Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Faced with the looming threat of a transit strike, Premier Dalton McGuinty says it may be time to consider declaring the Toronto Transit Commission an essential service.
"If there was some kind of an approach made within the course of the next three years by the city of Toronto ... saying we have decided ourselves that it would be a good thing for us to have our public transit system essential, that is something that we, at Queen's Park, would have to consider," McGuinty said this morning.
While such a move could not come in time to avert job action by 8,900 Amalgamated Transit Union employees Monday, McGuinty’s willingness to consider it suggests the province is unwilling to let transit in Canada's largest city be derailed by a strike.
The TTC’s unionized workers have given negotiators until 4 p.m. Sunday to reach a contract settlement. If they don’t meet that deadline, workers will be told to walk out staring Monday at 4 a.m.
McGuinty and Labour Minister Brad Duguid are watching the talks closely and back-to-work legislation is widely expected if there is a walkout.
Emergency workers such as police and firefighters are already classified as essential services, and as such are forbidden by law from striking. They usually gain healthy wage settlements thanks to arbitration.
On Thursday, TTC chair Adam Giambrone said he had not had any discussions with the province about the strike threat, or about declaring the TTC an essential service.
"For us right now, we have an environment where we have a negotiated settlement," Giambrone said. "We're committed to that negotiated process. It's not up to the TTC, a decision around essential services."
When pressed about whether the TTC should be an essential service, Giambrone said he was “not going to deal with hypothetical situations right now."
With files from John Spears
