Tentative OC Strike Date. Dec. 10.

[Schwa.]

You could always fill your time COLOURING!!!

[c-towns]

I drove a forklift into an I-beam holding up the warehouse at full speed, god damn did that hurt.

carry on.

[rubberdinghy]

"I'm going to not be making any sense to you. I just want you to realize, we've asked them to have five minutes at the end of the route, so we can stretch. We don't have time and they made it into a monster. They want to change the whole work schedule all of a sudden because we ask for five or 10 minutes to go to the washroom," he said.

"The bottom line without having to explain that members here do not want the company to have the right to choose their work, if we let them, it will take that right away from them. I don't know if you can make any sense, a seniority-based system, do their time, get to choose days off, what they want to work on a daily work, one piece of work, not necessarily a day, we have people who work six hours, you've probably heard of people working 4O hours and getting paid six hours. Well, there's not very many of those. (The city) wants to change the work rules.

"It's the union that needs to be convinced, it doesn't matter what the public thinks

WOW...I've lost alot of faith in this guy.

[Schwa.]

moronic. i'll bet he has a shitload of seniority and got the job by default.

[bouche]

I would want someone with a high command of the english language to be the one negotiating. Udder-wise, you dunno just what you to be get.

[rockmusiclives]

Wow indeed, how can this guy be so oblivious. Public opinion is the key. If the public is against the union, the mayor can feel justified to let the strike go on until the union is broken (young drivers get tired of fighting for those with seniority and want to get back to work). Having been through a strike once, after 2 months we had had enough and basically caved. O'Brien seems dead set on doing this, and the public seems to be on his side.

Here are some big mistakes by the union:

Striking now to screw over the most people: once again, people seem to be angry with the union. With dark economic times ahead, everyone is sacrificing something, people would like to see OC workers sacrifice as well.

Had they struck in September, the city would have caved either before the strike or soon after as they wouldn't have had the "dire economy" card to play. So the strategy of screwing people over in the winter didn't work.

News reports of the union blocking city plows from leaving their garage (causing public danger), and not allowing schools to rent yellow buses to get their students to work have also been public relations disasters for the union.

These, plus the pathetic arrogance of the union spokesman have caused me, usually a fence-sitter, or pro-union, to be very much against the union in this case. I even e-mailed the Mayor giving him my support in holding out.

To me, this is the key issue: overtime. Isn't it logical, in bad economic times, to eliminate overtime for drivers, cap them at 40 hours per week, and hire 80 new drivers to work these extra hours at time instead of time and a half to pick up the extra work ?

Ironic that unions were built on "share the wealth", but this union wants to "keep the wealth" for its senior members instead of "sharing" it with new workers. With unemployment on the rise, hiring more bus drivers is good for everyone except the seniors who get to work 60 hours a week now.

I'm sorry, but for public service workers, being able to work lots of overtime, paid from the public coffers, instead of having another worker do these hours is NOT a right.

No offense to the bus driver here, it's the union's bad advice and timing that is at fault here.

The sooner you and your colleagues pressure the union to lower its demands, the sooner you'll be back at work.

With the public firmly on the city's side, the mayor will feel empowered to let this ride until the drivers come crawling back. It may be ugly, and it may last months, and eventually the city will win.

Sorry to be blunt, but I call it as I see it.

You should have struck 3 months ago. They it would have been short, and you probably would have won.

It's a shame the union spokesman is such an unrepentant thug. It would be intimidating to be a member and be afraid to take action to get rid of this guy. You'd be accused of treason.

Rock, meet hard place.

add: from the Sun:

" City councillors are receiving thousands of e-mails from residents pleading with them not to cave in to the transit union's demands.

Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess received almost 400 e-mails yesterday from commuters who are experiencing hardship but don't want the city to budge from its bargaining position.

West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry said he has also received hundreds of e-mails from residents who want city negotiators to stand their ground.

'STAND UP'

"They are asking the city to stand up and not be bullied," he said. "I haven't had one asking the city to give in." "

Unprecedented support for the city. Very unusual that so few support the union. OC should just pack it in and get back to work before it gets worse.

Just think: the longer the strike lasts, the more anger bus drivers will have to put up with from people when work resumes. Plus, if it lasts awhile they'll be out of tons of cash.

Savings = $ 3 million per week

Edited December 11, 2008 by Guest

[rubberdinghy]

I am slowly starting to side with alot of your points Rock...After I read that in the paper I nearly barfed.

