After rejecting to ratify the tentative deal the management of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) made with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, the TTC workers – bus drivers, streetcar and train operators, ticket collectors, maintenance and repair workers, etc. walked out of their jobs 12 midnight yesterday April 25.
With the strike and the TTC shut down, the whole city of Toronto is on a gridlock. Even I thought that it was wrong timing for them to have that strike all because I had to go to my best friend’s birthday party tonight and I had to do a lot of commitments on a Saturday.
I rely heavily on the TTC. I go to university, to the Japan Foundation and to my favourite bookstores and music stores using their bus and subway systems. With a monthly pass, I was able to roam around the city and become closer to it – considering it as a true home of mine – as years pass by. I also go to and from work using the TTC every weekends as well.
What’s so great about this transit system is that it’s one of the most organized transit systems in the world. Well for one thing, the roads in the city are all organized as well which made it easier to organize routes for buses, streetcars, light rail trains and subway trains.
But for those who work for the TTC, they need job security, which is why there is always a union to keep the workers feel safe and worry less on their jobs. I myself don’t need to think too much about whether I might get fired or not in my job because my union is covering for me – but I’m not saying this because I screw up a lot at work, as a matter of fact, it’s the contrary. The TTC definitely has the right to ask for job security and probably have the right to make it a lot more secure but I’m glad they’re aware with the fact that they can’t have everything.
The sudden shut down of the TTC shocked everyone and for sure it’s going to be hard from this point onward if ever the strike and the picket lines (if ever TTC workers do have them) would continue for several days. The Mayor, the Transportation Ministry and the Provincial Government, however, stepped in as soon as the strike began.
Let’s just pray, keep our fingers crossed, and hope that this whole dilemma with the TTC and the Transit Union will be solved in the shortest period of time possible – hopefully over the weekend so that Monday morning wouldn’t look so catastrophic on the streets.
