City opts for new, uh, “direction” in the transit strike… wtf?
According to the Citizen, negotiations and tactics are taking a whole new direction in an effort to end the 30-whatever day old strike by the ATU .
As much as I lay the bulk of the blame on the union for this mess that has cost city residents money, imperilled their safety, forced businesses to close or lay off staff and has generally been a big pain in the ass, the City (read: mayorlarry) shares some of the fault as well. They have steadfastedly refused to budge from their position, and while this may be the principled action that most Ottawans agree with, it has ceased to be practical.
Now, after a 15 hour in-camera session, the Council (read: mayorlarry) has come up with the following:
They (the union) were seething at the municipality’s new bargaining direction — the possible hiring of a “fact finder” to look into scheduling issues — and furious that city officials continue to question the union’s interpretation of the impact the city’s proposed changes to policies on scheduling, route assignment, working conditions and hours of work would have on their members’ lives.
That’s it? A third party “fact-finder”. And it will take at least TWO FREAKIN’ WEEKS!??
We put our Council reps into office because we deem them to be qualified as forward thinkers, strategists, pragmatists and problem-solvers, right? A long time ago, yours truly had the privilege of serving on a municipal council in a small township in the Parry Sound area of Ontario. I, and my fellow Councillors were indeed expected to respond to issues appropriately and in a timely fashion. If, for example, a culvert got washed out because a beaver dam burst upstream, we wouldn’t hire a “fact-finder” to discover if the culvert had changed the flow of a stream and had thus hurt the quality of the beaver’s lives… we’d send out a crew to put in a new FREAKIN’ CULVERT!
Ottawans – DEMAND that your Councillor – elected to take action – actually lives up to his or her responsibilities and DO something to END this nonsense!
Ah – venting feels so good! I love my blog!
Ottawa, Ontario
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They don’t read their mail!!! Everyone will get annoying form letters. But what the hell.
EVERYONE in the City should send a note to their Councillor.
I’ll even make it really easy for them – I’ll post the contact info. for each councillor into my next entry. Maybe if they get hassled enough?
C’mon – I’m TRYING to be optimistic!
I sent a letter to my councillor expressing my “dismay” in the firmest, yet most polite way possible. I instantly received a form letter in response telling me in part, that, “City Council is working hard to resolve the transit strike and will be meeting every week until the dispute is resolved”. I wrote back that while I was extremely comforted that they’d be meeting “every week”, I suggested that maybe they meet every day, every hour and make this a 24-hour priority…that we have to live with this crap 24/7 and so should they. I’m guessing my opinion isn’t going to matter at all since they obviously didn’t even read my letter. Charming
My feeling too. I’m even tired of blogging about about it – hence my entry on Mr. Roarke! It was nice to write about something aside from all of these little kids playing “king of the castle”!
This has all gotten beyond ridiculous. I don’t even know what to say anymore. Maybe some enterprising entrepreneur could hobble together a bus service and let the city and the union carry on their sandbox scrap forever.