[bizorky]

^Oh I get it, you were trying to be funny.

Trying...

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

It's contract time...strike may be in the works...

 

[spmarshall]

Contract time again?!?

If they strike, I'd be willing to start a picket outside Local 113's headquarters on Wilson - give strike-happy Kinnear and that bunch a hard time driving their cars out of their parking lot.

I'm sure they're licking their lips for a strike.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

There's no way Miller will allow a strike in an election year.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From CP24:

Chaotic Commute

T.T.C. riders may have to find another way in to work Monday morning.

Transit workers are threatening to bring the Red Rocket to a screeching halt if the commission doesn’t take some quick action to ensure their safety.

Last week the union representing T.T.C. employees called on operators to stop engaging in fare disputes with riders in order to prevent assaults against fare collectors and drivers.

Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, issued the edict Wednesday in response to a growing number of assaults against his members and an alleged lack of action on the issue on the part of management.

T.T.C. drivers have been promised protection in the form of plastic shields and video cameras, but the commission has yet to act and once again the union is calling on its members to take matters into their own hands.

“The members are now saying to me, ‘Bob, they are not listening to us’. It is time that we may have to take action,†Kinnear told CityNews Saturday.

When asked if a work stoppage is likely on Monday, Kinnear said: “It is definitely possible.â€

When T.T.C. workers decided to stop forcing customers to pay up, commission chair Howard Moscoe said those drivers and collectors would be in violation of their collective agreement, a statement that had Kinnear fuming.

“If we continue to have the chair of the commission threaten our members with their employment I can't say what will happen,†the union boss said.

CityNews tried to contact Moscoe to get his response to the possibility of a strike, but he didn’t return the call.

While transit workers feel they don’t have the support of their management, there are some riders who support their cause, like Galinda Tchakarova, who says she refuses to pay for a trip until safety conditions are improved.

“I will continue not to pay, to try not to pay, until they put protection cameras for the drivers,†she explained.

In order to stave off a strike, the union is looking for solid time frames for those cameras and shields and full protection for those on the job and full compensation for those who are injured on the job.

“You can only paint people into a corner so far,†Kinnear said.

“At some point they're going to ome out swinging.â€

AoD

 

[spmarshall]

Only reinforces my thoughts on Local 113. Right now, it's coming very close to my opinions on the TPA and Buzz. And this is coming from someone who is often quite sympathetic towards organized labour.

I'm not too far from Local 113's headquarters. I'll be very inclined to make the trek over there tomorrow to speak my mind if my bus does not show up tomorrow due to this illegal wildcat strike.

 

[spmarshall]

Since I get the Metropass mailed to me, I always pay, and generally always have. I've taken advantage of the less than stellar fare control exactly twice in the last six months.

 

[spmarshall]

Took a while for the Star to have anything on its website, but there's more information here.

City fears possible TTC strike
May 28, 2006. 08:25 PM
VANESSA LU
CITY HALL BUREAU

The Toronto Transit Commission is bracing for a possible wildcat strike or co-ordinated sickout Monday morning that could disrupt travel plans for 700,000 commuters.

Even though Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 president Bob Kinnear says he is not ordering any type of job action from 8,500 members, chief general manager Rick Ducharme is not so sure.

“We have some evidence that there’s been some coaching at the union executive level,†said Ducharme.

The union-management battle has been brewing for months on several issues including driver security, health premiums and job evaluations. Just last week, the union announced that its operators would not force passengers to pay their fares if a confrontation seemed possible.

The campaign quickly fizzled with the majority of operators collecting fares as required, said Ducharme.

The timing of Monday’s possible job action coincides with new schedules that went into effect Sunday night for employees who do track maintenance and cleaning for the TTC.

The TTC wants 53 of 87 janitors and 53 of 91 subway track workers permanently moved to the night shift from day jobs as part of a cost-savings measure.

Although the TTC can cope if those particular employees don’t report to work, Ducharme is worried that “the union is trying to entice others†who could directly affect service including those who move subway trains and other vehicles from yards for operation overnight.

“If something happens there, it would be a domino effect,†Ducharme said, arguing the commission has tried for months to negotiate with the union with no success.

“Usually, you can sit down and negotiate. But with (Kinnear), it’s his way or no way,†he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve been in this business for 34 years.â€

Kinnear argues that the TTC, chair Howard Moscoe and Mayor David Miller have no intention to resolve outstanding disputes.

