Good day and welcome to my blog. Inside you will find my views and thoughts of events that make me happy or tick me off. I have always felt that I needed a venue to talk about issues ranging from stupid 11 year old girls in the UK having babies, to transit strikes without notice, to unions and Barry "pumped up" Bonds quest to hit many homeruns.
Some of these posts may be funny, and some stupid, I really don't care, I just need to vent and educate the world. How else can I translate this blog into my campaign to become Prime Minister of Canada.
So to begin, I'd like to post a letter I sent to our Mayor, David Miller, regarding the transit strike that occured this morning. Not only was it 42 degrees celcius (with humidex) today, but there was a smog advisory. Not exactly the best day to spend 4 hours in traffic to pick up my sons Nanny from the East end. As a result of this "wildcat" strike, I was late for work and my hot wife and I missed our pre-natal appointment.
Not happy. Also cost me $7.00 to park for 3 hours. That's why I take public transit!!!
So the strike was because the maintenance workers of our transit system (the TTC) didn't like their collective agreement signed, oh, less than a year ago, and were pouting because they were being forced to work nights. Boo fucking hoo. This measure was put in place, as reports have said, to save costs. Shocking!
Public transit. Saving money? Next they'll want to improve service. Whoa.
But seriously... like 100 workers were asked to work nights becuase the TTC doesn't run between 1am and 6am, so it kind of makes sense to work then on the track and other stuff, not during the day when the system operates. Novel.
Also, this TTC union has a habit of wanting to strike at a moments notice. No cheese in the cafeteria.. STRIKE. It's raining 3 days in a row... STRIKE. The price of tokens are always going up because every time they strike, we, the taxpayers, bend over and take it. Then to pay for the increases in salaries, rates are raised. It's a joke. And now, we have a left wing, pro union Mayor who hates big business and gets a woody everytime someone says the word, "union steward". It's not funny. Elections are coming up in November. It's time to say goodbye to him.
Now were have had some violence issues recently towards some drivers - like some jackass punk kid who shot a driver in the face. That driver was blinded. The shooter should be hung by his balls in the middle of the city and that drivers family should have the first crack. But, it was not the drivers who wanted to strike, it was the maintenance staff. I guess life's tough making $60.00 an hour, repairing 2 buses a week. My hear bleads for all of you. If you don't like the work, get a new fucking job!
If my boss came to me and said that to save costs they needed me to wear pink underwear, I have 2 options; 1) wear them and 2) quit. No option to strike for me.
So here is the letter. I'm waiting for a reply, and a cheque for about $50.00.
Mayor Miller,
The TTC no longer works for me. Unions no longer work for me, and quite frankly, I'm so upset at this "wildcat strike" strike today, I'm not sure you work for me as a Mayor of this City.
It took me 5 hours to get into work this morning. I take the TTC. I had to drive to the East end of the city from mid-town son's Nanny who was stuck there on her way in from Oshawa. As a result, I was late for work, my son missed his once a week music class, and my wife and I missed our pre-natal appointment (hopefully no cancellation fees will be charged us). I had to pay $10.00 to park my car.
For a City this size, it is UNACCEPTABLE for this to happen. All the US tourists up here for Memorial Day, and on a SMOG day, I had to spend 5 hours in a car wasting half a litre of gas. Who is going to re-imburse me??? I pay my taxes, I am active in local politics in my community, I even helped co-ordinate Mayor Miller's community clean-up in April. I take the TTC to work every day to save the environment and be a responsible citizen. This should never have been allowed to happen.
I'm pissed off and I demand answers.
Mayor Miller your support for unions MUST end! We are no longer living in a time when it is necessary to protect workers from being taken advantage of. It's 2006. Unions are past their prime. The TTC union must go. All they have done is allow a cancer to prosper in the TTC. Costs could be cut by forcing employees to work.
If my employer wanted me to work night shift to cut costs I have 2 options. Accept it or quit! Not by holding a city hostage.
I'd like to know where I can send my bill, of my expenses incurred today. I have already asked the TTC.
November is just around the corner...
Sincerely,
An irritated taxpaying resident in the City of Toronto
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