25% of the ATU 279 voted to accept the offer
According to the Amalgamated Transit Union’s transit strike website, 2045 members vote of which 75% voted not to accept the City’s offer. This means that 25% of the union members voted to accept the offer.
To the 25% I say a very sincere “Thank you”. You obviously are able to think for yourself rather than follow Andre Cornellier like sheep.
Also on their website is a YouTube video of their “victory party” entitled “2000 souls”. Frankly, I find the video disgusting and I can’t help but wonder what the 25% think of it.
They’ve also got this high contrast red and black graphic which lists the number of voters, the proportion that voted “no” and includes the phrase “No means No” underneath a ballot box with a X in it. I find this very ironic because I came up with my own high contrast red and black graphic about two weeks ago which I’ve been resisting the urge to use in a blog entry. Until now, that is. 😉
I’m think of having pins made up with my graphic on it and selling them for a buck or two. Would you buy one?
So, back to the main issue: They have voted to not accept the offer. Presumably they’re going to continue to protest, though the smartest thing they could do is return to work as a gesture of good faith while the negotiators continue to try to hammer down a contract. However, based on their victory video and what I’ve seen of Andre Cornellier in interviews on television, the only gesture Cornellier knows involves the middle finger of his hand.
Hopefully, the City negotiators will not capitulate to the union as a result of this vote. In essence, nothing has really changed other than Cornellier gets to say “I told you so” and act smug.
Also, the Canadian Industrial Relations Board is soliciting input from members of the public with how they’ve been affected by the strike. The deadline for submissions is 5:00pm Friday, January 9th, so if you’re planning on sending something in you better do it immediately.
Here’s an excerpt from the CIRB website:
Section 87.4(1) of the Canada Labour Code provides that: "During a strike or lockout not prohibited by this Part, the employer, the trade union and the employees in the bargaining unit must continue the supply of services, operation of facilities or production of goods to the extent necessary to prevent an immediate and serious danger to the safety or health of the public."
Keeping this criterion in mind, members of the public have an opportunity to provide a written explanation as to why they think this obligation is or is not being met during the current work stoppage involving the City of Ottawa (OC Transpo) and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279.
Submissions must provide specific details in support of the statements being made and must be limited to the issue raised in this notice. They must also include the name and contact information of the person making the submission. Please note that all submissions received will be transmitted to the employer and the trade union for their review and comment.
Submissions may be sent to the Canada Industrial Relations Board as follows:
- by email at octranspo-atu@cirb-ccri.gc.ca
- by fax at 613-941-4461
- by regular mail or by hand at the following address:
Canada Industrial Relations Board, Regional Director
C.D. Howe Building, 4th Floor West, 240 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0X8
If the CIRB determine that the strike is having too much of an impact or causing extreme hardships for certain groups, they might force the union to return to work while the negotiations continue.
AKA Keeper of Maps, I'm a geocacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
To the 25% I say a very sincere “Thank you”. You obviously are able to think for yourself rather than follow Andre Cornellier like sheep.
You think 75% of people jumped off the cliff? I think 75% didn’t like the offer and voted accordingly. As they said on the news, the offer wasn’t any different from the first offer, they didn’t take scheduling off the table so why would the union vote a yes vote. Question is, if it was you would you have voted yes? So many people offer up opinions but have no grounds to back them up. Unions just don’t strike because someone says lets go on strike, it’s about support in numbers, it’s about this politicians in this city keeping things status quo. 25% is nothing, i think you’d see 2% if it wasn’t minus 20 on the line. Take all the non union people in the world, lets just say the employer tried to prevent you from doing something you have always done, get paid for breaks at work. Now all of sudden you and all your friends are looking at each other saying, guess i’m out $4000 a year just because, and you don’t agree with it. What is your recourse, quit your job or just keep going on with a pay loss, becoming a digruntled employee. Sucks to be you- this is where the union and the dues you pay fight for your rights and try to maintain your lifestyle and protect your future and the future of new employees.
I’m think of having pins made up with my graphic on it and selling them for a buck or two. Would you buy one?
I’d only buy one if it had Larry’s face on it with a big red line through it. You are targeting the wrong people, it’s not the drivers and the union, it’s our government and their lack of dealings with union issues. Even when the first strike happened I supported the drivers, even though it caused a massive strain on my life.
No, if they jumped off the cliff then I would have called them lemmings, not sheep.
I question whether all 75% didn’t like it for their own reasons or whether they voted “no” because they were blindly following their union executive or were afraid to vote against their executives recommendations for fear of repercussions.
Yes, I would have voted to accept it. The city’s offer of 7.25% over three years is more than most workers in Ottawa are getting right now and the other concessions seem fair to me, including the scheduling.
Management has the right to manage and they cannot do that if they do not have control of the scheduling. With the union determining who gets overtime and when, the possibility that it will be abused exists.
There’s at least one OC Transpo driver who is on the $100K salary list. How on Earth does that happen unless the driver is working a huge amount of overtime?
No, if I they jumped off the cliff then I would have called them lemmings, not sheep
Sheep jump off of cliffs too (http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-07-08-sheep-suicide_x.htm) , lemmings do it too in the belief of population control, are you suggesting that OC transpo drivers commit mass suicide to be replaced?
I question whether all 75% didn’t like it for their own reasons or whether they voted “no” because they were blindly following their union executive or were afraid to vote against their executives recommendations for fear of repercussions.
I’m sure they did (for their own reasons) , do you think the union is some form of maffia, if you don’t comply you wind up dead? If you don’t comply you end up being the other 25% who voted in favor. They did it because of the scheduling issue. I guess when a driver says on the news that it isn’t about money that he or she is really contradicting their own words and just making the whole scheduling issue up. 7.25% over three years is 2.41% a year, big deal, maybe to the guy flipping burgers at mcdonalds it is but to a union worker that’s pretty normal or a little higher than normal.
There’s at least one OC Transpo driver who is on the $100K salary list
1 driver. Go look at what half the police force and political figures make.
9-1-1 operator $51,291.71 and $60,415.57
$51-60 K a year to answer a phone, is that not comparable to a driver who drives 12 hours a day, who drives thousands of people around safely a day.
A 1st Class Constable with Ottawa police make $73,000 after 3 years of service.
Let’s not forget The honorable O’Brien at $173,000 a year, we pay this man $173,000 to get us into this mess.
Let’s not forget Mr.O’Briens aid
Published: Friday, December 29, 2006
The mayor’s chief of staff, Walter Robinson, is poised to earn $135,000 in 2007 — tens of thousands more than his most recent predecessors, according to a two-year employment contract released yesterday.
Let’s not forget:
A newcomer to politics, Mayor O’Brien stated his commitment to “run the city on a more business-like basis”, a task, as the former Chairman and CEO of CALIAN Technologies Ltd., for which he is uniquely suited.
Run the city like a business, this is what happens when you try to run a business, the people you don’t care about suffer and your aid makes $135,000 a year, when can I get into that business. No buses- that’s what you get.
Good Job Larry.
All larry needs to do now is cut some costs at OC to make them lose less money. I hate to see all my tax money being used to pay someone to drive a bus more than I make when i have 4 years of hard earned university degree.
You drive a damn bus for god sake, and your mambers are abusing the overtime and sick days. You should all be fired and unions banned from workplaces that pay people using tax payers money.