“The employees aren’t seeing their issues at least acknowledged,†Kinnear said.

“There is a perception they have to take things into their own hands – potentially walking off the job,†he said. “There comes a point, you put people in a corner, and they come out swinging.â€

Mayor David Miller said he concerned about the threat of illegal job action, noting he spoke with Ontario Labour Minister Steve Peters yesterday and asked for the ministry’s help.

A provincial mediator is expected to contact both sides today to try to resolve outstanding issues.

“The TTC is doing everything it needs to do to ensure the system will continue running and to deal with an illegal walkout should it happen,†Miller said.

“Employees are obliged to show up for work.â€

He argued that with a collective agreement in place, there are legal mechanisms to resolve disputes including the grievance process.

If there’s an illegal work stoppage today – it would be the first since 1989 – the city would go to the labour board to seek a back-to-work order, said Miller.

In 1999, there was a legal two-day strike and in 1991, an eight-day strike ended with back-to-work legislation.

Kinnear argued that the TTC is trying to provoke a work stoppage with memos from Ducharme and human resources in recent weeks reminding employees that they are required to report for work.

Kinnear said just three weeks ago, he personally sent out a phone message telling all his members “to go to work even though the TTC continues to violate the collective agreement.â€

Ducharme believes the threat of job action is linked partly to the union’s internal politics. Kinnear is up for re-election this year.

Kinnear dismisses any such talk.

“The first year I was elected, it was all because I had just been elected. The second year, it was a contract year. Now it’s an election year,†he said. “It’s just Rick Ducharme trying to deflect attention from the issues like assaults on drivers.â€

TTC chair Howard Moscoe remained hopeful that it will be business as usual today.

“I’m fully confident that the union will want to fulfill their obligations to the riders,†he said. “I hope the union is not going to take this out on the travelling public.â€

During the busy holiday season last December, New York city’s transit union organized an illegal strike that halted buses and subways for three days. In April, a judge fined the union $2.5 million (U.S.) for the strike and union leader Roger Toussaint was ordered jailed for 10 days for contempt. He was released after serving four days, for good behaviour. [That's sounding like a good idea - spm]

For information on TTC service, call 416-393-4636 or visit www.ttc.ca.

 

[shmoopie nhi]

Galinda Tchakarova, who says she refuses to pay for a trip until safety conditions are improved.

“I will continue not to pay, to try not to pay, until they put protection cameras for the drivers,†she explained.

Ah, selfless martyr. :rolleyes

 

[spmarshall]

I watched the clip. They showed her getting onto a bus without paying. However, they showed that "martyr" sitting at Main Station (the same station they had Kinnear mouthing off), then getting on a bus. Main Station is a fare-paid boarding station. Great journalism!

I wonder if she was hand-picked by Kinnear and co.

 

[stokell]

I always pay, the TTC needs the money.

 

[Long Island Mike]

TRANSIT HONOR SYSTEM

Everyone: I pay my fare or have a pass on systems that have the honor system in effect. NJ Transit has three light rail lines that use this system-the penalty is not worth the hassle to save a buck or two-than it will cost you many bucks and maybe even a trip to the pokey.
LI MIKE

 

[Ummagumma66]

the C-Train is also honour system, I always pay. you never know when the C-Train cops are going to board the train...

 

[W. K. Lis]

Op-Ed: ‘Proof of Payment’ Is a License to Harass
Seattle's experience with roving fare enforcement presents a cautionary tale for New York City transit.


From link.

The (New York City) Metropolitan Transportation Authority is hiring 500 more police officers to curtail fare evasion, and is waging a full-scale public-relations campaign on subways and buses to try to convince the public that it’s a problem. With police excesses mounting in the subways, some are recommending that the city switch to a “proof-of-payment” enforcement system, modeled after Europe.

New York Post columnist Nicole Gelinas, for one, thinks such a system would be better because the city could civilianize enforcement, and could create conditions for consistent enforcement, generating data for more-targeted enforcement efforts. Moreover, she wrote, having roving enforcement would “make it clear that the subway … isn’t a homeless shelter, mental institution or backdrop for illegal vending and performing.”

The MTA switching to “proof of payment” would be a mistake.

We have plenty of domestic examples of proof-of-payment transit systems, and they are problematic — both in terms of the anxiety and lost time and the opportunities they provide police to harass low-income people and people of color. In particular, Seattle’s Sound Transit light-rail system shows us that switching to proof-of-payment wouldn’t necessarily solve any of the MTA’s problems, and would be worse for riders.

