Tentative OC Strike Date. Dec. 10.

[Hux]

um...hello...golf shirts!?

[bradm]

I want him out of there. I have been betrayed by his leadership.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2009/01/14/8017196-sun.html

Aloha,

Brad

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

Didn't the city offer up scheduling if the union backed off on raises?

I think that was back in 1999. The the big issue now is that the city wants to get control of scheduling back.

Aloha' date='

Brad[/quote']

BradM is correct. The union already took a pay cut. The city can't have it both ways. And that's why you can't take just the scheduling thing to arbitration. As there is give and take amnongst and between a bunch of issues.

[rubberdinghy]

It's a large misconception that the union controls the scheduling. They don't. The city does, they put together the shifts according to rules that are set out in the contract. The city wants to change these rules that in essence will make the schedule extremely different.

[rubberdinghy]

I thought the ball was back in the union's court. Didn't the city offer up scheduling if the union backed off on raises? And given that the union maintains that the strike was about scheduling and not money, well, shouldn't this strike be over?

I just don't understand.

Apparently the mediator said neither sides were budging therefore there wouldn't be any negotiations.

Doucet's got it right

[bradm]

City, union strike deal over Para Transpo

Alain Mercier, the general manager for OC Transpo, said Thursday the agreement will allow the city to expand Para Transpo service and improve service to some of Ottawa's most vulnerable residents.

The two parties have agreed that the temporary employees will be members of the Para Transpo bargaining unit and covered by their collective agreement.

Aloha,

Brad

[mattm]

Here's something kinda funny. I was looking up other transit strikes trying to figure out the longest one (looks like 9 months in quebec) and see if we could have a record (long way to go still, BC had 4 months I think as well).

Either way, I stumble upon this article. It's not too long. You can skip most of it but read some of the top section and then read the bottom section, PROVINCE ONLINE POLL. hehehe

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/44/262.html

PS: Has nothing to do with the strike today, it's about some strike in 2001 and the funny part, well, you'll see.

PSS: This is safe for both sides to read, for or against, it's completely irrelevant to the part that's funny.

Edited January 15, 2009 by Guest

[bradm]

It looks like Ottawa City Council is back in session, and Rogers22 is running it live. I came in during the middle of a presentation by Alan Mercier, head of OC Transpo, and it helped answer a question I've had for a while. Mayor O'Brien has used "safety" as an issue for why OC Transpo wants control of scheduling, meaning that the way drivers were scheduling things wasn't safe.

Shouldn't there be regulations (federal or provincial) governing things like how long drivers can drive without a break, or how many hours off they need in a given period of time, etc?

It turns out there are: the federal government passed them in 2007, but with a three-way catch: the cities of Windsor, Gatineau, and Ottawa are exempt from the regulations. One councillor expressed confusion as to why Ottawa didn't need to conform to the regulations (and mentioned going to the feds to get Ottawa's exemption removed), and another councillor asked the city's solicitor if the issue of OC Transpo not following the federal regulations (even though we were exempt from them) might come up in a civil suit resulting from a crash. The solicitor replied that if he were the one bringing the case, he'd bring up exactly that issue.

It also looks like the city has revised its bargaining position slightly: they've agreed to take the $2500 signing bonus off the table, and allow for the appointment of an independent fact-finder to look at the scheduling issue.

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

AMAZING. the dude at Wilde's in Centretown has replaced his old sign with a new one:

FREE LUBE FOR OC DRIVERS. GO AND ____ YOURSELVES

[Davey Boy 2.0]

fiercely factious

[ollie]

AMAZING. the dude at Wilde's in Centretown has replaced his old sign with a new one:

FREE LUBE FOR OC DRIVERS. GO AND ____ YOURSELVES

Call their bluff dinghy.

[rubberdinghy]

Well....things are certainly getting interesting.

I can't wait to see what this fact finder says...

I'd sign a contract right now if they removed all scheduling and contracting out issues off the table, given they've taken away the signing bonus.

I'm going to Wilde's right now.

[rubberdinghy]

As for safety...management can go fuck themselves...there are multiple buses on the road right now (well were on the road) that barely pass safety inspections.

[bradm]

I'd sign a contract right now if they removed all scheduling and contracting out issues off the table, given they've taken away the signing bonus.

(This isn't a challenge or anything, and I don't mean it to sound antagonistic.) Would you agree to altering the scheduling so that there couldn't be any violations of the federal regulations? (I admit that Ottawa has an exemption from the regulations, so there's no requirement that Ottawa drivers comply with them, but I also understand that the existing collective agreement has limits in it that are different from the federal limits.)

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

what are the federal regulations that OC drivers are exempt from?

[bradm]

what are the federal regulations that OC drivers are exempt from?

It was mentioned on one of Alan Mercier's slides this afternoon, but I don't have much more info on them. The regs were passed in 2007, and cover things like how long you can drive without a break, how many days in a row you can work (Mercier pointed there are drivers who have worked 45 to 190 days in a row) before a day off, and so on. Apparently they cover the O Train drivers, but not the bus drivers.

Aloha,

Brad

[rubberdinghy]

Maximum driving in one day kinda stuff....

I think the max is 14 hours....with a certain amount of rest in between shifts.

but I would want to know the exact regulations before I made a decision...I can't seem to find it.

[Booche]

...there are multiple buses on the road right now (well were on the road) that barely pass safety inspections.

But they pass them.....that's the key.

I was on a chuga-chuga bus one time and I couldnt believe the driver kept going after Hurdman. I should have transferred at that moment because it was taking forever and every bus was blowing by him. His top speed must have been 35 km's per hour. Once we hit Tupper (coming from downtown via the Transit Way) it completely died and we had to wait for another bus to pick us up.

