Preville on Politics
Enough from Bob Kinnear. It’s time for the TTC to speak up
Posted on April 16, 2008 by Philip Preville
Is it just me, or is anyone else being driven batty by the progress of negotiations between the Toronto Transit Commission and its union? It’s not so much the anxiety of a looming strike—any day now, apparently—that gets under my skin as the entire public relations battle surrounding it. In this, the TTC is being totally owned by union head Bob Kinnear, who nonchalantly drops bombs every time he saunters up to the microphone. Among them, the TTC is playing hardball; the TTC doesn’t want to pay workers their full salary when they take time off due to on-the-job injuries; the presence of provincial mediators won’t solve anything; the TTC wants newly hired maintenance workers to take a 25 per cent pay cut; the negotiations are being undermined by the intransigence of TTC general manager Gary Webster. Clearly, the TTC is an evil empire. And what does the TTC have to say for itself in all this? Nothing.
As the days turn into weeks, we get an increasingly clear and sympathetic picture of what the union wants, while the city pops bromides by the handful. “We hope to accomplish a fair deal for our workers, and one that is good for the people of Toronto,” says TTC communications director Brad Ross. Luverly. Ross says that Kinnear is using the media to communicate with his members, perhaps suggesting that we hear his words through that filter. Yet when I put on my collective bargaining–Kremlinology hat to read between the lines of Kinnear’s pronouncements, it’s even more unnerving: he is stoking his members’ appetite for job action by blaming TTC negotiators for everything. To hear him tell it, management is trying to stiff the union out of injury pay while simultaneously selling out future generations of union members. And there’s no way the city can respond that won’t make things worse. Ross acknowledges as much: “We don’t want to say anything that will upset people.”
As bargaining tactics go, this one might best be titled “Soothing the Beast.” It’s a standard strategy, but one whose benefits to management are increasingly unclear, and not merely because it hands the union a bottomless can of public relations whup-ass with which to beat up TTC negotiators. Surely the TTC has something bigger in mind, some vision of what its transit operations ought to look like 10 or 20 years from now, one that requires the union’s co-operation—and one that taxpayers and TTC riders might also be interested in. In fact, I would argue that we have a right to know what that vision might be. It’s entirely possible that the TTC has no greater vision than what we already know: they want to expand service and hire more people. If they do, it’s a state secret. “When the time is right,” says Ross, “we will let people know what we are offering.” Which means either once a deal is reached or once the union walks out. In either case it may be too late.
Why not make the city’s position public at the outset? Why not tell the world how great the TTC could be, and then ask the union to be a part of that bold future? Why not, at the very least, talk publicly and lucidly about what the TTC needs from its employees? The city’s legion of TTC enthusiasts talk about this stuff all the time; it would be nice for the TTC itself to chime in right now, when it really counts for something. As former budget chief and former city councillor David Soknacki points out in his most recent column for the community weeklies, this is precisely what the city did in its last round of bargaining with the police: it insisted on a new staffing model and made great headway in negotiations as a result. He’s not the only one calling for more transparency: back in February, the mayor’s Fiscal Review Panel urged the city to negotiate more flexibility into its collective agreements and push harder to achieve continuous improvement targets.
Great ideas all, and I am keenly interested in what Bob Kinnear has to say about them. But until the TTC puts him on the spot, mum’s the only word from his mouth.
Philip Preville
Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.
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Comments
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Jean April 16, 2008 at 2:28 p.m.
As a journalist, my guess is that you yourself have never had to negotiate a deal with a union boss - one who has to please his board and membership to be re-elected.
Even a citizen unschooled in union negotiation shenanigans, like myself, can see that Kinnear is making stuff up as he goes along. You know, creating drama where there isn't any to show off his brass ones.
The TTC has pretty much nothing to gain by negotiating a deal through the media. Sounds like you might be chewing on some sour grapes over THAT strategy.
And by the way, I'm pretty sure, given your job, that you are aware of the TTC's vision, as most transit riders are. It's called "Transit City." It's a bit disingenuous of you to accuse the TTC of not sharing that vision. It only has its own web site. Kinda transparent.
And lastly, a contract offer isn't a vision. It's a draft of a labour contract. Sharing the details of it publicly doesn't equal the demonstration of transparency of vision. It equals stupidity.
Either you're silly or think your readers are.
Philip Preville April 16, 2008 at 3:08 p.m.
I'm aware of a vision called Transit City. I have no idea what Transit City means for the collective agreement with the union, but I presume it has ramifications. Everything does.
What will Transit City look like? Will it feature the latest in technology and automation and require fewer workers to keep it running? Or will it feature lots and lots of labour doing more or less the same things they are doing now? Perhaps it's something in between. I wonder where the TTC stands on that spectrum, and where the union stands too. And I really don't give two hoots about the media or my role in it. As a taxpayer and a TTC user, I'd be a lot happier if the final compromise wasn't arrived at behind closed doors. I don't think that's a silly request at all.
