TTC Votes To Declare Itself An Essential Service
Posted December 15, 2010 5:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In the first meeting of the Toronto Transit Commission since the recent municipal election, the TTC voted Wednesday to ask the provincial government to declare it an essential service, which would ensure trains, buses and streetcars keep running through any labour dispute.
However, city council has the ultimate say whether the issue will make it to the provincial government. They will vote Thursday on the issue that was one of Mayor Rob Ford’s main campaign promises.
“No one wants to be held hostage by a small group of people that can literally paralyze the transit system,” said Frank Di Giorgio the TTC Commissioner.
A 2008 public report stated a TTC strike costs the city $50 million a day.
But Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 President Bob Kinnear has gone on record saying if the TTC is designated an essential service, he expects the pay of his union members to be in line with police officers and firefighters, who are also essential service workers.
In council Wednesday, Councillor Maria Augimeri pointed out a report that stated making the TTC an essential service would cause labour contracts to jump by $23-million, over three years.
