Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

UPDATED "… And the buses will run on time! Well, they'll run, at least."

by kadyomalley on Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:13pm - 33 Comments

I know nobody outside Ottawa cares about our weird little transit strike, other than to idly wonder why the federal government has to get involved in a spat between the city and the union, but apparently, the end may be nigh: both the Liberals and the NDP have tentatively agreed to support back-to-work legislation, although it’s likely that it would be in the form of binding arbitration, as opposed to a forced settlement. Anyway, we’ll find out during the emergency debate later tonight.

UPDATE:

And it’s over! The city and the union agreed to binding arbitration, so the rest of the country can feel free to resume not caring about our sad little Ottawan lives. Oh, and I hope we all thoroughly enjoyed Rona Ambrose’s fleeting moment in the spotlight, since that’s probably the last time we’ll see her on the news.

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  • john g

    As someone on another thread said, I give credit to Obama for ending the strike.

    Why else would Ambrose flip-flop on back to work legislation the day after Obama’s visit was confirmed? It couldn’t be because they don’t want the embarrassment of having the Messiah picketed by striking bus workers on Feb 19, could it?

  • Dije

    A solution by Ottawa, for Ottawa. I cannot see this ending badly at all.

  • Ti-Guy

    other than to idly wonder why the federal government has to get involved in a spat between the city and the union

    That’s a very good question. Does anyone know why?

    • MJH

      It is the Feds jurisdiction because the buses cross provincial lines making the Labour Dispute come under Federal labour law not Ontario law. Strange but true!

  • Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

    That’s a great point, Kady. Why the heck does the federal government get involved in the Ottawa transit strike while Queens Park legislates York U back to work? Both York and OC Transpo are indirectly bodies of the provincial government (OCT by way of Ottawa being an Ontario municipality, which only quasi-exist), never mind that they are in provincial jurisdiction. Does Ontario just let the feds legislate affairs in the immediate vicinity of their lair?

    • http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

      Have no idea if it’s true or not but others have said that OC Transpo operates in both Ont and Que, so it’s up to Feds to get involved and not both provinces.

    • nd

      Apparently, because OC Transpo operates cross-provincial routes (the no.8 at least goes to Hull, and maybe some other ones), it falls under federal rather than provincial jurisdiction.

    • http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

      I was shamelessly hoping someone would ask that question – so thank you, Ti and NotPotterNorCoyne, for giving me the opportunity to share a nugget of administrivia that, on behalf of my city, I hope I’ll never have cause to mention again: Because some OC Transpo buses cross the Interprovincial Bridge to Hull, it is federal, not provincial jurisdiction. The more you know!

      • Ti-Guy

        Can I launch into my favourite pet peeve? That Canada desperately needs a separate political unit for the national capital region?

        Yes? No? Ok…

        • http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

          I *totally* agree.

          • Lord Kitchener’s Own

            Me too! And I’ll go one further. Once we create the “District of Ottawa” I say we follow the American lead and make sure no one within the boundaries has representation in Parliament. ;-)

          • David

            Most importantly: what would we call it?

            McDonald, District of Cabotia?

        • archangel

          Yeah, preferably on an oil rig off the east coast so it can be jettisoned when Danny gets angry.

          • David

            The mental midget is always angry. It’s his factory setting. You can’t change it.

          • Ti-Guy

            Or how about on Nose Hill in Calgary? In order to…

            …oh, who cares. I hate Calgary!

            Gahd, it’s great to be Canadian.

          • David

            Oh, and if they do do that, can we make damn sure that André Cornellier and Larry O’Brien are on board?

      • archangel

        How does the NCC fit in all this, Kady?

        • rumor

          It doesn’t. That’s… about it.

  • http://prairiewrangler.wordpress.com/ Olaf

    I can’t believe it has gone on this long. If the Calgary transit system shut down, I would never be able to make it to work. Not that missing work would result in any discernable drop in my productivity, because you can’t divide by zero, but still, just sitting here is a nice symbolic gesture, I think.

    What was I talking about? Oh, right: What I don’t get is if governments can just legislate these folks back to work, why don’t they just do that at the beginning of the strike?

    • Just visiting

      To pick up on your own phrase, not ordering workers back to work right away is just a nice symbolic gesture.

      • http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

        Also, there was the unpleasant matter of the prorogation, which made it impossible to call the House back to pass emergency legislation without going through the whole Throne Speech rigmarole.

        • http://www.iheartmusic.net matthew

          Though a Throne Speech dedicated entirely to sending OC drivers back to work would’ve been kind of awesome, no?

          • David

            That would have been made out of awesome.

            Honourable Senators, Members of Parliament:

            My government will introduce legislation to bring about an end to the transit strike which has caused untold hardship to the people of our nation’s capital.

            And amend the Copyright Act.

            May Divine Providence guide you in your deliberations.

    • Ti-Guy

      Or why bother striking in the first place, eh?

  • Joan Tintor

    Actually, I did care because I was hoping to come to Ottawa by train and use the transitway to get downtown. Decided to drive and ended up cancelllng the whole thing because of weather.

  • http://macleans.ca kc

    Oh my god! Will they have to open up the constitution? Kady’s right as a non Ottawan[?] or indeed easterner, you can all you eastern ******** can all walk home in the dark, to paraphrase Ralph. One possibly helpful suggestion. Take the limos away from the pols and make them walk. Strike over day ?

    • Chris B

      The single best suggestion made to end the strike was to take away the cars of all members on the negotiating team (for both parties), and only allow them to use taxis when they go to negotiating sessions.

      • http://macleans.ca kc

        And only then if they paid out of pocket!

  • motor

    I will always think that federal interference always prolong strikes. You only have one side negotiating and the other side, delaying until the Feds bail them out.

    We’ll not even start to talk about the O’Brien , ‘Mr Cliche’ Baird, connection.

  • Wascally Wabbit

    I’m philosophically far enough left to occasionally flirt with the idea of becoming a Dipper – and I support the concept of organizing labour to protect workers’ rights…
    but stuff like this – and recent NDP stands “on principle” make me throw my hands up in the air.
    I’m not an economist – but I can’t figure – with this strike – like most strikes – how the workers come out ahead.
    Say the union asks for 4% and the management offers 2% – even if they get say 3% after a strike – everyday these folks lose – let’s say – $200 per day (at $25.00 /hr.) – they get paid for a short period of days – strike pay from the union (their own money coming back to them) maybe $40 a day – so they net lose $160 per day. If they strike for 50 days – they lose $8000 – how long is it going to take at base + 3% – to catch up that net loss?

    • Sisyphus

      Most strikes are not about money ( wages ). They’re just reported that way because it’s easier.

      The Ottawa strike was not about wages.

      I’ve sat through a number of negotiations and the problems have never arose from wages.
      Difficulties come when management see union proposals as interfering with ” the right to manage ” or when the personal dynamics around the table harden attitudes and it becomes more important to ” win ” than to negotiate.

      The media most often report on wages because that’s what is easier to understand. Although the reporting of the Ottawa issues was fairly good …. eventually.

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