bargaining, but so completely neutering it that it's meaningless. All the power will rest with the employer. As mentioned above, the Quebec prosecutors situation is a much better point of comparison.

Just as an aside, it's a constant source of annoyance to me that media stories discussing legislation don't include links to the official text of the legislation. It seems to be assumed that their readers either don't have the interest or the ability to for their own opinions from the primary source.

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

Will the TTC drivers be able to seek sanctuary by driving their vehicles across the border into the country of Quebec?

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

I never noticed before how much Dalton McGuinty looks like Anthony Perkins.

(The resemblance of Rob Ford to Baron Harkonnen has been much remarked on, though.)

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

I generally believe that transit should be at least as reliable as asphalt, since it's primary competitor is government-subsidized asphalt. I'm perfectly happy to have my taxes raised to ensure this state of affairs. Unfortunately, that's not quite what Ford is aiming for.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see to see some discussion about whether declaring something an "essential service" means it would have to start receiving some bloody funding from the province.