the generally well-paid, benefit-rich workers of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, or the mostly poor, powerless people they're screwing with, and I'd say my answer is pretty clear.
I plan to be extra nice to my bus driver on Monday morning, and I'll bet he or she will need it, 'cause I'm in a TINY minority.
Most people I know are truly incensed.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Ask me who I have sympathy for...
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4 comments:
Watch The Star wanting to join the Sun in encouraging the TTC to be declared essential service so they can't strike.
What is next? Childcare workers earning 13 dollars an hour and proud members of CUPE? Should they be declared essential service providers because parents need to drop off their kids so they can work?
The bus driver on Mon morning, I don't know about him or her. Maybe you can try to put the wrong amount in the fare box and see his or her reaction.
Well, I have a metropas, so I won't be messing with the amount of money I put in (and frankly, that would just ADD to their stress, regardless, so I don't want to do that!). I imagine that dealing with passengers who try to skirt paying in full is one of those stresses that TTC drivers like the least, so I'd avoid that on Monday.
I certainly hope my driver doesn't pull over and run in to Tim Horton's tomorrow though (which happens about one ride in 10 or so, in my experience). Mostly, people just grumble and moan under their breath about how they're already gonna be late for work because the bus was late in the first place, but if it happens on Monday, I'll actually be concerned for MY safety ('cause I'll feel compelled to intervene if someone attacks the driver).
Of course, I suppose it's possible the workers won't return on Monday. They weren't in a legal strike position in 2006, and they left anyway, and after closing the system down at Midnight on a Friday, stranding tens of thousands of riders with no notice, I'm not certain that logic and rationality is ruling the day over at Local 113.
I can't say I have much sympathy for a guy who lives in North York but foolishly works at a Blockbuster Video in Whitby.
Fair enough on that one specific example Robert. But keep in mind that plenty of people can't afford to live close to where they work. Also, in plenty of families, BOTH parents work. Are they to be punished because one works downtown and the other works in Scarborough? 'Cause then they live in Scaborough, because it's where they can afford to live, and one of the bread earners has to commute downtown everyday. If you're trying to feed three kids on a combined income of $18 an hour ($144 a day, before taxes) , perhaps you don't have a whole lot of choice as to where you choose to make your home.
Perhaps you live where you can AFFORD to live.
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