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City council united against striking transit union
Don’t count on us to blink, councillors say
By Patrick Dare, The Ottawa CitizenJanuary 6, 2009
OTTAWA — Don’t count on us to blink.
That was the message from Ottawa Council Tuesday as it met in emergency session over the strike that has halted public transit service since Dec. 10.
In an orchestrated show of solidarity, councillors said they were squarely behind the offer that will be voted on by the 2,300 members of Local 279 of the Amalgamated Transit Union on Thursday.
After several hours of private discussion, council went into open session and each councillor voted to confirm the offer. There wasn’t a peep of dissent.
Even Capital ward Councillor Clive Doucet, who has bemoaned the transit strike as needlessly destructive, was toeing the corporate line. Thursday’s vote was ordered by federal Labour Minister Rona Ambrose at the request of the city.
“This council is undivided on this issue,” said Mayor Larry O’Brien, after the council meeting. During the meeting, the mayor heaped praise on his council colleagues, saying: “You’ve shown great solidarity today.”
Mr. O’Brien said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the drivers, mechanics, dispatchers, clerks and custodians in the ATU will vote for the deal.
“Make this a very short strike,” Mr. O’Brien pleaded, in a brief session with reporters after council.
After the meeting, Rideau Councillor Glenn Brooks said: “United we stand, divided we fall.”
The city had two other messages for the striking workers: The public is behind us and we’re ready for a long, painful dispute.
The public support evidence emerged from a $35,000 poll by Harris/Decima.
The poll of 816 residents found 63 per cent support the city in the strike, while 14 per cent support the union’s position.
Jeff Walker, vice-president of Harris-Decima, said 89 per cent of residents say the city offer is reasonable. The poll was conducted between Dec. 27-30 by phone.
Mr. Walker said Ottawa residents are well aware of the strike issues and the more they find out the more they support the city.
“The vast majority of residents support the city’s position,” said Mr. Walker, even among transit riders who are most inconvenienced by the strike. Mr. Walker said that no one is particularly happy about the strike and the disruption to the city, but they don’t want the city to buckle — 72 per cent said the city should hold firm.
After his presentation to council, Mr. Walker said he formed the questions in the survey in consultation with city management and tried to include information about the union’s position.
Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Jacques Legendre said: “These numbers transmit a powerful message.”
City officials said they would examine more measures to alleviate traffic if the strike goes on, such as providing taxi service to the poor and disabled and possibly using transitway roadway.
Using the transitway — the city’s bus-only road system — though seems highly unlikely. The city’s east-end councillors can’t even convince city and provincial highways officials to allow public use of bus lanes along Highway 174 because of safety concerns about how traffic would move on and off lanes. The transitway is constructed particularly for buses and has curves and grades that average drivers could find treacherous.
John Manconi, general manager of public works for the city, said the transitway has never been used by the general motoring public but nevertheless he will explore the possibility.
Among other measures to ease traffic problems, the city has been expanding its free parking facilities for car poolers, this week including Lansdowne Park with its 2,000 parking spaces and the baseball stadium parking lot at 300 Coventry Road with 400 spaces. The city may also consider lowering charges for on-street and off-street parking.
City manager Kent Kirkpatrick said the city would look at all mitigation measures in the event of a long strike.
One surprise, so far, is that road congestion is not nearly as bad as most people expected. While there were some long delays in December — and significant delays were expected Wednesday due to predicted heavy snowfall — the first two days of this week saw lighter traffic than the city normally sees.
“Traffic is actually down. It’s moving better than it was before Christmas,” said John Buck, manager of traffic management.
The city has seen some car pooling, assisted by the city with its Ottawa Ride Match software on its Web site. Employers such as the University of Ottawa are also encouraging car pooling. But much of the car traffic is still single-occupant vehicles. The lower-than expected congestion is being attributed to people working from home, people working different hours and people simply avoiding downtown.
Innes ward Councillor Rainer Bloess said that while shopping areas like the Rideau Centre have been hurt by the transit strike, some stores in the suburban areas are so busy it’s hard to find parking and taxis and car-rental businesses are doing a brisk trade.
The city is saving about $3 million a week by not operating the regular fleet of OC Transpo but deputy city manager Steve Kanellakos said it’s not certain how much the city has saved so far because it is incurring some other costs. He will have some figures later this week.
The city’s offer to the transit workers includes a 7.25-per-cent increase in wages over three years, a $2,500 payment and some improvements to benefits. The executive of ATU Local 279 has urged the workers to reject the offer because changes required by the city would erode drivers’ control of their work schedules.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Don’t count on us to blink, councillors say
By Patrick Dare, The Ottawa CitizenJanuary 6, 2009
OTTAWA — Don’t count on us to blink.
