Aefix
03-11-2008, 02:24 PM
Looks like I might need to walk to work soon...
TTC talks stalled
Workers set to take strike vote
By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
The TTC could be hit with a strike as early as April Fools Day.
Bob Kinnear, head of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said yesterday that TTC workers will take a strike vote tomorrow.
"We anticipate we will be in a strike position as of April 1," said Kinnear, whose union represents about 9,000 TTC drivers and other workers.
The current contract, which ends March 31, provides vehicle operators with three years experience an hourly wage of $26.58.
Negotiators for the TTC last Wednesday tabled their first offer, which incorporates annual pay increases of 2% in each of the four years covered by the proposed collective agreement.
Kinnear said that management is seeking reductions in benefits and wants to target some new hires for maintenance jobs with a cut in wages.
Kinnear said the union is filing to the provincial labour ministry for a no-board report which, if granted, will start the clock ticking towards a strike deadline.
"It's our people that have got to face the public out there day in and day out. The last thing we want to do is withdraw services and inconvenience them in that manner," said Kinnear.
"In saying that, if the city politicians and the TTC take the position that they want us to incur concessions, that's not going to happen."
The union yesterday released a report, prepared by former NDP MPP Marilyn Churley, which concluded Toronto would suffer the loss of about $12 billion annually in social, economic and environmental costs if the TTC ceased to exist.
TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone said the talks are at a preliminary stage and added nothing has transpired that could be considered out of the ordinary.
"We provided an offer which we felt and feel is fair to our employees and fair to the taxpayers," he said.
Giambrone added he would not negotiate in public.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/03/11/4966736-sun.html
TTC talks stalled
Workers set to take strike vote
By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
The TTC could be hit with a strike as early as April Fools Day.
Bob Kinnear, head of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said yesterday that TTC workers will take a strike vote tomorrow.
"We anticipate we will be in a strike position as of April 1," said Kinnear, whose union represents about 9,000 TTC drivers and other workers.
The current contract, which ends March 31, provides vehicle operators with three years experience an hourly wage of $26.58.
Negotiators for the TTC last Wednesday tabled their first offer, which incorporates annual pay increases of 2% in each of the four years covered by the proposed collective agreement.
Kinnear said that management is seeking reductions in benefits and wants to target some new hires for maintenance jobs with a cut in wages.
Kinnear said the union is filing to the provincial labour ministry for a no-board report which, if granted, will start the clock ticking towards a strike deadline.
"It's our people that have got to face the public out there day in and day out. The last thing we want to do is withdraw services and inconvenience them in that manner," said Kinnear.
"In saying that, if the city politicians and the TTC take the position that they want us to incur concessions, that's not going to happen."
The union yesterday released a report, prepared by former NDP MPP Marilyn Churley, which concluded Toronto would suffer the loss of about $12 billion annually in social, economic and environmental costs if the TTC ceased to exist.
TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone said the talks are at a preliminary stage and added nothing has transpired that could be considered out of the ordinary.
"We provided an offer which we felt and feel is fair to our employees and fair to the taxpayers," he said.
Giambrone added he would not negotiate in public.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/03/11/4966736-sun.html