One point. The city does not want to hire the extra drivers to cut the overtime, they want to do it internally which will put alot more stress on drivers.

In essence they will shove more work onto our dockets thus removing our recovery time, and adding more time to the end of our shifts.

I might just run for Union Prez next election and end all my rants with "Go Sens Go" That'll get the public to side with us.

[rubberdinghy]

The one other thing I'm not happy with is the fact we should have had this issue done with in the summer...Our contract ended March 31st...shouldn't have even had to wait till september.

[rockmusiclives]

The crappiest part is that people will take this out on the drivers. Most of them are merely following advice. Hopefully the public is polite with the drivers when this is over and don't act like jerks out for revenge, but sadly some angry people will berate the drivers. Too bad.

[rubberdinghy]

Yeah...that's the one thing that scares me...

Apparently people on the lines were "tapped" by cars. One was taken to hospital.

But on the other side, apparently, my brothers and sister were being quite aggressive.

Not sure I want to be involved in that.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I would support bus drivers packing heat for the bad parts of town. Then we'll see how many people tell you to relaaaax, Dinghy

[rubberdinghy]

hahahhahahaha....

Each bus is equipped with an axe.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

you should rest it on your lap as you make the rounds

[bradm]

you should rest it on your lap as you make the rounds

"Real axe, man."

Aloha,

Brad

[Freak By Night]

That's gold Brad!

[Tissue Man]

Now they want to picket exam shuttles..

I really hope the city doesnt back down. dont care how much ill pay in parking and gas and the long trips to work..

sorry dinghy. love ya but not your union.

[Freak By Night]

Great post, rockmusiclives. Some interesting viewpoints there, although I'd take anything printed in the Sun with a large grain of salt.

Welcome to the board.

[rubberdinghy]

Now they want to picket exam shuttles..

I really hope the city doesnt back down. dont care how much ill pay in parking and gas and the long trips to work..

sorry dinghy. love ya but not your union.

Oh fuck me....This is really starting to piss me off....

Think I'll start looking for part-time work instead of hitting these picket lines.

[Guest Low Roller]

Picketing students?

That is truly spineless.

[Schwa.]

not sure if you read my post but a union member of ours (CAW) was paralyzed from standing in the way of a moving vehicle....not sure it was worth it.

[Guest Low Roller]

I read that yesterday the drivers that were picketing city hall decided to stop traffic on Elgin, so a car decided to play a game of chicken with the drivers. A driver was hit, but apparently it wasn't serious.

[ollie]

Now they want to picket exam shuttles..

That would make me reconsider my support for sure. Hope it's just hot air.

[Booche]

I read that yesterday the drivers that were picketing city hall decided to stop traffic on Elgin

People are pissed off and late as fuck AND they have very little public support but they decide to do that? How stupid can they be?

[Velvet]

Striking is one thing, but disrupting the public in a venue unconnected to your strike? I say arrest them all.

I better stay away from the area. I totally lose my temper in these situations.

I should say that I don't blame the individuals. It is certainly a mob mentality that takes over and people forget what they are doing. An example: when I was a student I spent two summers working for the gov't in Hull. the second summer there was a public emloyees strike. Because of my student status I wasn't allowed to strike, but I was forced to sign a paper stating that I fully supported the union and the strike, and in return I was given a piece of paper stating that I was to be allowed to cross picket lines.

So the picket lines started and I had to cross them every morning, and every morning I showed my piece of paper to dozens of people while I struggled to get in to work. And every day I had people beating me with signs, even people I worked with every day who knew fully well that I had to cross the lines. Like the local office ladies that said good morning every day while they sat at their desks eating donuts instead of working, here they are viciously beating me with their union-supplied sign, screaming bloody murder. One day I lost it and grabbed the closest person (a lady) with both hands by the lapels and in a rage where I could only see black splotches in front of my eyes I screamed at her at the absolute top of my lungs at most an inch from her face. I think she might have kinda fallen, as I remember looking down at her as I held her collar. To this day I don't know what I screamed but I'll betcha this lady still remembers every word, I'm sure the incident is burned into her memory. I'm glad it didn't escalate further, but I know inside I was hoping it would.

After the strike everyone went back to normal. I saw the ladies every day, they smiled sweetly as they sat there doing no work as if they had never repeatedly smacked me in the head with their signs, and nobody ever mentioned my retaliation.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

perfect signature for a post of that nature, Velvet