For starters, enforcement issues abound. With turnstiles, you have a single entrance at which police can stop riders for non-payment, but proof-of-payment allows cops the opportunity to harass you literally anywhere in the transit system (and they will harass you). You can no longer zone out and read your book for the entire subway ride. Proof-of-payment means you will be interrupted and asked to pull out a card, ticket, or your phone. Forceful arrests on trains will become the norm.

A traditional proof-of-payment does away with turnstiles, and instead relies on fare-enforcement officers randomly selecting riders or train cars to ensure that people have paid (the MTA, of course, would not likely abandon turnstiles, given its $645-million investment in a new phone-based OMNY fare collection system). There are many kinds of payment systems, ranging from paper tickets to electronic systems. Seattle uses radio-frequency ID cards (called One Regional Card for All, or ORCA cards). When a rider enters a Fare Paid Zone in Seattle’s light rail system, he or she is supposed to press (“tap”) the ORCA card to an electronic reader, which beeps to let them know the fare has been paid.

As riders exit the Fare Paid Zone, they are supposed to press their card again to log off. (Fees vary based on the length of the trip.) New York already employs a proof-of-payment system on its Select Bus Service, where passengers use their Metrocards to buy a ticket from a machine before they board (through any door), and agents board the buses to check for tickets along the route. The Metro-North and LIRR commuter railroads also use proof of payment on trains. But the subway is busier and, with a lack of seating, far more chaotic than either of those.

It doesn’t matter whether fare-enforcement officers are police or civilians: They are in a position of authority with the ability to quickly call in officers with guns. Stories abound in Seattle of fare-paying customers having the police called on them after they accidentally tapped twice (which logs you out of the system, voiding the trip) or because they were not able to present their ORCA cards quickly enough.

Here in New York, we’ve already seen cops pull guns in a train car while apprehending an unarmed teen, cops brawling with kids, cops arresting vendors, and other problems with subway policing. There’s no reason to believe that MTA fare enforcement would behave any better while handling riders on trains during proof-of-payment checks.

The city’s fare enforcement often focuses on stations in poor or black neighborhoods, with officers camped out at the turnstile. With proof-of-payment, they can just ride the trains and focus on poor or black people instead. Despite the fact that only 9 percent of Seattle‘s Sound Transit riders are black, 57 percent of people facing misdemeanors charges for fare enforcement in the last four years were black.

Moreover, proof of payment can easily be confusing in a subway system, as Seattle learned. With the lack of visual payment barriers, such as turnstiles, riders entering Fare Paid Zones often forget to pay. Once they’ve missed the electronic readers, they either need to backtrack to station entrances to tap their ORCA card, or they just continue on the train and hope to avoid fare enforcement.

Anxiety — already a problem in New York — has mounted in Seattle’s proof-of-payment system. Like the panic that seizes many about whether they left the stove on at home, Seattle riders often experience stress (especially as fare enforcement approaches) as they try to remember whether or not they actually paid their fare. By contrast, after swiping at a turnstile, riders can stop caring about anything related to payment. Not so with proof-of-payment!

Fare enforcement around proof-of-payment is unpleasant, annoying, and can be a serious threat to the safety or mental health of riders. Finding that card can be a serious hardship for some people, whether because they have disabilities or they are simply juggling groceries or young children. (I once witnessed fare enforcement in Seattle demand proof-of-payment from a man with motor-control issues in a power wheelchair. As he looked for the card, he accidentally slammed his legs and chair into the train door.)

For all these reasons, the MTA switching to such a system would be a step backward for the transit agency. In fact, a better idea might be to abandon the whole fare-evasion push and instead focus on providing and expanding free fares for minors, seniors, and lower-income groups.

 

[MrGoose]

I mean, that's far more of a problem of over-zealous policing or poor reader design than any indictment of POP.

Furthermore, tapping your card/phone when the enforcement officer comes around, hardly counts as harassment. If you think it does, then you need to reexamine your relationship with authority. And I don't think race should have any bearing on whether or not we should have enforcement of laws. Just because more people of x race/ethnicity are dinged for not paying their fares is not proof of discrimination.

Skipping the harder tasks of improved enforcement and system design and going straight to lower/free fares is just laziness.