[NoKids]

A week into the bus strike, we Ottawanians (?) seem to be adapting better to the terrorist bus drivers' attempt to hold us hostage. Exams are almost over, some students slept on campus floors in sleeping bags. Hotels downtown are offering $99 per night rates to stay downtown and avoid the commute. Carpooling has become very organized by employers and employees; probably saving the jobs of thousands of people.

I have been minorly affected by this strike, I had to change my shift an hour earlier to escape the traffic. My girlfriend who doesn't have a car has to carpool with co-workers or call her mom who lives nearby (cabs are useless).

My personal opinion of the bus drivers union is that this is the wrong time to strike. Christmas, bad weather, hockey tournament, and you're refusing to work because of a crappy schedule? i hope the city does not give in to their demands. if you dont want to drive a bus with a crappy schedule then why did you apply for this job in the first place?! go find another job in this terrible economy, hasta la vista, good luck!

solution is simple: fire them all !!! there are thousands of unemployed people who would love to have your jobs! what is the city waiting for?

www.fireottawabusdrivers.com



DO IT!

DO IT!

[fizzerd]

Originally Posted by NoKids

A week into the bus strike, we Ottawanians (?) seem to be adapting better to the terrorist bus drivers' attempt to hold us hostage. Exams are almost over, some students slept on campus floors in sleeping bags. Hotels downtown are offering $99 per night rates to stay downtown and avoid the commute. Carpooling has become very organized by employers and employees; probably saving the jobs of thousands of people.

I have been minorly affected by this strike, I had to change my shift an hour earlier to escape the traffic. My girlfriend who doesn't have a car has to carpool with co-workers or call her mom who lives nearby (cabs are useless).

My personal opinion of the bus drivers union is that this is the wrong time to strike. Christmas, bad weather, hockey tournament, and you're refusing to work because of a crappy schedule? i hope the city does not give in to their demands. if you dont want to drive a bus with a crappy schedule then why did you apply for this job in the first place?! go find another job in this terrible economy, hasta la vista, good luck!

solution is simple: fire them all !!! there are thousands of unemployed people who would love to have your jobs! what is the city waiting for?

Its the union that i hate..i dont totally blame the drivers..but yeah the drivers should atleast think ethically considering people who are totally dependent on public transport before going with the union. That union president is such an a-hole.. i saw some video online where he acts like a total d**k throughout the whole interview about the strike..

Apparently the negotiations didnt work because of scheduling. I can see the city's point as better scheduling can save them millions and from what I see their suggested scheduling has nothing wrong in it.

[bulldog_yyc]

I guess they are taking after the TTC - transit should be privatized....

[w2]

Originally Posted by NoKids

solution is simple: fire them all !!! there are thousands of unemployed people who would love to have your jobs! what is the city waiting for?

Even if that were remotely legal, how long do you think it would take to hire and train a whole new roster of bus drivers? Probably a lot longer than the strike will last. You can't drive a bus with a class G license, and trying to run a bus service with no experienced drivers who know the routes and the routines would be a disaster. OC Transpo is sub-par even at the best of times.

I can't condone the union's actions. They are acting like bullies and trying to hold the city hostage with their "me first, screw the rest of you" attitude. The city screwed up big time on labour negotiations (incompetence on Ottawa city council: quelle suprise!) but now both sides are entrenched and are going to slog it out, since there are no face-saving exit strategies available at this time, ever since Mayor Lex Luthor turned down the arbitration offer.

One potential benefit is that some people might keep their new schedules even after the strike is over, loosening rush hour congestion. I now leave for work an hour earlier and, while I don't think I will continue to leave that early when the strike is over, I am thinking about leaving a half hour earlier, which will probably save me 20-30 minutes of commute time per day, counting both directions.

[NoKids]

I agree with everything you said W2. The city needs to n e g o c i a t e better.

As for the bus drivers, they voted 97% to strike, so i have no sympathy for them.

Originally Posted by fizzerd

Its the union that i hate..i dont totally blame the drivers..but yeah the drivers should atleast think ethically considering people who are totally dependent on public transport before going with the union.

