I hope that the OC Transpo drivers children have just as much of a problem trying to get to highschool as mine!!! Oh ya................they aren't working so they can take their kids to school.
oc transp strike
Mon, 2009-01-19 16:30
#1
oc transp strike
Mon, 2009-01-12 11:09
#2
why don't you ask larry to drive them in his mercedes?
Sun, 2009-01-18 11:34
#3
People who say the driver are lazy and stupid are missing the point. Who else but the lazy and the stupid would want to be drive a bus for a living? I'm sure most drivers have graduated high school, but let's face it, they don't have many opportunities in life. Sad, but they made their choice.
Now, stepping back a bit, is it any wonder most people want nothing to do with unions? All they do is put money into the pockets of people who would be otherwise unemployable.
Anyhoo, Mayor Larry is a fool, but he is correct to break the union. I just wish he would open transit to more private operators.
Sun, 2009-01-18 11:40
#4
Hmmm ... another troll "poking" his or her head in?
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:08
#5
Sounds like perhaps arbitration is needed here.
This is the problem with electing right-wing governments. It empowers all the kooks. Just look what happened in the USA when Bush got elected.
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:16
#6
Hmmm ... another troll "poking" his or her head in?
If by "troll" you mean someone who is annoyed with the driver's union and who feels the strike really hurts the Ottawa's most vulnerable, then yes.
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:24
#7
Why are the bus drivers striking?
For some strange reason this question often gets overlooked at least in the mainstream press.
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:28
#8
I hope that the OC Transpo drivers children have just as much of a problem trying to get to highschool as mine!!! Oh ya................they aren't working so they can take their kids to school.
A few options include
- parents organizing some car pooling
- walking to school
- bicycling to school
- walking the picket line to support the strikers so that they get DECENT WAGES AND GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS. How dare those nasty bus drivers ask for that!
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:35
#9
And this is a thread why?
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:47
#10
People who say the driver are lazy and stupid are missing the point.
I agree.
The real "lazy and stupid" ones are those who blame the workers who provide the service in the first place.
They are too lazy to find out what the issues are and help the drivers win their just demands.
They are too stupid to look up the Supreme Court decisions that confirm workers' right to collective bargaining as a fundamental ingredient of the Charter.
And the valuable practice which they are now acquiring in laziness and stupidity will serve them well in the future, when their own democratic rights are suppressed, and they need help.
When that day comes, they will be too lazy and stupid to fight for themselves.
Sun, 2009-01-18 12:47
#11
No, Mr Pokemon, your remarks against the workers' right to collective representation went WAY beyond this transit situation.
Sun, 2009-01-18 14:03
#12
A few options include
- parents organizing some car pooling
- walking to school
- bicycling to school
Bike to school in Ottawa, in the winter? Have you been outside lately? But what about seniors? Single moms? People who depend on buses to get to work?
walking the picket line to support the strikers so that they get DECENT WAGES AND GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS. How dare those nasty bus drivers ask for that!
They already have decent wages and good working conditions. They have dental insurance, a pension, and considering they lack any other skill than driving a bus, most people agree it's a good job. The sticking point appears to be about shift scheduling. The city wants to save overtime costs by having the company schedule drivers instead of the drivers doing it themselves.
Sun, 2009-01-18 14:09
#13
No, Mr Pokemon, your remarks against the workers' right to collective representation went WAY beyond this transit situation.
You have missed my point: the strike only hurts the poor and people who have to fend for themselves. Driver's have the right to strike, but that doesn't mean they should, especially over silliness like scheduling.
And people wonder why so few people support unions...
Sun, 2009-01-18 19:37
#14
Anti-union nonsense is anti-union nonsense. If you can't see cause and effect find another forum.
Sun, 2009-01-18 19:42
#15
The nerve of those bus drivers. Imagine they want tp have decent work hours so they can probably spend some time with their families and friends. How dare they make such outrageous demands!
How would you like to be a bus driver and have to deal with minor issues like beheadings in the back of your bus.
Sun, 2009-01-18 20:23
#16
Imagine they want tp have decent work hours so they can probably spend some time with their families and friends.