I could have walked home from there but it was nice out and my IPOD was making me cream so I laid down on the grass instead and waited the 10 or 15 minutes for the next one.

The moral of my story? Eat lots of acid while you are young.

[rubberdinghy]

SCHEDULING — DRIVING SOUTH OF LATITUDE 60°N

Application

11. Sections 12 to 29 apply in respect of driving south of latitude 60°N.

Daily Driving and On-duty Time

12. (1) No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 13 hours of driving time in a day.

(2) No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time in a day.

Mandatory Off-duty Time

13. (1) No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 13 hours of driving time unless the driver takes at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before driving again.

(2) No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time unless the driver takes at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before driving again.

(3) No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after 16 hours of time have elapsed between the conclusion of the most recent period of 8 or more consecutive hours of off-duty time and the beginning of the next period of 8 or more consecutive hours of off-duty time.

Daily Off-duty Time

14. (1) A motor carrier shall ensure that a driver takes and the driver shall take at least 10 hours of off-duty time in a day.

(2) Off-duty time other than the mandatory 8 consecutive hours may be distributed throughout the day in blocks of no less than 30 minutes each.

(3) The total amount of off-duty time taken by a driver in a day shall include at least 2 hours of off-duty time that does not form part of a period of 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time required by section 13.

[15 reserved]

Deferral of Daily Off-duty Time

16. Despite sections 12 and 14, a driver who is not splitting off-duty time in accordance with section 18 or 19 may defer a maximum of 2 hours of the daily off-duty time to the following day if

(a) the off-duty time deferred is not part of the mandatory 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time;

( the total off-duty time taken in the 2 days is at least 20 hours;

© the off-duty time deferred is added to the 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time taken in the second day;

(d) the total driving time in the 2 days does not exceed 26 hours; and

(e) there is a declaration in the "Remarks" section of the daily log that states that the driver is deferring off-duty time under this section and that clearly indicates whether the driver is driving under day one or day two of that time.

[rubberdinghy]

...there are multiple buses on the road right now (well were on the road) that barely pass safety inspections.

But they pass them.....that's the key.

I was on a chuga-chuga bus one time and I couldnt believe the driver kept going after Hurdman. I should have transferred at that moment because it was taking forever and every bus was blowing by him. His top speed must have been 35 km's per hour. Once we hit Tupper (coming from downtown via the Transit Way) it completely died and we had to wait for another bus to pick us up.

I could have walked home from there but it was nice out and my IPOD was making me cream so I laid down on the grass instead and waited the 10 or 15 minutes for the next one.

The moral of my story? Eat lots of acid while you are young.

this is true.

[AD]

[bradm]

I'm getting more and more ticked off at the city. Given that it could take two weeks to find an independent "fact finder", and then who knows how long to find the facts (assuming a finder could be found), and given that the city hasn't said (or, I bet, even considered) how the found facts will change the city's stance on scheduling, why the heck are we doing it? (It would have been a great idea about six months ago.)

The only conclusion I've come to is that the city is using this to artificially prolong the strike, to put the union in a more desparate position, one where they'll begrudingly accept the city's (next) offer. In other words, this isn't a compromise, it's a weapon; the city can now say, "Hey, we're being nice, we want an independent review of scheduling, so the ball's in the union's court, they're the ones prolonging the strike." (Further, the city's dropping of the $2500 productivity bonus is also not a compromise, because it was something the city was giving to the union. I want to see the city compromise by giving up something it wants, not something that benefits the other side.)

The union isn't making much in the way of points with me, either. In particular, I want to see the union justify how its members can work in ways that exceed the limits specified by the 2007 federal regulations. Forget that Ottawa has an exemption from the regulations, that just means the federal government doesn't have the authority to enforce the limits; I want to know why the union thinks the limits they live by are as safe as or safer than the federal limits.

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

CBC Ottawa:

Ottawa's striking transit workers are willing to end their strike before a contract deal is reached — if the City of Ottawa will agree to certain conditions.

Randy Graham, international vice-president of the Amalgamated Transit Union said Friday, the 38th day of the strike, that members of ATU 279 are willing to return to work without knowing what their new contract will be, provided the city:

* Agree not to deal with worker scheduling changes in this contract.

* Hand the rest of the contract issues over for binding arbitration.

Graham told reporters the union doesn't see a willingness from the city to compromise or negotiate, and the strike is dragging on during the coldest days of the year.

The union was responding to city council's announcement a day earlier that the city is willing to renegotiate scheduling, the main issue behind the strike. However, it did not comment directly on council's proposal.

[bradm]

I just had yet another waitafreakingminute moment. The Ottawa CBC news station had a report on the strike, focusing on how long it'll take (6 - 12 weeks, apparently) to get buses back on the road after the strike is over*.

The big issue with getting the buses running is safety inspections; the longer the buses sit there, the more of them will have to be re-certified. (The CBC reporter asked a mechanic on a picket line what has to be checked out. The mechanic replied, "Everything. Brakes, steering, suspension lights, everything.")

One option the city is reported to be considering is asking the Ontarion government if the regulations regarding safety certifications and inspections can be relaxed during the time the buses are being brought back to the road.

So. The City of Ottawa wants to regain control of scheduling to bring it into line with federal safety regulations, but at the same time wants to have provincial safety regulations relaxed/waived. Mixed Message O'Brien continues to tick me off.

Aloha,

Brad

* It'll take so long that about 400 drivers will be laid off (until the buses are up and running) as soon as the strike is over.

[Velvet]

Ironic, isn't it?