All three of Ontario's political parties moved at the speed of light to usher in emergency legislation that paved the way for a return of transit service Sunday.
The legislation, known as Bill 66, went through first, second and third reading in just 32 minutes after Premier Dalton McGuinty's government secured the support of both the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats. Normally, it takes several months for legislation to pass.
“It is an historic day,” Labour Minister Brad Duguid said at a news conference following the unprecedented Sunday sitting. “It was nice to see the legislature come together and the partisan politics drop away to make a decision that we all believe is in the best interests of the public.”
All told, 65 of the 107 MPPs in Ontario were in the chamber when Mr. McGuinty introduced the bill for first reading at 1:30, Eastern time.
Globe reader Mike H. shot this collector booth closed at Main Street Station at the beginning of the strike. (Globe reader Mike H)
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Toronto transit users were left dumbfounded and stranded on crowded street corners early Saturday morning as they learned that union workers had called a surprise strike
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65 per cent of transit workers voted against a tentative agreement
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“It is the people of Ontario we are serving today,” he said. “By acting on behalf of Toronto workers and families and businesses, we are acting in the interests of all Ontarians. It goes without saying that Toronto, our capital city, plays an important role for all Ontarians and we all need Toronto to be strong so Ontario can be strong. That is why we are bringing this legislation forward today together.”
Even though the buses, streetcars and subways will be back in full operation by tomorrow morning, it will likely take much longer for those commuters left in the lurch on Friday night to get over their anger – something both Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Duguid tacitly acknowledged.
Mr. Duguid urged the public not to take out their frustration on TTC employees but to greet them with a “friendly hello” and thank them for being back on the job.
“I call on all Ontarians to show the dignity that Ontarians always show and that is to be good and courteous to these front-line workers and treat them with respect,” he told reporters.
Although opposition members supported the bill, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory and two of his caucus members demanded that the union representing TTC workers apologize for not giving the public any notice that they would have a rude awakening Saturday morning.
Mr. Tory said the union should also apologize to its own members, because he said the average TTC worker would not have been comfortable walking off the job without first considering the safety of public transit commuters.
He went so far as to suggest that rank-and-file members should take their union leaders “out to the back and give them a horsewhipping,” because walking off the job at midnight, with no notice, “brought disfavour onto the average member of the union who wouldn't have done this.”
“Let's not talk in the past,” Mr. Duguid told reporters. “Let's move forward. The good news is the transit is running this morning.”
New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton stressed in the legislature that his party was supporting the bill with reservations. He said his party's concerns centre on language in the preamble of the bill, which raises the possibility of making public transit an essential service, a move that would deprive TTC workers of their right to strike in the future. Mr. McGuinty mused about such a possibility a week ago.
“We should not take the passing of this legislation as endorsing essential service legislation,” Mr. Hampton told reporters. He said collective bargaining is complicated enough without adding a whole other level of complexity that can “gum up the works.”
It is believed that the TTC and the union have jointly agreed on Kevin Burkett as the arbitrator, but official confirmation is expected from the ministry of labour in the next day or so.
Without naming the arbitrator, Mr. Miller described him or her as "widely respected."
Mr. Burkett, a former chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, has been an arbitrator since 1976. He is a former mediator with the Ontario ministry of labour.
He has extensive experience in public sector labour issues, including an arbitration case between the pre-amalgamation Toronto Public Library and one of its unions in 1995.
‘RAPID ACTION'
At city hall, shortly after the provincial legislature approved the back-to-work order, Mayor David Miller thanked the premier for "rapid action" in introducing the measure, also acknowledging the support of leaders of the two opposition parties at Queen's Park.
Meanwhile, a call for the TTC to be declared an essential service will be debated Tuesday at council's regular monthly meeting.
But Mr. Miller, unlike some on council, does not want council to take a definitive stand this week.
"There are issues on both sides," he told reporters, without tipping his own hand.
"The TTC is the lifeblood of Toronto and it is obviously essential," he said. "But when something is made an essential service subject to arbitration, historically the wage levels have increased significantly and there is an issue for the public purse."
Given the disruption created by a strike called with little notice to the public, Mr. Miller said a decision to declare the TTC an essential service "needs to be looked at calmly."
He added "It is a difficult issue and that is why it requires some thought.
"You should not react in a knee-jerk fashion and I am confident council will do it in a thoughtful way," said the mayor.
Any study of the issue is expected to take three or four months before coming back to council for a vote.
But councillor Karen Stintz (Ward 16 Eglinton-Lawrence) said council should rule this week.
"We negotiated this last collective agreement treating them as an essential service," she said. "What we did not have throughout was the confidence that we would have uninterrupted service, and in fact we didn't."
She said she saw no need for more study.
"We know the pros and cons and we can make an informed decision on this as members of council this week," said Ms. Stintz, a frequent critic of the mayor.
Mr. Miller, who last Friday described the sudden strike as "unacceptable and irresponsible," was pressed by reporters to comment on the actions of transit union leader Bob Kinnear.
"I don't want to comment on Mr. Kinnear," said the mayor. "I want to move forward."
But Mr. Miller conceded that he, like the public, had received no explanation from Mr. Kinnear, who had earlier promised the public would be given 48 hours notice of a strike.
"They have told me the same thing they have told you – nothing," said Mr. Miller. "You will have to ask the union leadership why they agreed to something and it was not delivered."
Asked if he would demand an apology from the union for the disruption, Mr. Miller said "I will move forward. I am not going backwards."
Though transit riders were blindsided by the "terrible circumstances" of a strike called at short notice Friday night, Mr. Miller said "people behaved extremely well.
"I know Torontonians will behave well today," he said.