A big part of the strike is about senior members gaming the schedule to get more overtime. It costs the city a lot of money. It's a waste.
How would you like to be a bus driver and have to deal with minor issues like beheadings in the back of your bus.
I think we both agree crime on busses is a very big problem, and drivers are very vulnerable. If the drivers has walked out over poor security they would have the public's support. But in Ottawa it would seem the biggest threat to drivers is other drivers:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/1999/04/06/shooting990406.html
Sun, 2009-01-18 20:27
#17
I didn't realize they had beheadings on Ottawa transit.How would you like to be a bus driver and have to deal with minor issues like beheadings in the back of your bus.
Sun, 2009-01-18 20:27
#18
Anti-union nonsense is anti-union nonsense. If you can't see cause and effect find another forum.
So are poor people not being hurt by the strike? Aren't the people getting hurt by this the very people the union movement (or what's left of it) claim to champion? And so why, in your view, are unions so unpopular and why do so many people hold union members in low regard?
Sun, 2009-01-18 22:47
#19
Ok my friend, time to cut and run to a place that apprciates you. This anti-union rhetoric has gone beyond. The poor people you feel so badly for are being hurt by a neo-con mayor and an anti worker agenda. Your generalisations about unionisation are not only incorrect, they are repugnant. Unions are unpopular only amongst those who own, control or see themselves as the next J Paul Getty.
Wake up and get a life.
Sure be nice to see a Mod read over these posts.
Sun, 2009-01-18 22:47
#20
And so why, in your view, are unions so unpopular and why do so many people hold union members in low regard?
Because [s]you[/s] they hate to see powerless people band together to stand up and assert their rights.
Because [s]you[/s] they love the status quo which gives [s]you[/s] them wealth and privilege and can't understand why everyone else doesn't feel the same way.
Because [s]you[/s] they are selfish and greedy loners who only look to [s]your[/s] their own comfort and convenience, and who are bowled over when real people make real sacrifices in the fight for justice.
Stuff like that. Hope I gave you some directions for further research.
Sun, 2009-01-18 23:45
#21
The Ottawa bus drivers offered to go back to work if Larry had agreed to set aside the contentious issues of work scheduling, route assignment, hours of work and working conditions. Why did Larry not attempt to help resolve the issue? Sounds like a union busting attempt to me. I hope they stay out till Spring. Spring 2010.
Sun, 2009-01-18 23:53
#22
Yes, bus strikes do hurt poor people and that's why they're so difficult. I know that Babble is not a place to vent anti-union sentiment but I can understand the frustration of some who don't understand the issues, and just telling them to carpool, walk or cycle when none of those may be an option does not help them. Some people really get stuck in a transit strike. The unions can do a lot more to educate the clientele and get them onside, not just picket.
Mon, 2009-01-19 00:22
#23
Yes, bus strikes do hurt poor people and that's why they're so difficult. I know that Babble is not a place to vent anti-union sentiment but I can understand the frustration of some who don't understand the issues, and just telling them to carpool, walk or cycle when none of those may be an option does not help them. Some people really get stuck in a transit strike. The unions can do a lot more to educate the clientele and get them onside, not just picket.
I fully agree with that statement. Unions don't do enough, and they suffer as a result. But I also agree that babble isn't the place to explain to people why unions are not bad things that reward the lazy. It is quite scary to find some few people posting here whose social consciousness is among the most backward in Canada. I do feel sorry for them, but not all that much.
Mon, 2009-01-19 02:06
#24
Unfortunately of course it is the customers/ridership that suffer during a strike, as opposed to the management who rarely if ever use the system they are hired to administer. Management drive their own vehicles to work, and so there are usually no inconveniences for them. Tell me again in whose deck the cards are stacked.
Mon, 2009-01-19 16:28
#25
pokey, I don't remember your past history on babble very well, but you need to stay out of any thread that has anything to do with unions from now on.
In other news, I have no idea why this is in the "Introductions" forum, so I'm going to move it to Labour and Consumption.
Mon, 2009-01-19 16:29
#26
Actually, never mind - just read the opening post, and I can't see any point whatsoever to leave this trolling, anti-worker thread open.