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Rob Ford's Toronto

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archanfel said:
What do you propose then? We just keep on feeding them? Yes, the war with the union will be difficult, but it's the only way out. The province is changing guard too, if I were the union, I wouldn't bet on a sympathizing arbitrator.
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I don't claim to have the best solution. I'm not the one who said "Given what I heard about TTC, they can squeeze out 8-10% productivity increase over 4 years" and then proceeded to back that up by saying they could reach those productivity goals by cutting this, that and the other thing, with no regard to how those cuts could actually be achieved or what the consequences of those cuts would be in the real world.

I am pretty sure though that you aren't going to win your war against the TTC union by driving them to strike and then expecting the city populace to line up behind you as they go weeks on end without transit waiting for the union to break.

Before you start your battle, you need to get a clearer idea on what your ultimate goal is. Do you want to outright get rid of the TTC union or are you willing to settle for signing more financial constrained contracts with them?
 
Is there an offset between TTC union employees and their private counter parts? I would say yes. How large is the discrepancy? I think that is where it is hard to make a judgement call. What should they be paid in comparison to other transit workers, and what workers are you are you comparing them too?

If the answer is simple, and they are just overpaid by a few bucks an hour there should be no increases to their contracts the next time around, and the next time, and the next time. Do this until the TTC comes into line with the private sector, or atleast close enough.

The talk of union busting is pretty ridiculous as a solution. Also, I think it would be a better tactic to specifically name the union you are speaking about. Unions this, and unions that, lumps every single one of them together and all of them are very different. Lumping them together is an ill informed way to go about it.
 
Ridiculous or not, I don't see another plan on the table. I highly suspect the union will go on strike even for no increases. In the end, it's about who got the balls. If the citizen of Toronto has no desire to rid the union, then we deserve paying the price. I guess we will see about that.
 
archanfel said:
Ridiculous or not, I don't see another plan on the table. I highly suspect the union will go on strike even for no increases. In the end, it's about who got the balls. If the citizen of Toronto has no desire to rid the union, then we deserve paying the price. I guess we will see about that.
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Yup, the union will go on strike if they have to make concessions. Also, the membership does have a vote, not all of them want to strike. As time passes more and more of them want to get back to work.

Trust me, trying to bust a union will cause far more problems for the city then forcing them to strike for a period of time.

What it really comes down to is career politicians making a decisions based on what will save them the most votes.
 
mangasparky said:
Yup, the union will go on strike if they have to make concessions. Also, the membership does have a vote, not all of them want to strike. As time passes more and more of them want to get back to work.

Trust me, trying to bust a union will cause far more problems for the city then forcing them to strike for a period of time.

What it really comes down to is career politicians making a decisions based on what will save them the most votes.
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Hear, hear. Aren't that the truth.
 
I love this pic! (From Now Magazine)
BABYFORD1.jpg
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Will we see this adorable face on election night?
 
Spacing Toronto has an article at this link, on the large increase of bicycle use in Toronto. Opposite to Rob Ford vision.

Rob thinks that the days of low priced fuel will continue past the next four years, so there is no need for other alternatives of travel in Toronto, be it bicycles or public transit.
 
Prepare to hunker down kids: a new poll will be out early next week that shows Rob Ford with a renewed strong lead. :(
 
There's certainly some heavy-duty polling going on ... someone called here early in the week with a long list of questions on how one would vote, second place, candidate x vs candidate y. Likely internal if it hasn't been public yet.

However you were also part of the contingent that was talking around September 18th of Ford getting over 50% in a poll, which never happened.
 
^ It is, but I'm still optimistic because in a one on one with George, Ford still has little chance of winning. The only thing that worries me is that Joe will not drop out under any circumstance. It'll all come down to Joe's supporters realizing that Smitherman is the only way to prevent a Ford win. I was one of those.
 
Was that new poll conducted prior to or after Thompson dropped out? Joe has really got to help the left out and swallow his pride...
 
Indeed. Though Smitherman's persistent, though somewhat reduced, tendency to tack right is doing him no favours in that regard, as it allows Joe to still say he is the only 'progressive' and so on. He is also saying that there is little difference between Smitherman and Ford, which is about as Nader-like as you can get. I have considerable faith, however, that even if Joe himself doesn't swallow said pride his supporters mostly will. However George needs to make sure he gives the left more reasons to support him.

If the next poll does indeed show a 'strong' lead for Ford I will be curious as to takes on where the recent Global poll came from. Could always be a 'rogue' but that seems unlikely from the likes of Ipsos Reid.

In any case the critical metric to watch remains, I think, the proportion of undecideds. There's still some way to go.
 
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