That was the message from Ottawa Council Tuesday as it met in emergency session over the strike that has halted public transit service since Dec. 10.
In an orchestrated show of solidarity, councillors said they were squarely behind the offer that will be voted on by the 2,300 members of Local 279 of the Amalgamated Transit Union on Thursday.
After several hours of private discussion, council went into open session and each councillor voted to confirm the offer. There wasn’t a peep of dissent.
Even Capital ward Councillor Clive Doucet, who has bemoaned the transit strike as needlessly destructive, was toeing the corporate line. Thursday’s vote was ordered by federal Labour Minister Rona Ambrose at the request of the city.
“This council is undivided on this issue,” said Mayor Larry O’Brien, after the council meeting. During the meeting, the mayor heaped praise on his council colleagues, saying: “You’ve shown great solidarity today.”
Mr. O’Brien said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the drivers, mechanics, dispatchers, clerks and custodians in the ATU will vote for the deal.
“Make this a very short strike,” Mr. O’Brien pleaded, in a brief session with reporters after council.
After the meeting, Rideau Councillor Glenn Brooks said: “United we stand, divided we fall.”
The city had two other messages for the striking workers: The public is behind us and we’re ready for a long, painful dispute.
The public support evidence emerged from a $35,000 poll by Harris/Decima.
The poll of 816 residents found 63 per cent support the city in the strike, while 14 per cent support the union’s position.
Jeff Walker, vice-president of Harris-Decima, said 89 per cent of residents say the city offer is reasonable. The poll was conducted between Dec. 27-30 by phone.
Mr. Walker said Ottawa residents are well aware of the strike issues and the more they find out the more they support the city.
“The vast majority of residents support the city’s position,” said Mr. Walker, even among transit riders who are most inconvenienced by the strike. Mr. Walker said that no one is particularly happy about the strike and the disruption to the city, but they don’t want the city to buckle — 72 per cent said the city should hold firm.
After his presentation to council, Mr. Walker said he formed the questions in the survey in consultation with city management and tried to include information about the union’s position.
Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Jacques Legendre said: “These numbers transmit a powerful message.”
City officials said they would examine more measures to alleviate traffic if the strike goes on, such as providing taxi service to the poor and disabled and possibly using transitway roadway.
Using the transitway — the city’s bus-only road system — though seems highly unlikely. The city’s east-end councillors can’t even convince city and provincial highways officials to allow public use of bus lanes along Highway 174 because of safety concerns about how traffic would move on and off lanes. The transitway is constructed particularly for buses and has curves and grades that average drivers could find treacherous.
John Manconi, general manager of public works for the city, said the transitway has never been used by the general motoring public but nevertheless he will explore the possibility.
Among other measures to ease traffic problems, the city has been expanding its free parking facilities for car poolers, this week including Lansdowne Park with its 2,000 parking spaces and the baseball stadium parking lot at 300 Coventry Road with 400 spaces. The city may also consider lowering charges for on-street and off-street parking.
City manager Kent Kirkpatrick said the city would look at all mitigation measures in the event of a long strike.
One surprise, so far, is that road congestion is not nearly as bad as most people expected. While there were some long delays in December — and significant delays were expected Wednesday due to predicted heavy snowfall — the first two days of this week saw lighter traffic than the city normally sees.
“Traffic is actually down. It’s moving better than it was before Christmas,” said John Buck, manager of traffic management.
The city has seen some car pooling, assisted by the city with its Ottawa Ride Match software on its Web site. Employers such as the University of Ottawa are also encouraging car pooling. But much of the car traffic is still single-occupant vehicles. The lower-than expected congestion is being attributed to people working from home, people working different hours and people simply avoiding downtown.
Innes ward Councillor Rainer Bloess said that while shopping areas like the Rideau Centre have been hurt by the transit strike, some stores in the suburban areas are so busy it’s hard to find parking and taxis and car-rental businesses are doing a brisk trade.
The city is saving about $3 million a week by not operating the regular fleet of OC Transpo but deputy city manager Steve Kanellakos said it’s not certain how much the city has saved so far because it is incurring some other costs. He will have some figures later this week.
The city’s offer to the transit workers includes a 7.25-per-cent increase in wages over three years, a $2,500 payment and some improvements to benefits. The executive of ATU Local 279 has urged the workers to reject the offer because changes required by the city would erode drivers’ control of their work schedules.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
