Toronto Uncovered

I had originally intended to go with a different post for today’s Toronto Uncovered, however, the recent decision for Toronto’s city workers to go on strike deserves priority.

Starting today, many services and facilities in Toronto will come to a screeching halt. The most noticeable of these will be the garbage collection of all Toronto residents and businesses. For those who remember how horrible it was to be in Toronto during the last garbage strike 7 years ago (Toronto Garbage Strike 2002), you’ll agree it was NOT pretty. I lived in the Annex at the time and remember literally walking over mounds of garbage stock-piled on the streets, and watching mice and other vermin scurry about. The smell was nothing to gloss over either.  Friends living in China Town stayed with us to escape the filth of their neighbourhood. The strike eventually ended two weeks later when Ontario lawmakers forced workers back to their jobs due severe health concerns. The Pope’s scheduled pilgrimage to Toronto that summer also helped push legislation through, as the city needed to be cleaned for the arrival of the thousands of tourists.

From all the on and offline discussions I had this past weekend, I can tell you that the garbage strike was definitely on the minds of many Torontonians. Most people couldn’t understand how a city the magnitude of Toronto could allow this to happen again, especially in the wake of pandemics, epidemics, and other health concerns. I would hope that hygiene and disease control would be top priorities for all city officials as we enter into the hot summer months.

I am an avid user of Twitter and one of Mayor David Miller’s many followers.  One would hope that the looming strike would have been a top priority for him over the weekend.  I was really disappointed to see his weekend tweets updating followers about his fathers day gift, and his attendance at various TFC games, picnics, ribbon cuttings, and NXNE events. Sounds like he was having a pretty good little weekend while the rest of us were stressing about potential garbage strikes, park closures, day care and summer camp closures, and lack of transportation to and from Toronto Island (putting many businesses who depend on ferry traffic in the red).  I was surprised to read  this morning’s National Post where Miller was quoted saying, “While we will continue to negotiate with the union locals during a strike, I want residents and businesses to know that we are working in their interests to protect the future of services in our city”. I am still unclear when all this “work” was being done – he must be quite the multi-tasker.

I am not typically a supporter of unions. I feel that since the introduction of the Human Rights Act, most have become outdated and unnecessary in contemporary society.  I believe that if you are unhappy with your job, your earnings or allotted vacation time you should either negotiate with your current employer or start looking elsewhere – just like the rest of us un-unionized folk. If I have a problem with my workplace, I probably wouldn’t get very far by threatening not to come in. That said, it seems the city got themselves into this mess (again), and they will now need to get themselves (and the rest of us) out of it. A majority of other municipalities contract garbage services to private companies to eliminate the possibility of a strike and save money at the same time. Why didn’t Toronto learn from past mistakes and take necessary actions to ensure public health and safety was upheld? Negotiations have been on the table for six months without resolution. How can that be? In six months, the US can elect and swear in their first black president, Wall Street can crumble beneath its own feet and begin to rebuild, and the landscape of the global economy can change forever.  So, my question is: How “hard” were our city negotiators really working?

I understand that city politics are not always cut and dry, especially when unions are involved, but this is unacceptable and inexcusable. Bring on municipal elections!

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