The very well paid TTC employees brought this all on themselves when they walked off the job with no notice in April stranding thousands of Torontonians very late on a Friday night with no means of returning home. No union has the right to cripple a city of over 4 million people. Approximately 1.5 million residents of Toronto rely on the TTC daily. Police and firefighters are essential services and cannot strike. Although the TTC doesn’t protect the public or save lives, it does keep the city functioning – logistically and economically.

The debate about whether or not the TTC is an essential service has raged on since the April strike. Mayor Miller and the Toronto Executive Committee requested a report on whether or not the TTC should be declared an essential service and they will be meeting in September to hopefully make a determination based on what is best for the city of Toronto. To no one’s surprise, the TTC union and the management are both against the idea. The powerful and militant union has no desire to be stripped of its ability to bring the city of Toronto to its knees at will.

The TTC union is talking out of both sides of its mouth. The strikes are all about money and power yet one of the reasons that the TTC is saying that they don’t want to be declared an essential service is that it could potentially result in higher wages for the employees if an arbitrator splits the difference between what the union is being offered and what the union is asking for. Does anyone out there actually believe that the union doesn’t want their right to strike removed because they can potentially be paid more money? If the union could actually realize more money during contract negotiations with an arbitrator, then they would request that their right to strike be removed on their own.

Once and for all the TTC union must be kept under control and their right to strike removed. Only then will Torontonians have a reliable, functioning transit system every day, even when contracts are being negotiated.