TTC Now an Essential Service!

Strikes and lockouts at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) are now
banned. The TTC Labour Disputes Resolution Act, 2011 was passed by the Ontario Legislature on March 30, 2011.

As you may know, I was the first City Councillor to strongly advocate for the Essential Service designation. Our City simply cannot function without the TTC. Transit strikes grind the entire GTA economy to a halt and causes immense environmental and social damage. By declaring the TTC an essential service, the TTC and its workforce must resolve their differences through arbitration, not through strikes, which only victimize the riders.

As a member of the Toronto Transit Commission, I pushed Toronto City Council to formally request the Premier of Ontario to introduce legislation deeming transit service an essential service in Toronto. This legislation puts an end to legal transit strikes in Toronto permanently.

The TTC carries approximately 1.6 Million passengers daily, including
80% of transit trips in the Greater Toronto Area. These are Torontonians who rely on the TTC to get to work, school and live their lives. Our City is simply not designed to function without an operating public transit system and when it shuts down, literally millions of lives grind to a halt.

TTC and the transit union will continue to bargain in good faith, as they always have. If they should reach an impasse however, the new legislation simply ensures that outstanding issues are dealt with through arbitration, and not by a strike.

The cost of transit strikes in Toronto has been estimated to be $50 Million per day in lost economic activity, and Millions per day in lost fares. The miniscule potential cost, if any, of the essential service designation pales in comparison. The environmental and other non-monetary harm caused by the complete absence of transit and thousands of additional vehicles on the road is incalculable.

Most of all, the message from Torontonians is clear. Recent polls have
consistently shown that over 75% of Torontonians supported declaring the TTC an essential service (sometimes as high as 90%), and in the recent election over 83% of Torontonians voted for Mayoral candidates who included declaring the TTC an essential service as an important part of their transit platform.

Thankfully, Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government acted quickly
in deeming the TTC an essential service. No small group of citizens or
workers should have the right or ability to hold 1.6 million riders and an entire City hostage.