Let's not pretend Wild Bob is speaking for anyone
JOHN BARBER
jbarber@globeandmail.com
April 28, 2008
The great sigh of relief that welled up in central Toronto and spread beneficently throughout the suburbs yesterday afternoon was not merely the result of a lickety-split new law ending the transit strike in time for the Monday rush. Equally welcome was a pledge from union headquarters that strike leader Bob Kinnear "will be making no more public statements today."
O happy day.
It is a testament to Mr. Kinnear's achievements thus far that both Premier Dalton McGuinty and Mayor David Miller felt the need yesterday to dissuade transit riders from abusing TTC workers when the two groups resume their rudely interrupted relationship this morning.
The Premier pleaded for users to "extend their usual courtesy to [TTC] workers for the invaluable service they provide."
The mayor called for calm. "We don't need to ask people to behave properly and treat the workers with dignity and respect," he insisted, thus revealing the need. "They'll do that."
Mr. Kinnear wasn't so sure Friday night, when he broke his word to provide 48 hours notice of a strike. "We have assessed the situation and decided that we will not expose our members to the dangers of assaults from angry and irrational members of the public," he said in a statement.
So what's different today, now that angry and irrational members of the public have a genuine grievance against the workers and this mess of a negotiation their leaders have concocted?
One big difference, and a good reason to endorse the mayor's confidence, is that Mr. Kinnear is no longer presuming to speak on anybody's behalf.
In the ensuing calm, it seems clear why the pugnacious but erratic union leader broke his word about giving notice: The workers had decided to strike, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Rather than admitting the obvious and standing aside, however, he concocted an idiotic rationale to perpetuate the illusion he was in charge.
The fact is that his own members had already deposed him by rejecting the settlement he - and he alone, on the union's side - had signed five days earlier. Now he is gone, safely protected from assaults by angry and irrational members of his own union.
The ultimate legacy of the current fiasco will likely be the transit workers' loss of the right to strike. Mr. Miller officially welcomed the debate yesterday, promising to get it going first thing tomorrow morning. But the all-party legislative lightning strike was a better measure of government intentions. Given the craziness - and the undeniable public outrage - not even NDP Leader Howard Hampton was prepared to stand up for the workers.
It might be the last strike Local 183 of the Amalgamated Transit Workers ever stages, but it could still prove to be a tactical victory for them. Arbitrated settlements are notoriously expensive. The TTC has already shown its hand and, despite Mr. Miller's brave talk yesterday, cannot realistically hope for concessions.
Meanwhile, the union has a fresh opportunity to bid for more than the city offered over three months of renewed talks.
It's entirely possible that TTC workers won't even miss the right to strike, once it is removed from them as a direct result of their own union's folly. Binding arbitration has served the police and firefighters well. After the latest TTC strike, few will argue that public transit is not essential - and essential means expensive.
Wild Bob is long gone, but his legacy lives on.
TTC union bosses bitterly split
Rick Westhead
Feature Writer
Toronto Star
TTC union chief Bob Kinnear is a "one-man wrecking crew" who botched talks with the city by forcing members to vote on a new contract even as the union's executive remained bitterly divided, says one of his union rivals.
Larry Davis, who mounted a failed bid to unseat Kinnear in 2006, said the Amalgamated Transit Union's Local 113 is ensnared in discontent and many of its 8,900 members blame Kinnear for the TTC's public relations debacle and fractured membership.
"Members are very perturbed at Bob Kinnear," said Davis, 53, who has worked for the TTC for 33 years. "They don't feel they're getting the best leadership with him. They feel they've been mislead."
Davis said Kinnear "says one thing and does something else."
Informed of Davis's comments, Kinnear retorted, "Larry Davis was a candidate in the last election and got about 12 or 13 per cent of the vote. It's not surprising that he would be putting forward negative comments. He's a very senior operator and I believe members want people representing them who have to work under the conditions they negotiate."
