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Since the summer of 2004, the sound of the Scrambler has meant money in the bank for Serena Lam, one of the more than 400 students who run the rides and concessions on Toronto's Centre Island.

These days, the Scrambler sits silent along with the rest of the Centreville amusement park and its many food stands, collateral damage in the labour war between municipal workers and City Hall. As a result, Ms. Lam is trying to shut out a more sinister sound that has filled the silence: the great sucking sound of lost summer income.

"The first week was kind of nice because it was almost like a break," Ms. Lam, 20, said in an interview near the Bay Street ferry docks this week, the second one of a strike by 24,000 city workers, including those who run the Island ferries crucial to supplying Centreville's summer crowds. "Two weeks is a lot of money to lose."

Ms. Lam, who worked her first summer on the island at 15 and has since been promoted to foreman in charge of the Scrambler, was counting on earning up to $10,000 this summer on full-time wages plus 10 to 15 hours of weekly overtime. Her earnings are earmarked for her coming first year of global political studies at York University.

As an employee of Beasley Amusements, the private company that runs Centreville and other concessions on the city-owned islands, Ms. Lam can't even walk out her frustrations on a picket line, since she doesn't work for the city. Instead, she bides her time waiting for a resolution and wondering if she should look for another job.

Like many, she's reluctant to do so. The recession has tightened the student job market, and even if there are jobs, few would offer the hours and pay she enjoys after six years with Centreville. Ms. Lam is also loath to train for a new job if it means having to quit and return to Centreville if the strike ends soon.

Siobhan Costelloe, 19, has similar concerns. Bound for her second year of criminology studies at the University of Ottawa, she hoped to earn about $2,500 in two months as a counsellor at a city day camp, a job she accepted earlier this year.

"It's hard to find a job starting at the beginning of July," Ms. Costelloe said, especially when more students than usual are seeking work due to the recession's squeeze on family incomes.

As a member of Local 79 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, she said she supports the strike and is considering taking up voluntary picket duty if the walkout persists much longer. Union members can earn up to $200 a week in strike pay, which is starting to look attractive as the strike drags on.

"I'm moving out of residence next year, so this is the year I need to save more money for other housing expenses," she said.

Back on Centre Island, the strike is also laying a beating on the bottom line for Ms. Lam's employer, Beasley Amusements. Its Centreville attractions and island food stands, which run for 102 days each year, are the Toronto-based company's sole sources of income.

"It's over $100,000 a day in sales we're losing," said Shawnda Walker, a company spokeswoman. "We have no recourse."

The company faced similar losses in 2002, when city workers were off the job for 16 days before the provincial government stepped in to end the strike.

With this walkout into its second week, "it's pretty dismal" for Beasley and its student workers, Ms. Walker said.

"It's the uncertainty that's really affecting the kids right now," she said.