[w2]

Originally Posted by NoKids

As for the bus drivers, they voted 97% to strike, so i have no sympathy for them.

We have to be careful about interpreting that. I believe that what that number means is the members voted 97% to give the union a strike mandate, which basically means they told the union they could declare a strike if negotiations failed. It doesn't necessarily mean the workers knew what demands the union was going to make, but if they don't give the union a strike mandate, it has zero bargaining power. Since the only unresolved issue is the scheduling one, and since the union's demands on scheduling seem to only benefit senior drivers and probably actually make life worse for junior drivers, I'm not sure why the majority of the union membership would actually want that deal anyway. But, once you join the army, you gotta follow your commanders, not your conscience. The union doesn't have to present the city's offer to its members if the leaders don't want to.

I don't have a tremendous amount of sympathy for the workers either. For the skill level of work they do, they're pretty generously paid, and their jobs are about as secure as anyone can expect in this economy. My first several years out of school with a master's degree, I certainly didn't make the kind of money they're making (and probably still make less than some drivers, despite having a reasonably in-demand and specialized skill set) and I've never had that kind of job security.

Then again, I briefly worked for the Feds and was required to be part of the union. I'm not quite sure what they did for me, but they did take over $2K of my paycheque each year, so I can certainly understand that some drivers may feel like pawns in someone else's power game.

[NoKids]

Union fees are $50 every month for me, so that's $600 a year. If they told me they were going to strike over sick leave, vacation days, overtime pay, or any of these issues I would tell the union to fuck off. I would make serious noise and get as many SANE people to vote no for a strike.

My brother got hired by Canada Post and as soon as his training was done, his union went on strike because of sick days. They're still on strike and I feel bad for him because he has only two choices: stay home without pay, or picket in the crappy weather for $50 per day. lol

'Tis the season to strike? what the hell is wrong with unions

[Desi]

I'm caught in the middle on this one. On one hand, I am making a killing driving the cab at night; I'm working 12 hours every night until school starts up again. On the other hand, it took me three-hours to get to my last exam at Ottawa U from Kanata, traffic is horrible, and I genuinely feel bad for alot of the people I am picking up from low-income areas and bringing to work in clearly low-paying jobs.

I'm driving a Blue Line cab everyday from 7pm-7am until Jan 6th. If anybody needs a cab and can't get through to dispatch or something just send me a PM with your phone # and we'll arrange something. I receive PMs from this site directly to my blackberry but I can't respond, so I'll call you back minutes after you PM me. There is also an e90post discount, that nobody has taken me up on yet

[borsalino]

Unions do more good than harm.

[NoKids]

Originally Posted by Desi

I'm caught in the middle on this one. On one hand, I am making a killing driving the cab at night; I'm working 12 hours every night until school starts up again. On the other hand, it took me three-hours to get to my last exam at Ottawa U from Kanata, traffic is horrible, and I genuinely feel bad for alot of the people I am picking up from low-income areas and bringing to work in clearly low-paying jobs.

I'm driving a Blue Line cab everyday from 7pm-7am until Jan 6th. If anybody needs a cab and can't get through to dispatch or something just send me a PM with your phone # and we'll arrange something. I receive PMs from this site directly to my blackberry but I can't respond, so I'll call you back minutes after you PM me. There is also an e90post discount, that nobody has taken me up on yet

haha nice. maybe if i am at a strip club, drunk and unable to drive back home i will borrow the stripper's Iphone/blackberry and pm you to pick me up.

[NoKids]

those $)($#()@* are still on strike!

[ehhhwik]

stupid useless unionized bus workers, it should be like the banks, no unions at all...

[clairvoyant]

Desi,
That drunk person may have to do interior detailing in your taxi in case any harmful bodily function occurs.

Originally Posted by NoKids

haha nice. maybe if i am at a strip club, drunk and unable to drive back home i will borrow the stripper's Iphone/blackberry and pm you to pick me up.