The mayor "allow" a strike? Clearly, your understanding of labour law is rather limited in suggesting that the mayor can approve or deny the ability of workers to strike. And contracting out is no guarantee against the ability of workers under contract to conduct strikes against their private employers either, just in case you wanted to argue that one can avoid this issue if the service is privatized.
Back in September 2008, York Region Transit’s normal routes continued operations despite the fact negotiations between the amalgamated transit union and contractor Veolia Transportation broke down. York Regional Transit is a shining example of what happens when unions like the ATU lose their monopoly. While they will still be legally entitled to whine to their new employers, at least they won't be in a position to hold us over a barrel anymore.
Privatization can be both good and bad, but at least by having another option out there to offload some of Toronto's massive budget burden on, other underfunded programs such as affordable housing, road repair and neighbourhood revitalization can take some essential services' place. Maintenance, janitorial, and mechanics? Those can be contracted out EASILY. One may claim that we'd be privatizing our profits as well as our loses, but give me one example of where the TTC is actually profitable... and I doubt you could find one. What are these so-called profitable aspects of the TTC? Which routes are worth more than what they cost citizens and taxpayers-- including vehicle and fuel costs, maintenance, and salaries? The way the TTC is operated today, routes can never be profitable because buses/streetcars never run on reliable schedule and meagre efforts are being made by the transit authority to proactively expand the only mode that comes close to profitability. By contrast bus service along VIVA routes is highly dependable. I like Rob's thinking in this regard, the problem isn't the lowly transit or garbage workers that went on strike, it's the heads of the organizations. Bob Kinnear should've be fired for his incompetency and creating a culture of laziness and disrepect to customers on the TTC, but his union post protects him from justice. And contracting out garbage collection? Etobicoke already does this, saving the City $2 million annually.
People do not want government housing built in the city of Toronto. They want roads fixed, more police presence, but they don't want more government housing that will depreciate the value of their property.
-- Rob Ford July, 2005
AoD
Ford proposed offering rent subsidies to help move people waiting for a home into a private apartment building though, whereby the poor could occupy the many thousands of private units available. He also regularly visits Toronto Community Housing units with a bylaw officer to ensure repairs are being kept up. Furthermore he's a politcal backer of GTAA Partners in Project Green (
http://www.partnersinprojectgreen.com/background) that aims to redevelop vast swaths of Northern Etobicoke, producing job opportunities for the poor and disenfranchised. As well Woodbine Live including some affordable housing units, which aims to give Rexdalians first crack at the projected 9000 permanent job placements coming to the area. With sustainable employment, a lot of people on the housing waiting list would be in a better position to afford their own place, allowing the most vulnerable at the bottom of the list to climb up in priority towards getting an TCHC apartment.
So I don't necessarily think that his trademark
voting against the majority is really about dissenting against an issue raised, but in the how City Councillors propose to tackle it i.e. spendriftly, requiring hired consultants, running past deadline, offering no temporary solutions while the people affected are left to wait, etc.