Dave April 16, 2008 at 3:09 p.m.
Jean, I see some of your points, but "Transit City" is just one of a dozen or so plans that have been presented to the public.....with no action. From the Transit City Report:
"There is no funding currently provided in the TTC’s or City of Toronto’s capital budgets for the implementation of the Toronto Transit City – Light Rail Plan as described in this report. Implementation of this Plan is dependent on funding support from the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada."
Without funding Transit City is just another piece of paper - not a vision or a plan.
Jean April 16, 2008 at 4:34 p.m.
Requesting that union negotiations happen in public is, I don't even know the word for it...naive? overly simplistic? not smart for anyone?
I assume that these negotiations are like any other, really - ask for everything under the sun and hope you get your bottom line.
If we knew, for example, everything the union was asking for (lots of which I can imagine even Kinnear, in a quiet alone moment, would probably think are nuts) Kinnear would lose any credibility his hair-do hasn't already taken away from him. Kinnear doesn't want us to know all that he's asking for. Riders who can barely afford the fares would go nuts (Kinnear's members would take the brunt of it on every bus and at every ticket booth) and he'd lose the media-facilitated PR war. So, even he wouldn't want this stuff done in public. He wants to cherry pick (and fabricate?) the issues to paint the TTC in a bad light. That's what he's paid to do.
The TTC, smartly, isn't going to help him do it.
As a rider and a taxpayer, I don't really care about the negotiation machinations. When it comes to a looming strike situation, I say, vision schmision.
Labour contract negotiations, at least this particular round, aren't the forum for the thoughtful vision discussion you envisage (with which I don't disagree) - there's nothing thoughtful or visionary about Kinnear's approach.
At this point, just keep the system moving at a cost that I can afford with service that gets me to where I need to go. I'd be surprised if many riders expect anything more than that.
After that, let's have endless, inclusive, public and transparent vision discussions.
Really? April 17, 2008 at 10:28 a.m.
What good are negotiations in public? The last time a First Ministers meeting was called to negotiate on a multitude of issues, nothing happened while the cameras were rolling. It was so bad that they retreated behind closed doors and finally there was enough honest negotiation that progress could be made. Accountability and transparency are good but the media as a whole are so bent on creating flashy headlines that politicians are scared crapless (apparently "sh*tless gets censored here) when it comes to talking in frank and direct terms. And Preville isn't even close to the most culpable for that dynamic (he's probably one of the least responsible for it), I'm talking the jerks at the Toronto Sun and the morons at CP24 (they started a "Strike Watch" a month ago to put the fear of God in commuters!)
Appleby April 17, 2008 at 1:23 p.m.
Essentially the TTC unions are "negotiating" the same way the militants "negotiate" when THEY take hostages.
It's really too bad that this spineless country will never produce a Ronald Reagan who will decertify the union and fire all the malcontents, and then hire back those who actually want to work for a living and let the rest of them join the panhandlers union.
If the TTC goes on strike, I will not be able to go to work so will take some extra time off and go to New York. Porter Airlines is ready, willing and able to get me there in style!
I am Him April 17, 2008 at 9:58 p.m.
@ Appleby,
Agreed, i was thinking of Reagan firing the AT Controllers this morning. Make the TTC and essential service, then tell them to go pound sand and get back to work.
Dave April 18, 2008 at 12:15 a.m.
You people make me laugh. You assume that there is a huge pool of people ready and willing to do the job cheaper. Guess what? There isn't. Drivers make $26.58 an hour - about $55,000. Lets cut that to $16 an hour - about $33,200 a year. Do you honestly think that there are people who are willing to work for that kind of money AND are qualified? As it is, the TTC is constantly recruiting for drivers, and a lot of the recruits fail.
You pay someone $16 an hour to drive a bus in this city and they will quit the first time they get spit on.
You fools act as though working for the TTC is unskilled labour. It isn't. Driving a bus on Toronto streets safely day after day is a skill. Mechanics and engineers are skilled trades. These people do have other options - you do what you suggest and break the union and cut their salaries, the competant ones will find other jobs that pay just as well.
Alex April 18, 2008 at 3 p.m.
C'mon, if socialists like David Miller can't keep this union happy, no one can.
That implies that the union is making unreasonable demands.
Of course, in the end the strike will miraculously be averted by an 11th hour agreement that include Adam Giambrone giving Bob Kinnear the firm reach around he so desperately wants
Traian April 20, 2008 at 7 p.m.
55,000 plus all the benefits you monkeys get. That's a lot of change for driving a freaking bus, ahem, excuse me, for performing your highly skilled over-sized-transit-vehicle operations ...
Boris April 27, 2008 at 10:52 p.m.
Forget all the posturing peeing match comments prior to this one. THe REAL issue is: Put a law into place that ensures the TTC (9000) vs Toronto (2.75 M) is declared an essential service that will never hold this city to ransom or put it into stress mode ever again. Pay them well and do the right thing on both sides but never let them strike again! EVER!