Like It Is

The Callous Transit Drivers. Toronto Transit Commission drivers to be exact. Who all went on strike today, Monday 29th May out of the blue. At least for commuters. They callously left commuters, all 800,000 of them, who depend on them more or less for their livelihood well and truly in the lurch this morning, as they called a “wildcat” strike and just walked off the job. No warning, no nothing. No chance for workers to plan an alternative way of getting to work. Just what we needed on a Monday morning.

I was one of the fortunate ones. Not only did we happen to turn on the t.v. on Sunday night and hear of a possible shut down of the TTC, but I also live within walking distance of where I work. So, with my comfy walking shoes, it took me only 25 minutes to walk to work on a sunny, but hot morning. My only complaint was that I was very hot and sweaty when I got into work and it was even hotter walking home along with the current bad air quality and temperatures hovering at 30 degrees Celsius. Other colleagues and workers weren’t so lucky – it was impossible to get a cab and when you live a great distance a way far from easy to get into work when no transit service at all is running.

“They don’t care about commuters”, I fumed to my husband when I got home. They practically have jobs for life, pensions, benefits, the lot – and all they do is walk of the job like petulant children taking their ball back and refusing to play.”

As my husband said – this isn’t about commuters. They could care less about them. It’s management’s job to care about the commuters; they are collateral damage. It’s about the Transit Unions proving to their management they they’re prepared to take action, not just talk about it. So now, management will take them more seriously and give them what they want. Perhaps that’s why the striking TTC drivers couldn’t even agree on why they were striking.

Makes me think of London Underground, when they go on strike and it causes even more widespread chaos because the system is so much larger in London. Or Paris. Or, for that matter New York. They are just the same. They already have it very good job wise. But they still hold us to ransom on our public transport or transit systems.

Because they can.