"People, like me, are just happy the service is restarting [Sunday] and will certainly be there [Monday] morning in full for rush hour."
When asked about fresh demands put forward by the union at a brief meeting with TTC officials on the weekend, Mr. Miller described the costs "as enormous. It was a complete non-starter."
He said the TTC "was in a position where if there had been a little bit of tweaking for the same monetary value, of course they would have done that."
But, the mayor warned, "we are not in a position to make a significant increase."
Some critics earlier denounced the proposed agreement as too generous.
Yesterday, Mr. Miller discounted suggestions that an arbitrated settlement would inevitably drive up the cost of a final deal.
"I'm not sure that is the case," he said. "Everything is on the table now."
The mayor said that under the back-to-work legislation, the arbitrator can look at all issues that have not been settled.
"There is no settlement because the union did not accept," he said.
BACK ON THE JOB
By Sunday afternoon, transit service had returned to Toronto streets.
TTC general manager Gary Webster said he sent out two voicemail messages to TTC staff over the weekend advising them to report for work once the bill was passed and reassuring them that the TTC would ask customers to “treat them with dignity.”
Mr. Webster said he was confident that all TTC staff, including maintenance workers – who opposed the deal and who also sparked a one-day illegal walkout in May 2006 – would report to work without incident and obey the legislation.
The back-to-work order would impose fines of $2,000 per individual and $25,000 for a union or employer a day.
All outstanding issues would be referred to a mediator or arbitrator and both sides would have five days to agree on who that individual is or the government can appoint someone.
In introducing the bill, Mr. McGuinty thanked the province's politicians for agreeing to the emergency session, and pleaded with transit users not to take out their frustrations on transit personnel.
“I ask that upon restoration of TTC services, users extend their usual courtesy to workers there for the invaluable they provide.
“Courtesy and goodwill are the foundations upon which we should all seek to build.”
Mr. Webster said TTC staff were “very sensitive” to the effect the walkout had on the public.
“The TTC is a big family,” Mr. Webster said. “Sometimes families have issues.”
Thousands of people were forced to walk, take cabs or find other ways to get around on the weekend after the 9,000 Toronto Transit Commission workers walked out at midnight, just hours after rejecting a tentative contract Friday night.
FALSE INFORMATION?
Mr. Webster blamed Friday's walkout on what he said was false information that suggested management had plans to contract out more of the work done by its bus maintenance workers and to lay some of them off.
“That couldn't be further from the truth,” he said. “There was clearly misinformation out there.”
He said the tentative deal made no change to the rules around contracting out maintenance work, and that the TTC had no plans to increase the amount it contracted out. He said management would be spreading this message at work sites and on its website to reassure its workers.
Clearly maintenance workers were told otherwise by their union officials – some of whom refused to sign the initial deal made last weekend – and then convinced many TTC drivers to vote with them and scupper the deal Friday. Mr. Webster shied away Sunday from blaming anyone for misconstruing the tentative agreement.
At the request of the Ministry of Labour, both sides participated in talks midday on Saturday to try to get the TTC back on the rails. While Mr. Webster said he expected the discussion to centre on the contracting out issue and a few others, the union executive came back to the table with an additional list of demands.
“It was a lengthy list. It was a very expensive list,” Mr. Webster said, adding that after 15-minute face-to-face meeting with Mr. Kinnear – at which the TTC refused to address the issues on the list – the union broke off talks.
While acknowledging the sudden shutdown Friday was a major hassle for riders, Mr. Webster stressed that the strike was conducted in a “very orderly” and “professional” manner, and that all vehicles were returned to their yards without incident, after bus and streetcar drivers had finished their routes.
While customers were clearly “upset and frustrated” and some lashed out at TTC staff, Mr. Webster said he was not aware of any physical injuries suffered by transit workers Friday night. He also said there were just nine reports of broken glass, mostly kicked-in subway station doors, as well as some graffiti, which he said would be cleaned up or covered up before the system was back up and running.
Local 113 of the Amalgamated Transit Union was blamed in labour board rulings for conducting a one-day surprise illegal walkout on May 29, 2006, shutting down the transit system almost without warning in an apparent protest of schedule changes for some maintenance workers.
Mr. Kinnear denies he ordered the walkout, and has refused to apologize for the incident despite demands from Mayor David Miller. The TTC sought $3-million in compensation from the union for the wildcat strike, later dropping its lawsuit in exchange for what management says were equivalent concessions from its workers. (Mr. Kinnear denies this is the case.)
The last contract, negotiated in 2005 by Mr. Kinnear and agreed on in tense talks just hours before a strike was to begin, included similar wage hikes to those in this round's tentative deal, and was only approved by 60 per cent of voting union members, the union said at the time.
TTC workers last walked off the job legally in 1999 for two days, returning to work after the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris (at the request of Mayor Mel Lastman) threatened back-to-work legislation that included a government-appointed arbitrator, abandoning the tradition of appointing one agreed to by both sides. NDP Leader Howard Hampton refused to allow the bill to pass quickly, and instead helped broker a deal with the union and the TTC.
In 1991, in a scenario that somewhat echoes what transpired on Friday, 58 per cent of voting union members turned down a contract negotiated by their leaders and went out on strike for eight days, before the NDP government of Bob Rae – reluctant to pass back-to-work legislation – used its powers to force the union to take management's final offer to a vote, in which it was approved. The fight was over the use of part-time workers, and the use of qualified maintenance workers to fill in as drivers, a move that angered maintenance employees.
A strike in 1978 lasted eight days, and another in 1974 lasted 23 days. The TTC was also shut down for a day in 1996, as part of a labour-sponsored protest against Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris.
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