A former janitor and subway car operator who makes $113,000 as head of the TTC's union, the 37-year-old Kinnear said he'll keep his job after next December's election.
"I believe I have the support of the membership. The fact is, there's a heightened awareness in Toronto of the importance of our jobs."
More details spilled out about the negotiations that led to the TTC's surprise strike on the weekend.
On Saturday, April 19, the union executive's 16 members, Kinnear included, returned to a 10th floor suite at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel & Suites to continue talks with the TTC. Up to that point, management had refused to move from its offer of an annual 3 per cent pay hike over three years.
That Saturday would be no different. As management huddled in another room down the hall, the union's top officials spent the day watching TV.
"They kept us waiting around all day," said one board member. "It was a quiet day. Nobody said much of anything. We all were pretty wiped."
At about 10 p.m., the union received word that the TTC was willing to move on several points, including a pay increase the union had sought for its skilled trade staff. The group, which includes about 2,000 mechanics and carpenters, makes about $33 an hour and already was poised to receive a 10-cent-an-hour hike.
As talks continued Sunday into the early afternoon, the TTC agreed to increase that pay hike by 15 cents an hour. Some union executives demanded Kinnear ask for 25 cents more, bringing the total per hour increase to 50 cents.
At about 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, Kinnear left the hotel suite to meet with management. He returned 10 minutes later. "Look, the company's not going to move," Kinnear said. "It's your pleasure."
The board voted by a show of hands. Eight endorsed the new deal. Seven opposed.
As the union executive packed up binders and notebooks, Kinnear turned to the dissident group.
"Guys, we don't want to go down this road," he said, according to an executive member. "Is there anything we can do to avoid this (lack of consensus)?"
No one answered. The room emptied.
"At the end of the day, are you going to strike for 25 cents an hour for 1,000 people? That wouldn't be good leadership," said union executive Frank Grimaldi, who declined to elaborate on the union's political upheaval.
Three days later, TTC staff showed up at the Sheraton Hotel's ballroom for the ratification vote, set for 8 p.m. Roughly 6,675 union members attended the meeting – a turnout of about 75 per cent.
It was a venomous atmosphere.
One union official alleged a pamphlet had been distributed discussing the TTC's benefits plan. Under the prospective contract, employees would receive coverage of $300 a year for new glasses, up from $275. As well, eye exams would be covered to a limit of $50.
"The problem was that the language of the contract said that regular employees were covered," the union source said. "The pamphlet suggested that family members wouldn't be covered at all.
"That wasn't true. The only ones not covered were pensioners."
That wouldn't be the only subversive move. Another pamphlet was reportedly left for members arriving at Wednesday's meeting that discussed seniority.
Sometimes, TTC maintenance staff want to move to its transportation division – for example, from fixing buses to driving them. While those employees typically keep their seniority for pension, holiday time and job security, they start on equal footing with new employees on hours and bus, streetcar and subway routes.
More senior staff have a better chance of securing coveted routes like Rosedale and Prince Edward. Newer drivers start on routes such as Lawrence East and Jane St., a union source said.
"People trying to kill the deal had this pamphlet suggesting that maintenance staff coming over would keep their seniority on everything," the source said. "It was designed to get the transportation group to kill the deal."
Some members who showed up Wednesday were spoiling for an argument. One member held a copy of the prospective agreement and ripped it in half. Another threw a microphone and walked away.
There was no shortage of yelling and profanity. In the end, 4,339, or 65 per cent, rejected the deal. "Staff said they wanted to go out right away so that's what Bob agreed to," said a union board member.
On Friday morning at about 10 a.m., the union executive began to receive word, via cellphone text messages, that a strike was at hand.
Some TTC staff said the strike will be a key platform for next December's election. "We had a vote come back that in my opinion should have never got back to the membership," Davis said. "If you have your executive board split like that, how can you expect membership to be together? You've got to clean up your house."
